Most websites work pretty well on a smart phone. So why the need for a mobile version? It's easiest to explain with pictures. Here are before and after pictures of the Sunstone Solutions website:

Desktop Version

Mobile Version

The desktop image looks the same as if you had brought the website up on your computer, except part of it is off the screen. You have to scroll left and right, up and down to see the whole page. Or, you could "pinch" it to make it smaller, but then you can hardly read the text. The links all work, but if you have fat fingers or are a little bit off target when you tap, it might not be so easy to actually use those links.

In the mobile image, you'll notice a brief description and then largish icons that are easy to tap that can take you to see more information, bring up an email window, or assist you with making the call to contact us.

You'll notice that you don't necessarily want to try to completely re-create your website for a different form factor. That would be no better than a pinched version that you can hardly read. You need to present the content a little differently. Information should be quick and easy to find.

To get started with designing your mobile website, put yourself in a mobile user's shoes and decide on the key things about your business to present from your mobile website. Remember: they can always access your full website if they need more details. You also want to make it easy for them to take action. Here's what I decided to put on my mobile version:

• Logo banner (you still want consistent branding)
• A brief, descriptive, compelling introduction
• Description of services
• The means to request a  quote
• Push-button calling
• More background information about the company
• Access to the full website
• Access to this blog
• An easy way to tell a friend about the company
• Push-button sign-up for our newsletter
• Jump to our Facebook page
• Jump to our Twitter page

Go ahead and bring up the browser on your smart phone. Go to our website:  www.sunstonesolutions.com. The mobile version should come up automatically.

If you're saying to yourself, "I don't need no stinking mobile website!" think about this:

1. Over half the world's population has a mobile phone. Granted, not all are "smart phones" but it's only a matter of time.
2. "These days, it doesn't just seem like everyone has an

   Google Mobile Search

   iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android phone. Fifty million people in the United States actually do, according to comScore statistics." - Inc.com
3. Google has a different search engine index of mobile sites. Sometime in the future, only sites with a mobile version will appear in Google searches on a mobile device.
4. Mobile users/searchers are more likely to take immediate action.

Although the current trend for mobile use favors businesses such as retail, restaurants, and entertainment (theaters, concerts, shows, etc.), mobile usage is destined to increase as will the users' expectations. You can ride the front edge of the technology wave and have a mobile-smart website now, or you can wait and be lost in the crowd later.

Sunstone Solutions will be running a "mobile special" in March. Watch your email. 

In late January, I posted an entry in my blog which presented examples of how you might use Facebook (and Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube). I thought my examples were quite realistic and showed the value of having a business (or organization's) page on Facebook.

Here's a post by Mark Schaefer of Schaefer Business Solutions that nearly discourages businesses from using Facebook: "The Business Case for Facebook, in One Sentence." (I think my examples fall under his "Companies that interact with you in a unique and personal way.")

Deciding whether to have a Facebook page really comes down to:

• the type of business it is,
• the business's "personality,"
• the customers or clients of that business and whether they use Facebook, and
• the business resources to post to Facebook and respond to the followers.

It's a decision you have to make for your business.

Or, check out the Small Business page on the IRS website.