“Mobile ready websites increase sales”
It’s a bold statement, but one that can be said with more confidence as each day passes in this new smartphone encouraged “instant access” world we live in.
THE MOBILE MARKET TAKES OVER
As of May 2013, 56% of the mobile market is using a Smartphone (iPhone, Droid, etc.) to browse the web on the go. Not far behind, is the new boom in the tablet market, now overtaking the desktop world.
It’s a new reality that as high as 25% of your web traffic is being viewed on a non-desktop device.
These are questions to ask yourself roleplaying for your customer:
- Does the website look good 2.5-3 inches wide?
- Can you accurately click a navigation item without zooming?
- Can you read the text without zooming?
- Are you personally having a favorable experience viewing your website on a phone?
If the answer to any of those questions is no, it’s time to make changes so they are all “yes” for when you’re potential customers visit you online in the future!
RESPOND TO YOUR CUSTOMER’S NEED WITH RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN
As quickly as “mobile websites” came into the picture, they soon left. Now we talk about “Responsive” websites. Imagine if your car could change shapes based on the size of every parking spot available at a busy mall? Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Now apply that thought to a website. Wouldn’t it be great if the same site changed to accommodate what your customer is viewing it on? Of course it would!
Benefits to a responsive website:
- User friendly viewing across multiple devices and screen sizes
- Faster delivery of information results in faster lead generation
- Increased organization and flow for compartmentalized viewing on smaller devices
- Consistent linking (part 1), so when a search engine crawls your website it only indexes one page regardless of viewing device
- Consistent linking (part 2), so if a visitor on a phone sends a page link to a user on a desktop they are using the same link
Consider your customer base and how / when they would “look you up” or “need information” so you can best prepare to server them information via your website in the most user friendly way possible.