Page 14 • Valley Bugler • February 2014
How MOBILE FRIENDLY is your website? By Oscar Myre IV Valley Bugler Columnist Motivated businesses understand the importance of having not just a great web site presence, but having one that is accessible for as many customers as possible. Your visitors are using an increasing variety of screens, from smart phones to tablets, netbooks, laptops, desktops to large screen home theater systems. The challenge is: “How can we make the user experience equally good on as many different devices as possible?” When reviewing a businesses marketing plans, we will ask a client if their web site is mobile friendly. When we ask, “Is a site mobilefriendly?” we don’t mean, “Is the site visible on mobile phones?” What we want to know is: “Does the site offer a good user experience on a small screen?” Many (if not most) websites still require the user to repeatedly zoom in and out in order to navigate on a mobile phone. This does not deliver much happiness towards a good
user experience. To dig deeper I have 5 questions to rate how friendly your site really is. 1) Can you read the text without zooming? If you can honestly answer yes, then give yourself 5 points. If you can’t… you can’t. 2) Can you view your site without scrolling horizontally? Yes, then 5 more points. No, then I’ve got nothing for you. 3) Can visitors easily call your business with a tap? If visitors can tap on your phone number on the screen to call then you earned another 5 points. *Bonus, if you’d like for people to visit your business and they can get directions from your site add 5 more points. Their phones have GPS, you might as well use it... 4) Does your site use Adobe Flash? I don’t mean to be negative, but if you have flash on your site take AWAY 5 points. Flash is invisible on almost every smart phone out there. 5) Is your site KISSable? Your know the expression “Keep It Simple Sweetheart”. Mobile users are on the go. You need to make it easy for visitors to find out what you do, who you are, and how to contact
you. If it is simple and straight forward, you earned a fiver (5 pts). 6) Are the buttons big enough to tap? Nothing is worse than itty bitty buttons that you can’t click on. If you can easily navigate then give yourself another 5 points. Scoring *Add up your points 0-10 Not so Friendly - That is a nice way of saying your site doesn’t really travel so well. 15-20 Friendly - Your site is invited
to the party. With a little work it could throw its own party. 25+ Rockstar! Not only is your site friendly, it has groupies! How mobile-friendly is your website, and how is it “greeting” your visitors? Oscar Myre IV is the Creative Director and Owner at omOriginals Marketing! a Washingtonbased Web Development and Marketing firm for over fifteen years. They offer web site “Wordpress Updates” with their geeky professionalism to get your website back on track. Call (360)575-9839 or visit: omOriginals.com
MOMMYTALK, continued from p.8 ing dream in his heart...They would be his children, and the world would be their perfect home. So God breathed life into Adam and Eve…God loved them with all his heart...But all the stars and the mountains and oceans and galaxies and everything were nothing compared to how much God loved his children…Whatever happened, whatever it cost him, he would always love them. And so it was that the wonderful love story began...” I’m not only a little misty-eyed by this point, but we’re talkin’ crocodile tears taking the plunge for Weston’s pillow. We’re all huddled and cuddled on the bottom bunk and my voice is crack-
ing and trailing off as I try to push out words through tears and read to my sweet sons coherently. I’m thinking this raw heart needed those sweet, foundational reminders, much more than I’d been aware. The words that lavished undeserved balm on this ol’ heart that needed reminding of Whose she is, and just how loved she is by Him. Oh my goodness...be still my beating heart. So I guess you could say I got the Ultimate Valentine tonight. It honestly doesn’t get any better than that, friends. To know in my “knower”, to have that sweet, life-giving revelation all over again that in spite of my completely undeserving, selfish self, that Jesus does indeed love me. Happy Valentine’s Day, friends. Sharnessa Sandén is from Longview, WA, where she resides with her Swedennative hubby, Sam, of 13 years, and their two fullof-life sons, Chase and Weston. In addition to homeschooling their lads, she runs Fresh Attitude Dance Studio, and heads up the missions department of their church, Fathers House, with Sam.