“Do I need a mobile friendly website?”
Have you asked yourself this question recently? Once seen as a luxury item, smartphones are now a staple of everyday life around the world. The incorporation of smartphones into most people’s daily routines has caused some significant changes to the way websites are built, managed, and maintained. Smartphones and other mobile devices are fast becoming the preferred method of Internet access; if you haven’t already got a mobile website, you need to get one soon. In general, since the dawn of mobile devices and the increasing usability of them to browse the internet, it has been important for many years to update your site to be mobile friendly.
You have probably come across pages whilst browsing on your mobile phone that are not mobile-friendly, and know of the frustration (as well as high bounce rate!) this can cause. So if you don’t have a mobile friendly website, that’s a lot of users that cannot view your site, and a lot of potential clients or customers that you can say goodbye to!
What is responsive design?
A responsive design simply means a website that has been constructed so that all of the content, images and structure of the site remains the same on any device. For example, when a user accesses a site on their desktop, they are getting the full view of the site. But when that same user goes to visit the site from their smartphone or tablet, the site will retract to fit on the smaller screen.
In other words, with a responsive website design, you don’t have to have worry about having different websites for various devices or making sure that your site runs properly on a mobile device. But there are some other really important reasons why you should make the switch to responsive design for your website.
10 Reasons Why your website should be mobile-friendly
- Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites over those that are not mobile-friendly in mobile search results. In April 2015, the Google algorithm change that occurred tweaked the way that Google displays mobile search results. Websites that are optimized for mobile rank better than those who don’t – plain and simple.
- People everywhere use mobile devices to do everything from simple information gathering to purchasing big ticket items and much, much more. The reason? It’s fast and easy. Consumers in every industry want to connect and get what they’re looking for quickly. If you’re not optimized for mobile, you can’t offer your customers that type of experience.
- It helps you build credibility with your customers, your clients, and influencers in your industry. Whether you’re selling B2B or B2C, with a mobile-friendly website, anyone who tries to visit your site on a mobile device will have a proper experience, and that will encourage them to see you as a credible resource for information, products and services.
- It’s becoming a standard best practice. A great many websites are mobile-friendly (usually the most reliable websites, I might add), with more and more coming online every day. Responsive web design has made mobile optimization more straight forward and accessible to everyone, and that means users have begun to expect this level of functionality to come standard when browsing on their mobile devices.
- You can reach more customers, faster. Google rewards websites that are mobile-friendly with higher ranking in mobile search results (See No. 1 on this list). So, simply by the virtue of having a mobile-friendly website, your site will be seen and visited by more people. Making your website mobile-friendly automatically opens your customer base up to anyone performing a mobile search. And even better – customers won’t have to hunt for your site or type in the exact URL to find it – they can just perform a search to find you quickly and easily.
- You’ll make your customers much happier. When a customer or a potential customer accesses your site to find information or look for something you sell, you want the experience to be nothing short of great. Because many people use mobile devices to access the web, only a mobile-friendly website can promise to offer that experience. Happy customers will return to your site and tell others about how great it is. Unhappy customers will do the opposite.
- Because Google wants you to do it. Webmasters know when Google recommends you do something, you should really try to do it. This is the case with making websites mobile-friendly. Google has explained why mobile is so important in their own words, and the number one reason they cite is everyone has smartphones, and they’re constantly using them to search.
- Your website will look great and function well on any device, provided you use responsive web design to build or redesign your site. Why take chances when it comes to mobile optimization? With responsive design, your website will actually respond to the mobile device a person is using to access your site, and it will render to look and function well, no matter what.
- It benefits your reputation. Not just online, but offline as well. People will take note of a website they have a great experience with – and they will also take note of a website they have a bad experience with. Reputation is everything, and most businesses can’t afford to give people a bad experience – digital or otherwise.
- Your business will be seen as modern and relevant. You might offer some of the most useful, valuable, and unique products or services on the market, but if your website’s mobile experience is poor or non-existent, your company will be seen as a digital dinosaur – encouraging people to seek help elsewhere. On the other hand, mobile-friendly websites are seen as contemporary, cutting-edge and legit – they are how you get your foot in the door with anyone that has a smartphone.
Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly are quickly becoming defunct within our fast-evolving digital landscape. As time goes by, more and more websites will emerge that are mobile-friendly, pushing those that are not even farther down the search results page and away from customers.
If you want your website to perform well and support your business, you need to make it mobile-friendly. It can only help you move forward to achieve the growth and success that you’re meant for.
