Take a walk down Main Street and you will see why you need a mobile friendly website. People spend more time than ever on their mobile devices and, increasingly, more time there than on their desktop computers. A recent study showed 64% of Americans own a smartphone, and 10% of them are smartphone-dependent, meaning that their only access to the Internet is via their phone.

Few people anticipated the rapid change from desktop to mobile and the effect it would have on businesses, but in order to keep up with the fast-paced changes in how customers find businesses and products, you need a mobile website.

Everyone has seen your mobile website, whether you have one or not.

Today, 1.2 billion people worldwide are accessing the web from mobile devices. An incredible 80% of all internet users use a smartphone. If people are searching for your business, it’s likely they are searching on a mobile device. Companies that have mobile websites show an increase in sales and a growing customer base.

When was the last time you looked at your site on a mobile device? Is your website hard to find or hard to read or navigate on a smartphone or tablet? Does the design get messed up on the small screen? The same considerations that you put into site design with desktop computers in mind applies to mobile devices. If it looks bad or is hard to use, it reflects poorly on your business and drives customers away.

Even users who purchase from your desktop site, will likely engage with your site on their mobile device at some point in the sales process. Many users browse on their phones, looking for things that interest them, and then move to a desktop to complete the purchase once they’ve found something that catches their eye.

If your site can’t handle every type of screen, you are missing out on sales.

There are two ways to implement a mobile-friendly site that looks good and functions well on a smartphone or tablet. One is to create a second site in parallel to your desktop-oriented site. For most small and medium-size businesses, however, this is not cost-effective. The more common, more economical approach is to use a single responsive website – one whose appearance and functionality adjust automatically to the platform it’s being viewed on. It is no more difficult to design a responsive site than a nonresponsive one, but its benefits are significant.

Users prefer visual content on a mobile device.

Despite limited bandwidth and slower loading times, when a user is on a mobile device they consume more visual media, with a major focus on short video and images. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have made images and video easier to view on a smaller screen, and your web design should meet those changing expectations.

It’s not enough to inform users of your products and services; you need to engage and entertain them.

Mobile users buy more.

Mobile users spend more money online than desktop users. Most people are now comfortable with online shopping, and smartphone users lead the pack in making small, frequent purchases. Mobile users are an ideal audience for lower-cost products and services.

Mobile pages look different.

Look beyond your homepage. How do your sales pages look on a mobile device?

Content looks and feels different on a desktop than on a mobile page. Mobile screens can’t handle heavy styling or complicated text or design elements.

If your business is hoping to take advantage of mobile users’ preferences for making small, frequent purchases, you need to create responsive landing pages with short punchy headlines, minimalist design and bright simple buttons.

Google favors mobile responsiveness.

Google’s latest major algorithm update imposes significant penalties in terms of search results on websites that fail to meet its standards for mobile usability.

If you are serious about improving your organic traffic or not losing it to your competition, you need to optimize your website for mobile.

Mobile is better for sharing.

As social media continues to grow and evolve, it’s finding its primary hub on mobile devices. 91% of mobile internet access is used for social activities. Many top social platforms like Instagram and Snapchat aren’t accessible at all for desktop users.

If your business uses social media marketing, there is a good chance incoming traffic will be accessing your site via mobile devices. An unresponsive site can hurt your marketing efforts and waste your advertising dollars. If you want to take full advantage of your social audiences, you need a site designed to make your products and services more shareable.

In spite of this, only about half of small business websites are responsive. This presents an opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition. Research your competitors to learn who is embracing mobile and how it’s affecting their growth. There may still be time to steal a march on them by becoming the mobile friendly option. If they’re already there, you’ve got some catching up to do.

If you’re interested in learning more about mobile design and website development, contact our media experts for more information.

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