“Mobile first” is something that you’ll hear more often when it comes to your online marketing efforts, as more people use smartphones and tablets to connec to the internet. There is no question that the usage of mobile devices will increase exponentially in the years to come. Business owners have to take that into consideration when building their website. Unless you are 100% positive that your audience doesn’t use mobile devices (and who might that be?), then representing businesses with mobile ready websites is now required. So if you have a static website that is not mobile friendly yet, here are 4 reasons why it needs to be a mobile ready websites:
1) Mobile Ready Website: Increase Traffic and Decrease Bounce Rate
About 25% of all global web searches are conducted on a mobile device by over one billion users. That is no small figure and will only increase as time goes on. Those users are more likely to ignore your website if it’s not convenient to their browsing habits. No matter how much you spend on your online marketing, without a mobile ready website, you’re missing out on a big chunk of potential customers.
Obviously, mobile users will have trouble browsing websites that are only optimized for desktops. If they have to pinch and zoom to see images or read illegible fonts, they’ll quickly lose their patience and leave your website. Making your website mobile ready will provide a much better experience for your mobile users and increase the chance they’ll engage with your website.
2) Mobile Ready Website: Increase Conversions
Many mobile users are impulse-driven, and more likely to purchase something when the opportunity presents itself. Your mobile ready website creates that opportunity. Desktop versions of websites have been notoriously hard to convert users, with an obscured call to actions and too much information. As mobile websites don’t have that much real estate, you’re forced to weed out all the non-essentials and your call to action becomes the most prominent item, increasing your chance at conversions.
3) Mobile Ready Website: GPS
GPS isn’t just useful for finding directions. Mobile users often use GPS to find nearby restaurants or services on the go. If your business is offline and your website is not mobile ready, you’re potentially driving a customer away right in your own area.
4) Mobile Ready Website: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Google’s Hummingbird algorithm update was an effort to better understand not only long-tail search queries but also natural-language or spoken queries. Who speaks their search queries instead of typing them? Mobile users, of course. Your website, as well as your entire content marketing strategy, must be mobile friendly, as Morgan Stanley analysts expect mobile will surpass desktop usage in the very near future.
Smartphones and tablets have come a long way. They are now fully functional devices replacing what only desktop computers were able to do. Pretty soon, people’s first experience online is going to be on a mobile device. Websites have to evolve in order to benefit from this inevitable trend. Because mobile users are more impulse-driven, creating a good and speedy user experience is essential in order to gain and retain them as customers. On the internet, it all starts with a mobile ready website.
