A veritable tsunami of smartphone usage is heading towards the websites of the UK’s golf clubs, and having preferred to ignore or ban them for several years, few clubs are ready for the impact.
So CLUB View, the UK’s leading golf club website developer, is now offering to create a mobile friendly version of a golf club’s website i.e. one which has been built specifically for smartphones. This service is for both CLUB View’s customers and any other clubs who don’t have a CLUB View website.
Smartphones are fast becoming the rule
In 2012, more people used smartphones than conventional PC’s to go online, and we all know users carry their smartphones with them all the time. With smartphone penetration of the UK market reaching 36 million subscriptions in February this year, and growing at 18% a year, three out of every four mobile phones will be smartphones by 2016 according to Portio Research.
A typical golf club, let alone high profile one, can expect 33%+ of its website viewings to be by smartphone right now. However statistics show that the ‘Bounce Rate’ – viewers who leave the website immediately without visiting other pages – is very high on smartphones when the web pages have not been optimised for mobile devices.
Why websites have to be optimised
The fact is web pages have to be purpose-built to be viewed properly on smartphones. Apart from the obvious factor of the size of a laptop or computer screen compared to that of a smartphone’s – about a sixth the size or less – certain fundamentals are a MUST:
- text should not have to be pinched or zoomed in order to be seen properly
- the navigation via links and buttons must be ‘thumb friendly’
- the club’s location should be clearly visible
- and the club’s contact number should be able to be dialled or e-mailed with one touch.
If these facilities are not available, it becomes an immediately frustrating experience for the smartphone user, who will otherwise tend to leave your site pretty quickly and go elsewhere.
CLUB View’s optimisation service
CLUB View’s optimisation sets you up with the most popular webpages based on a Google analytics comparison. These are made ready for viewing by smartphone, using CLUB View’s specialist mobile ‘phone expertise and the latest software to adapt page content to the unique requirements needed for smartphones.
When the club then goes live with their mobile site, members can easily set up an icon for their smartphone screens that goes straight to the mobile-friendly version of their club’s website. Other smartphone viewers will automatically be re-routed to the mobile website when visiting via search engines such as Google, simply by typing in the club’s normal website address, or from their favourites list.
There’s more good news for those clubs using HandicapMaster: CLUB View and HandicapMaster have integrated to the point that their members can see all the latest competition results, handicaps and even knockout draw results on their smartphones in a mobile friendly format.
To help clubs get ready, CLUB View is also offering a free mobile website appraisal at http://www.CLUB View.co.uk/mob/
CLUB View www.clubview.co.uk