GoMo: Assess Your Site’s Mobile Browsing Compatibility

Your company’s website may look fully functional on your computer, but how does it perform on a BlackBerry, iPad, or Android Phone? It is expected that by 2013, mobile searches will outpace searches done on conventional computers. Smartphones and tablets are flooding the market and it seems like even traditional products, such as alarm clocks, watches, and refrigerators are being upgraded with Internet capabilities. It is no wonder why mobile search volume increased by 400% this year alone. Google’s mobile optimization tool, GoMo, makes sure your site is optimized to handle whatever device is accessing it to ensure your target market and business partners receive the full feature set of your website.

Google GoMo for Mobile Website Optimization

In order to ensure that your website appears correctly on smaller screens and across differently mobile browsers, Google has created GoMo. This web-based service scans your site and runs it through compatibility checks with all of the popular mobile browsers. Once complete, GoMo will provide you with an in-depth results page and downloadable report, showing you what components of your website passed and what needs improvement.

It is important for your website to look professional and functional, no matter what the user is viewing it on. If you are upgrading or optimizing your website, this is a new invaluable tool that can help align your website with the increasing mobile trend.

Key criteria that GoMo measures:

• Site load speed
• Image download capability
• Text size/suitability for smaller screens
• “Thumb-friendliness” of links and buttons for touchscreens
• Location and phone number visibility

To assess your website, please visit the Google GoMo Website. The website will analyze your website and give you a full report that assesses all of the above components.

Canadian Government Grants Towards Website Optimization

GoMo has identified areas of improvement for your website, but now you’ll need the technical expertise to make the changes. If you are redesigning your website from scratch, our guide on how to build or upgrade your site on a budget can help.

There are also Canadian government funding programs available to harness website development skills. The Small Business Internship Program (SBIP) offers $10K towards the hiring of a marketing or website specialist for 12-weeks in order to conduct website development, SEO, or help with conversion traffic. Alternatively, the Career Focus Program allows companies to hire an IT graduate in order to carry out similar activities, also supporting the new hire with $10K, but over a 4-11 month period.

For more information about suitable hiring programs, please contact Mentor Works or attend one of our Free 60 Minute Government Funding Workshops held in Cambridge, Burlington, and Hamilton, Ontario.