Why is having a mobile compatible Website so important!?!

I wanted to tackle this question, since I seem to get it often.

Most simply put, the age we are living in is a mobile age. There are more and more mobile devices being sold every year and used in place of laptops and desktop machines. Tablets are projected to outsell pc's this year according to techcrunch.com. And will continue to outsell pc's at a growing rate over the coming years. But you may ask...why is that really a big deal?

Ask yourself a few questions about your website...

1. Have you ever shopped from your smartphone or tablet?

2. Have you tried to use YOUR own website on your phone or tablet?

3. Have you tried to use your own website on any OTHER phones or tablets? (it is usually best to try your site on an apple device and Android to be sure it looks as you desire on both devices)

4. Was your site easy for you to use on those devices?

A study done by Google on smartphone uses, shows that 80% of smartphone owners shop on their phones. (according to readwrite.com) THAT IS HUGE! And that study does not include the number of tablet users. Online sales are projected to hit 1.4 TRILLION dollars in 2015. Online sales in the US have increased steadily by 10% each year since 2009.(according to cscstatistics)

All of that to say, even if you have not shopped online...most people have.

You can check the traffic on your site to see how much is from mobile traffic. In the video below I will show you how to check it, and what important numbers to look for.

Now that you understand WHY having a mobile compliant website is important you have to ask yourself how can I make sure my website design is very mobile friendly?

If you don't know if your website design is mobile compliant, please feel free to contact me and I can scan your website.

If you DO know your website is not mobile compliant, but you are confused about your options let me take a minute to explain.

NOTE: AS OF APRIL 21ST 2015 GOOGLE HAS CHANGED THEIR ALGORITHM IN THE SEARCH ENGINE. IF YOUR SITE DOES NOT MEET THEIR GUIDELINES OF A MOBILE FRIENDLY SITE, THEY WILL NOT SHOW YOUR WEBSITE IN THEIR SEARCH RESULTS. This change will only affect how your site shows up in searches done from a mobile device. It could affect how your site is ranked as a desktop site. Google has hinted toward showing sites that are both mobile and desktop compliant (responsive) some favoritism. )

There are 2 ways that Google is calling your site "mobile compliant":

A custom Mobile Website (explained below)
A Responsive Design (explained below)

A custom mobile website is a separate site that is built to be mobile friendly. (usually with less information than your desktop site) This sites content is usually maintained separately from your desktop site.

A Responsive design can detect the device viewing it (whether it is a mac, pc, ipad, Android tablet, Iphone, or Android phone) and it will adjust the site to fit the device best.(shown in the image in the beginning of this article)

As a WebsiteForge customer you automatically get a FREE mobile website. It DOES need to be configured and setup to display content in a format that makes sense to you and your customers. Feel free to contact Support to get this started if you have not already.

Just passing Google's test should NOT be your motivation for updating your website.

When a customer goes to your site, you should want to provide them the best experience they can get to ensure that they not only shop with you or choose your services. but that they Recommend you, and keep coming back!

If you are interested in having a custom mobile site built, or a responsive design done please contact me.

888-558-2446 x212