Every once in a while, I like going through my old posts and seeing if any information is outdated. I laughed when I got to this post. when this article was originally released in April 2014, the title was: Going Mobile – A Smart Move For Business Websites. As you can see, the new title is “If You Don’t Have a Mobile-Friendly Website, Google Says Get In Back of the Line.”
Here are a few of the original stats from 2014 as compared to updated 2018 stats which is the influence behind how Google treats your website.
According to Google, via the Mobile Marketing Association Survey, 41% of American consumers use their smartphones to access search engines at least once per day. Is your company on that list of results AND viewable on mobile?
Updated in 2018: 53% of American consumers
Think about the last time you needed a business service or store location while on-the-go. More than likely, you pulled out your smartphone or tablet and looked up the business name or the keyword relating to the service/product you needed. Did you find what you were looking for? Your customers and leads are doing the exact same thing – every single day! Let’s take a look at the numbers that tell the whole story:
- 2014: 56% of American adults are now smartphone owners, and that percentage is climbing by the minute! Updated – 2018: 68.4%
- 2014: 48% of American adults use or would like to use a smartphone to shop while in-store or on the go Updated – 2018: 86%
- The “mobile influence factor” (or effect of smartphones on in-store sales/purchases) will increase to $689 billion (or 19% of total store sales) by 2016 Updated – 2018: 27% of total store sales
- NEW DATA: 57% of consumers will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. Similarly, 40 percent of consumers will go to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience
Sources: Statisca.com, emarketer.com
Face it. The smartphone is a business lifeline.
If you think about it, how many times have you searched for information on your phone, landed on a non-mobile friendly website and clicked back for the next website? See, it happens!
Even if your website was mobile friendly a few years ago, will it pass the test today? Just like browsers are always updating on your computer which affects how a website is viewed, mobile operating systems are also always updating. Your website may look good on a mobile device today, but what about a year from now? The Internet is a constantly changing environment. What worked a few years ago may not be viable today.
Here’s our favorite link to test a mobile-friendly website.
https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
This link will tell you if your site is mobile friendly and, if not, what needs to be updated to ensure your customers have the most positive experience.
Do you know why else this link is important? Because Google decides whether your website is mobile-friendly. In 2016, Google announced that they would reward or push mobile-friendly websites toward the top of the page.
How Businesses Can Start & Improve Their Mobile Presence
Design 4 Dot Com has helped many small and mid-sized businesses set up responsive design, mobile websites ensuring accessibility to all mobile users.
Quick FAQs About Mobile-Friendly Sites
- A “mobile-friendly website” means a website is in responsive design. When you incorporate “responsive design” it means the website design itself is responsive to the size of the screen on which it is displayed
- Which web development tool is mobile friendly? Our favorite content management system is WordPress. Most of the themes are responsive and provide the best user experience.
- Multiple Device Optimization means the new site will display in an optimized view for multiple devices (i.e., smartphones, tablets, etc.)
That’s the essentials, but there’s so much more to creating a successful mobile website. Maybe you feel tech-savvy enough to use web content management tools offering general templates to build your own mobile site, but be aware that there’s a big downside. The majority of small-to-midsize business owners lack the know-how to convert an HTML website to a mobile website format – as well as resources for the upkeep necessary after the initial launch.
There are already so many mobile device platforms on the market; the iPhone, Android, Google Phone, Windows Phone, etc. and new ones introduced regularly. Each new version or upgrade of the mobile device platform may interfere with the functionality of the template you built for your existing website. Don’t think you’re at a disadvantage because you’re a small business. Even large companies struggle with this concern and seek out web designers to help keep them ahead of their competitors.
At Design 4 Dot Com, we specialize in helping small to midsize businesses, like yours, create a strong online presence through search engine optimization and mobile-friendly web design. We offer affordable, reliable and effective solutions for making your website mobile-friendly with responsive functionality via the WordPress content management system. We’ll help explain how a mobile-friendly site design works in clear and easy to understand terms – even if ‘tech’ is not your area of expertise. Design 4 Dot Com’s successful experience in mobile website design gives your company the advantage it needs.
Bottom Line: Don’t miss this chance to grow your business. A few years ago, mobile devices accounted for less than 10% of our client’s traffic to their new website. Now the average is 40%. Can you really afford to turn away 40% of potential clients?
If you want to see how your website measures up to your competitors, we can help you with a competitor audit. As always, we offer a free consultation for this type of project. Contact us today to see how we can help you attract more business online.
