If you’ve ever used your phone to view a website that was not optimized for mobile, then you know how necessary this is. A website that does not function properly on mobile devices is not just irritating to the user—it will cause them to leave your site as quickly as they came.
Do you know how people are finding and purchasing your product or service? On their phones, especially if you own an ecommerce site. In case you haven’t figured this out already, let me assure you that if your website is not mobile-optimized, then a great number of your would-be customers are passing right over your business.
What does a poorly-optimized website look like on a mobile platform?
We’ve all seen it. You log on to a site using your mobile browser, and the print is tiny—either way too small to read, or improperly sized.
Then, you have to zoom in or scroll over, up and down, and all over the place to be able to view what’s on the page.
You want your customers to be able to use all of your features.
Without a phone-friendly site, some elements or features are either hidden or unavailable to the mobile user.
When you optimize your site for the mobile platform by either redesigning your site or creating a mobile app, you ensure that everything that’s accessible on your full site, is accessible on mobile, as well.
Do you really need a mobile app? Bear in mind that you’ll have to create one for iPhone, as well as Android.
While creating a mobile app for your business is the most accessible and effective route for mobile users, it can be costly if you hire someone to build it, time-consuming if you decide to do it yourself.
Based on your resources and user base, you’ll have to decide whether a mobile app is the best option for your business.
If your site is not mobile-optimized, then Google doesn’t like you.
As of April 2015, Google began penalizing websites if they are not mobile-optimized. Google really does want to provide the most credible, accurate, and relevant information for their millions of searchers.
The idea is that users will have easier access to quality search results, no matter what device they use to view it; so, if you’re concerned about your Google ranking, you’ll have to prepare your website for mobile browsers.
Consider a full work-over for your website.
Has it been awhile since your site has been updated? Was it ever good in the first place? You might want to start from scratch and rebuild a better, mobile-optimized one this time around.
If you built a DIY site yourself and the result was not stellar, then it couldn’t hurt to redesign a fresh and functional site.
This time, maybe try hiring a professional to create it for you. If you’re dead-set on doing it yourself, there are plenty of tools out there to allow you to quickly build a beautiful website, even if you don’t have an ounce of coding skills.
Site builders like Squarespace and Wix provide will have you up and running fast, with mobile optimization included.
The longer you avoid this, the more money you leave on the table.
Last year, close to one-third of all purchases in the U.S. were made from a mobile platform, including tablets.
This is really common sense. You know that everyone and their mother is on their smartphone for entirely too much time, every day.
You also know that all of these people (probably including yourself) are buying stuff on their smartphones, when they’re out, when they’re at home, and even when they’re laying in bed.
This is just too blatant an opportunity to neglect; you have to get your website mobile-friendly, and there is no time to waste because the trend is showing no signs of slowing.
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.