Mobile internet users will pass PCs by 2015.

According to market research firm IDC, there will be more people browsing the web on their mobile devices than on personal computers in their home.

That presents some interesting challenges. Is your website mobile-ready?

Image courtesy of Yutaka Tsutano

Today’s website designs are perfect for large, open, horizontal screens.

But when you try to squeeze that screen down into a tiny mobile device, it presents some problems.

In response, big companies and publishers are creating mobile-ready versions of their website. That means they’re taking their existing website, and creating a new version that’s scaled down for better performance on your iPhone or iPad.

As you can imagine, that’s kind of expensive.

So how do you know if you need a mobile site, and if it’s worth the extra investment?

How do You Know if You Need a Mobile Site?

Start by checking these two things.

1. Mobile users (as a percentage of total traffic): Out of your total website visits for the past month, how many (as a percentage) are mobile users? Is it a significant number?

If it’s more than 10% of your visitors are on a mobile device, you might want to think about optimizing your website for mobile.

2. Mobile user time on site and bounce rate: Now compare the length of visits between regular web users and mobile users. Is it drastically different?

If your website’s mobile experience is difficult, than people will stay less, and bounce at a higher rate. So if the bounce rate for mobile users is over 80%, then it’s time to make your website mobile-ready! If you don’t have the time or expertise to do this yourself, you can hire a software developer to help you.

Two Easy, Inexpensive Solutions

Fortunately, you don’t have to create a brand new mobile-ready version of your website. There are a few turn-key solutions that will help you.

1. Mobstac:

Mobstac combines analytics, social media, and advertising integration into their mobile packages. They help take your website and create a mobile ready version that will be perfect for all mobile devices.

Mobstac has a free, limited version, a Pro version for $19 per month, and a custom enterprise option for larger companies.

2. Mobify:

Mobify is a more complex, enterprise option for large companies, e-commerce and publishers.

It also integrates with Omniture and DoubleClick.

Mobify has a free, limited version, a Studio Pro version for $249 per month, and a Studio Publisher version for $1000 per month.