{"id":272,"date":"2012-08-03T15:45:32","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T15:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2012-08-03T15:45:32","modified_gmt":"2012-08-03T15:45:32","slug":"mobile-website-or-mobile-app-whats-best-for-your-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/mobile-website-or-mobile-app-whats-best-for-your-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile website or mobile app — what\u2019s best for your small business?"},"content":{"rendered":"

More and more of you recognize the need to go mobile with your marketing.\u00a0 About 14 percent of you already engage in mobile marketing and 69 percent realize that it\u2019s critical to your new business growth (see: \u201cMobile marketing boosts new business activity<\/a>\u201d). Before you can take your marketing mobile, you\u2019ve got a decision to make \u2013 mobile website or mobile app<\/a>?<\/p>\n

While both options look similar and are designed for access from smartphones and tablets, your business objectives should help you decide the best way to go. Both platforms are effective, but each one appeals to different users and their needs. At some point, you even may decide to take advantage of both platforms. Here\u2019s what you want to consider about each option.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How are mobile website and apps different?<\/p>\n

Like your company website, your mobile website consists of browser-based HTML pages that are accessed from the Internet. Your mobile website can display content, images, video and data — all of it optimized for the smaller displays and for a touch-screen interface.<\/p>\n

Mobile apps on the other hands are actual applications that users download and install on their mobile devices and access to accomplish tasks over a network.\u00a0 Apps enable users to play a game, refill a prescription, book and pay for a car rental, for example.<\/p>\n

When is a mobile website a good way to go?<\/p>\n

If the primary goal is to communicate your products or services to mobile users; it makes more sense to launch your mobile presence with a mobile website. With a mobile website, you can offer mobile-friendly content to a wide range of users immediately; since it\u2019s accessible across a range of devices (iPhone, Android and Blackberry). There are no issues about compatibility.<\/p>\n

Your reach, too, is potentially greater with mobile websites. In addition to device independence, mobile websites are easy for users to find through search results and industry-specific directories. It\u2019s also simple for users to share mobile URLs through a simple link. They can can email or Instant Message (IM) the link or post it on social media sites.<\/p>\n

From a development standpoint, mobile websites are easier and less costly to develop than mobile apps, especially if the latter need to run on multiple platforms. Mobile websites are more flexible if you need to make changes.\u00a0 Like traditional websites, they are created with content management systems (CMS), so you don\u2019t need to be a programmer to refresh or update content.<\/p>\n

Is it time for your mobile business app?<\/p>\n

Since mobile apps are built for a specific function and for a specific device, you get a lot of control over how the apps appear on screen. You also can customize the app to take advantage of a device\u2019s capabilities \u2013 video, audio, camera, GPS and more. This means the app is a good way to go if you want to enable your users to personalize app use.<\/p>\n

You can develop an app for\u00a0 a special marketing or promotional campaign. Think of a promotional app tied to an interactive game.\u00a0 Since mobile apps don\u2019t require a connection, users can access content offline, too. This can be useful if you want to create a mobile product catalog, for example.<\/p>\n

Mobile App or website \u2013 either one can be effective. Websites give you the broadest reach; apps give you a richer user engagement. Nice to know you really can\u2019t go wrong either way.<\/p>\n

Suggested additional resource:\u00a0 Mobile Site or Mobile App: Which Should You build first<\/a> (Infographic)<\/p>\n

Help us get out the vote!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an honor to be among the nominees for the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards. Voting is underway and continues until August 5. You can vote daily until then.\u00a0 We appreciate your vote<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More and more of you recognize the need to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[510],"tags":[396,636,664],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}