“More than 58 percent of mobile internet users in the U.S. are getting content through their browser(s), compared to 42 percent via mobile apps.”—source
Yes it’s super cool to have your own iPhone or Android app but if you want your ministry content to be seen by the largest group of people on their mobile device it’s better to focus on a mobile-optimized web site.
There are a variety of ways to accomplish this–a plugin (assuming your are using WordPress) for your site, a separate mobile site (m.yourministry.com), or integrating responsive design into your existing website to make it “squish” onto a mobile platform.
If you would like to see an example of responsive design at work click here. (you will be taken to another site) When you head over to this site resize your browser by clicking and dragging from the lower right hand side. You will notice that the elements of the web page change to match the size of the screen.
Don’t let your church or ministry build an iPhone app until they have optimized their current website for mobile!
Thanks for the head’s up – I installed that plugin for WordPress and like it so far. An improvement for sure.
awesome! makes interacting w posts a lot easier.
Brian,
I agree with your assessment with churches going mobile. I believe that the first step for any church is to make sure that their content on their website is mobile friendly and you give some nice examples of how to do that. The second step would be to look at native apps for further integration of their content and to get more interaction.
If your readers are looking for either a mobile WebApp (more than a plugin) or native app solutions then they can visit my company, ROAR, and we can help them out.
By the way, SXSW was a blast this year. Just a little FYI.
hey matt! the seminar at sxsw on mobile optimized search was by far my favorite–and a little bit of inspiration for this post.
there are lots of churches and ministries where native apps make a ton of sense, and glad you shared about your company.
it does seem a lot of people fall in love w an iphone or android app and skip over the first step of optimizing their current site, and taking inventory of how many people in their target audience use apps regularly.
This is super interesting as we are thinking about making our own http://www.sloCrusade.com app. Thanks for the facts!
Kevin
you’re welcome kevin!