Homebuilders.com

During the past year, more people in the U.S. used a mobile device to access the Internet than a personal computer…read that again and think about what that means for your marketing efforts in 2011.

As smartphone devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry and Droid penetrate the traveling masses at an exponential rate, homebuilders are quickly learning their existing Web sites are poorly suited for mobile technology. You can’t literally translate the conventional Web site for the wireless world, and there are many limitations, primarily (which) come from usability and the inability to organize huge amounts of content on your mobile Web. Hyatt Hotels Corporation’s Web site, for example, contains more than 3,500 pages. Navigating through such a deep pool of information using a responsive mouse and a full-sized computer screen is one thing, but doing so using a tiny scroll wheel on a screen that’s only three inches wide is as tedious as it is time-consuming.

Keep it simple.

Offering only the most important information is the biggest key of developing any mobile platform. Mobile is not the traditional Web site, focus on the things that are most relevant to the mobile platform and the on-the-go consumer. Communities, Available Homes, Contact info are must-haves.
The way you present that information is as equally important. Get rid of unnecessary graphics and images. Don’t pack too much information into a screen display. It requires a lot of discipline in terms of the design process. Remember that typing matters to anyone who’s tried to hammer out an e-mail with their thumbs using either a touch-screen or full keyboard can attest to this.

Another tech consideration is device differences. Some phones might support certain Web technologies like Java, while others might not. I advise using a middle-of-the-road approach that works on as many devices as possible. In many cases, differences in regional mobile networks make that an impossible task, and separate platforms have to be developed.

The growth of mobile usage among the traveling public is increasing at an astonishing rate.  During the past year, more people in the U.S. used a mobile device to access the Internet than a personal computer, and during 2010, 93.9 percent of people in the U.S. are projected to have used or owned a mobile phone. The mobile Internet is already here. Homebuyers are using their mobile devices to look up information about their next new home. Budget limitations are no longer an excuse to not develop mobile Web sites.