Businesses planning to update their websites have undoubtedly heard the mantra that they also need mobile web and social media – maybe even a native app for tablets and smartphones.
That’s probably true, if a company’s website is primarily consumer focused. But if your company’s website is business to business – one of the biggest growth areas for web developers – a Facebook page or Twitter account might not be worth the bother or cost to maintain, and you almost certainly don’t need a mobile app, said Darrell Hadden, president of Graphically Speaking Services Inc.
But given the explosion of mobile devices, he and other local web developers agree that most websites today should have a Mini-Me: a mobile version of the website.
“Not every business needs a mobile app,” said Jamie Garratt, founder and president of Idea Rebel. “But I think every business needs a mobile web experience, and I think every business absolutely does need some social presence.”
By 2014, according to Morgan Stanley, half of all website visits will be via smartphones or tablets.
Whether you need a social network site, a mobile website, a native app – or all three – depends a lot on whether your website is B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer).
Hadden said more money is being spent in B2B websites than in other areas.
His company recently developed a website for Canfor that is typical of a B2B website in that its three main functions are client information, recruitment and investor relations. It features a blog, but no Facebook page or Twitter account.
“A lot of our clients are having trouble getting their heads around how they’re going to get a payback on social media,” Hadden said.
And given the cost of maintaining a social network page, he said it may not always make sense to have one.
Getting the full meal deal – web, mobile, app and social media page – will set a company back $30,000 to $60,000:
•website ($10,000-plus);
•mobilized version ($5,000);
•native app ($10,000 to $30,000);
•social media site ($5,000).
Whether a company should have an app developed or a mobile website depends on function.
Websites can be viewed on a smartphone or tablet browser.
But most websites were never designed to be viewed on a small touchscreen, so they don’t always execute that well, and a person who has a hard time viewing a website often never returns to it.
A mobile option is a simplified website designed for viewing on a smartphone or tablet. A native app typically has a utility that can’t be replicated on a mobile website. Geolocation is a good example.
Idea Rebel recently made an app for RE/MAX that uses geolocation and the camera function of a smartphone.
It allows users to pan a neighbourhood that they like and instantly find out what homes RE/MAX has listed for sale in the immediate area.
But native apps are expensive – about three times the cost of a mobile website – and those costs multiply because numerous versions are needed for the different operating systems used for Apple, BlackBerry and Android devices.
“If you don’t have a utility base, then it should all go to mobile web,” Garratt said. “It’s way more cost effective.”
Despite the cost of app development, business for Vancouver’s Atimi Software is booming, as companies scramble onto the tablet-smartphone bandwagon.
“I think the light bulb’s gone on that this isn’t just a fad,” said Alan Jones, Atimi’s vice-president of global sales. “There is a shift that’s gone on in the marketplace – that they need to move on this as quickly as possible.” •
