Why It’s Important to Create a Mobile Friendly Website for Your Business

It’s hard to believe that anyone has to write this article in 2017. The internet is 26 years old, and 88 percent of the US population 18 and older use the internet on a regular basis – with 77 percent owning and using a smartphone, and over 50 percent owning and using a tablet to access the internet. Broadband is as much a utility in many homes as lights, water, and power, with 77 percent of Americans having broadband access in their home. 49 percent of US households use wireless only – not cable, not satellite, and not DSL technologies – to access the internet. The reasons above alone should drive anyone to create a mobile friendly website.

Eight Dos and Don’ts to Make Your Site a Success

• Phone numbers should be click to call in order to bring in customers who don’t want to go back and forth between the website and their keypad.

• Leave room for fingers. Buttons, tabs and menu items need to have enough padding around them so that customers can tap without hitting other items.

• Get social. “Share” buttons allow your potential customers and current customers to share their find on social media and influence others to follow their lead.

• Your customers should not have to zoom in on the site, scroll from side to side, or otherwise spend time working to make your site readable. Intuitive sites do that automatically by recognizing the device’s signature and adjusting to suit.

• Hamburger menu icons need to be clear and visible, then drop down to offer the navigation interface with a minimum of fuss.

• No popups. Don’t be the reason that someone installs an ad blocker. Yes, you can place ads on your site, but popups that load before the content – or delay access to the content they want – usually mean that by the time the ad loads, the moment is gone.

• No autoplay. It’s annoying and distracting on a desktop, and it’s even more so on a smaller device. It also takes up a phone’s ram and storage capacity. Give customers the choice on whether or not to play a video.

• Flash is dead. Get it off your site. Other standards such as WebGL and HTML5 are taking the place of Flash in the web developer’s tool kit, and plug-ins are on their way out.

Create a Mobile Friendly Site That Works!

There’s a lot of DIY out there, telling you that you can have a fully functional site right out of the box with a few point and clicks. In truth, unless you’ve built some site, the learning curve is pretty steep, and mobile standards change. 4 Step Studio has the experience you need in all aspects of web design to make sure your site looks as good on a smartphone screen as it does on a desktop. Contact us and let’s create a mobile friendly website to get you and your business where you need to be!

Fill out this form to get a free consultation from our web design professionals.

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