According to technology Research Company IDC the worldwide smartphone market grew 42.5% year over year in 1Q12. Vendors shipped 144.9 million smartphones in 1Q12 compared to 101.7 million units in 1Q11.

Yesterday a friend forwarded me a link to a blog post How to Build a Mobile Website  where they go in to lengths of how you can do it yourself and best practices for a mobile site, but what really got my attention was this initiative by Google called howtogomo.com where you can actually test how your website looks on a mobile device.

To give you an idea, I’ll show you what I did after reading this information for a long time client of us Sofia Salon & Spa.

Here is how it looked yesterday morning.

 While all the pictures and content was there, there was no way you could read it without zooming on a smartphone. Along with the customer we evaluated and we agreed on  the basic functionality we wanted for a mobile user and we came up with the following.

 Now, the mobile user has the basic navigational functionality thumb friendly with quick access to click to call, map for directions to the Salon and Social Media engagement links. They also have the option to see the full site and switch back.

Another little known trick on the iPhone that you will need to educate your customers is on how to add your site to their home screen. From the lower menu on the screen, they need to select the icon with the upper arrow and then select “Add to home Screen” and they will get a faster direct link to your site any time.

You can only decide the basic functionality that works for your business, but we can certainly help you achieve it.

 Once again let us know, is your website smartphone ready?