Why Your Website Needs to Go Mobile

For many small to mid-sized businesses, making the company website mobile-ready sounds like a huge hassle without any promise of return. These small to mid-sized businesses are, however, completely wrong. Mobile web browsing is on the rise, with Smart Insights reporting that, as of 2014, online data use for mobile devices has overtaken desktop use by a significant margin—51 percent for mobile and 42 percent for desktop.

While mobile apps are definitely king when it comes to getting mobile web traffic, and indeed account for a great deal of the mobile data in use today, investing that much time and effort can be counterproductive if your brand isn’t easily recognized. However, a big chunk of the pie is still coming from mobile web browsing, and you need to be on board for a few key reasons:

• More than 25 percent of all web searches are made with a mobile device, meaning one out of every four visitors to your website (via web browser rather than an app) could be mobile visitors.
• The majority of mobile visitors will leave a site if it fails to load in 3 seconds.
• Almost 40 percent of mobile shoppers will abandon a purchase if the shopping cart and checkout process aren’t mobile-optimized.
• According to the Huffington Post, 80 percent of purchases made on mobile are considered “impulse buys,” which offer a greater opportunity for up-selling.

Taking these points into account, mobile website design is more important now than it’s ever been. This isn’t necessarily a matter of creating a separate mobile site, either; the best online experience is one that transfers seamlessly between devices and resolutions. There’s more to mobile web design than just scaling, after all. A page that’s cut into three columns may look great on a desktop, but scaling that to fit a smartphone presents an unattractive and unfriendly user experience. Instead, rather than opting for scaling or utilizing separate sites, it’s often possible to optimize your website using fluid columns and other coding tricks to display clearly on any device.

Using these design tricks assures that your site displays in a single column on mobile devices without eliminating the information provided in your other columns. Instead, the content fluidly rearranges itself into designated areas above or below each segment, making it possible to display clear images, video and text without compromising the full site experience.

To make sure that your website is optimized for mobile, make sure your site does the following:

1. Loads in 3 seconds or less
2. Features simple and clear navigation
3. Has properly scaled and easy to read content
4. Includes a recognizable and engaging call to action
5. Provides a great user experience

If your site isn’t up on all these points, it may be time to bring in a professional to get you up and running for a mobile audience. You’ll be glad you did!

Are you ready to get serious about improving your businesses mobile presence? Contact 4 Step Studio today by filling out this form to get started!

About 4 Step Studio

4 Step Studio is an online marketing agency that specializes in website design and redesign, SEO, social media and more. Our team of experts focuses on helping small business get found online, while educating them on what will make them successful in the digital world. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.4StepStudio.com