Recently there has been a huge increase in the number of people using mobile devices to access the web. In fact 1.3 billion people will access the web on a mobile device today. A report by industry analysts Nielsen Mobile says 12.9 per cent of mobile phone users in the UK browse the internet on their phones, second only to America.

In today’s society people are always on the go, meaning they need access the web anywhere and anytime. Mobile devices now out number desktop PCs three to one. This highlights their significance and appeal to marketers.

When considering whether your site needs to be designed with mobile browsers in mind, it is vital to think about the audience. A common mistake made is to think of your site just needing to be shrunk down to be suitable for a mobile device. It takes a lot of consideration as to what content is relevant to the mobile audience, and how the content will conform to the constraints created by mobile devices.

There are benefits and limitations when designing for a mobile. One major limitation is smaller screen sizes, meaning less space for text and image. Also short battery life and slow connection speeds are sometimes unappealing. The benefits are todays mobile camera capabilities, microphones, and instant connections, all of which create exciting prospects for mobile marketing.

It is vital that the desktop website is stripped back to just the essentials. Users will not want to sift through reams of information to then discover a link. This is why it is recommended that the mobile version of your website works alongside your main website, allowing the heavy content to remain on the website itself.

It’s imperative to make sure that your website is optimized to work with a variety of devices. The most popular of these being the Apple iPhone, BlackBerrys and the more basic and commonly used WAP handsets.