Your website MUST be mobile
We have written past blogs and newsletters on the need for your website to be enhanced for mobile viewing. We think that this is such an important topic that this time we are going to be a bit more specific with how this relates to the golf industry. 

Step 1: Is your website mobile?
Have you checked how your website is viewed on a smart phone and a tablet? If you have and are not happy about what you see, you need to fix it. Consumers who land on non-mobile enhanced websites are likely to leave quickly. They may have difficulty reading the content, clicking on the too-small links and downloading large images. If they cannot book a tee time while sitting on the bus commuting to work they may go to a competitor’s website who as made it much easier.

Step 2: What information do you need?
A mobile website for a golf course does not need to contain a great deal of content. Generally, your customers are looking for something specific like a phone number, email address, current green fee rates, or wanting to book a tee time from their smartphone. Including your home page, blog, contact us, tee times, rates and a ‘what’s happening’ pages should be sufficient. Less is more with mobile but you don’t want to have so few pages or so little information that the user experience is affected. Also do not add any high-resolution images to your mobile website as it may slow the loading of pages.

Step 3: Upgrading your Website
If your website is built on a WordPress platform then converting to mobile is easy. WordPress offers a free plug-in called WPTouch that takes less than five minutes to install. By installing WPTouch all of your website’s pages and menus are automatically converted for mobile viewing. (See ckgolfsolutions.ca on your mobile device for an example)

If your site is built on an HTML platform then you will have to contact your website developer to convert to mobile. You will need to decide how many pages and what content is absolutely crucial. You will also need to decide if the content can be pulled to the mobile site directly from your current website or if an entire new site will need to be built. Depending on how many pages you want and how technical the work require is, you will likely pay between $750 and $3,000 to have your site optimized for mobile viewing. (See university golf.com on your mobile device for an example).

If you have more questions about enhancing your website for mobile viewing please leave us a comment, send us an email or give us a call anytime. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook for links and tips on social media and about all things Vancouver.