Google’s GoMo aims to make sites mobile-friendly

Google has launched a new initiative aimed at helping businesses create mobile-friendly sites, as the uptake of mobile devices among consumers continues to increase.

On HowToGoMo.com, business owners enter the URL of their current website to see what the site looks like on mobile.

GoMo then makes suggestions and recommendations on how the site could be mobile-optimised. It also shows examples of standout mobile sites and provides a list of mobile site developers.

In a company blog, Jesse Haines, group marketing manager for Google’s mobile ads, uses the example of a scarf retailer to outline the missed opportunities with regard to mobile sites.

“A young person uses his smart phone to find a store that sells scarves. He searches, finds your site and clicks-thru. But after he clicks to your site, he runs into trouble,” Haines wrote.

“It doesn’t load fully and he spends more time zooming in and squinting than he does looking at scarves. Frustrated, he gives up and looks for another scarf store.”

According to Haines, this happens “hundreds, even thousands” of times a day because businesses have failed to make their sites mobile-friendly. GoMo aims to prevent this from happening.

“Every day, more and more of your customers are looking for you… on mobile devices. If you don’t have a site that works for mobile, you’re missing out.”

According to the Australia Mobile Smartphone Consumer Study for September, conducted by Google in conjunction with Ipsos Research, 93% of online Australians access the internet daily.

More importantly, 71% use their smart phones to browse the web. The statistics were recently brought up by Optus in a report titled Digital Ready.

“SMBs are missing out on potential opportunities if they don’t keep pace with how consumers want to engage with them,” Optus spokesperson Rohan Ganeson said.

“Consumers live in a digital world and the internet is going mobile, and we believe these expectations will increasingly require SMBs to operate in the digital space.”

In a separate bid to help businesses improve their online offerings, Adelaide-based company CodeFire has launched AppLaunch, aimed at helping businesses get their web-based apps online.

CodeFire chief executive Daniel Draper says an agile or lean approach is required to build new applications, claiming companies should constantly be testing ideas on their users.

“Companies and entrepreneurs wanting to get their new web application idea off the ground can work with us to get an application launched within months or even weeks,” Draper says.

“You are better off launching something to the market and getting early feedback than to work in isolation, unsure of what the market will do at launch.”