Mobile Redirect - What, Why, How

What?

Mobile redirect allows one to effectively integrate their mobile site with their desktop site, allowing them to work together to assure that visitors that find you online have the desired, optimal user experience that you want them to have - regardless of what kind of device they're using to find you.

Why?

The whole point of having a mobile site in the first place, is that desktop site layouts and content tend to translate poorly to the smaller screens of mobile devices. You want to assure that mobile visitors who find you online are able to find the information that they're looking for quickly and easily. You also want to make sure that your own messaging is communicated clearly and accurately.

The first and most important step is to get mobile.

The second step is to drive traffic to your mobile site. This is where mobile redirect comes in.

How?

In a nutshell, how it works is:

1. A bit of customized javascript is copied into the header of your desktop website's index.html file (note: not all hosting services name the file 'index.html' - some may call it 'home.html', for example), and that file is republished.
2. When a mobile user enters the URL for your desktop site into the browser on their mobile device, the redirect code detects that the incoming request is being generated by a mobile device.
3. The code then automatically redirects the user, effectively bouncing them off of the desktop site, to the mobile site.
4. However users coming in from a desktop machine  are brought directly to the full desktop site.

Customized redirect code for a MoFuse site is automatically generated by the MoFuse platform for each individual mobile site and is easily accessible by clicking the 'Mobile Redirect' icon in the site builder's toolbar.

The code is also perfectly compatible with custom domain names if one has been configured.

Specific instructions that detail how the redirect code should be set up with a particular host can be found in other articles wtihin the KnowledgeBase.

If you are looking to not redirect to an iPad, please read:  http://help.mofuse.com/entries/22086382-How-to-not-redirect-to-an-iPad