5 Important Reasons Why Small Businesses Need a Mobile-Optimized Website
Happy Tuesday all,
On my last blog post, I touched briefly on the importance of using a mobile optimized website for social media marketing. The truth is, these days an increasing number of users are using their smartphone and mobile devices to surf the web. Just take a look at the diagram below:
Mobile internet usage is projected to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014. (Source: Microsoft Tag). Furthermore, ComScore.com reported back in January that mobile devices accounted for 55% of Internet usage in the United States. Yet and still, a large number of businesses (both big and small) have not yet taken advantage of getting their websites optimized for mobile users.
The easiest method to use to create a mobile-optimized website is to build a responsive site – using a responsive website theme or template. Responsive website themes and templates adjust the layout of the screen to where the page, URL, and images all remain the same.
Why should your website be optimized for mobile devices?
There are several reasons that you should optimize your website for mobile devices. Today, we will cover 5 of them:
Reason 1: Enhanced user browsing experience for your visitors. Sites optimized for mobile greatly enhance the user experience for your visitors making it easier for them to navigate your website, read your content, share your content via the web. This is clearly illustrated in the picture below.
Reason 2: Compatibility with multiple types of devices. Mobile optimized and responsive websites work well across various platforms and mobile devices that include desktop pcs, laptops, netbooks, smartphones, and tablets.
Reason 3: The mobile user market is continuously growing at a very fast pace. Case in point, here are some interesting mobile marketing stats from SmartInsights.com
- 1/2 of all local searches are performed on mobile devices
- 50% of the average global mobile users now use mobile as either their primary or exclusive means of online search
- 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with poorly designed mobile site.
Reason 4: Mobile optimized websites are SEO friendly and can boost search engine rankings. The major search engines – Google, Yahoo and Bing love mobile optimized websites. As Roy McClean of CustomFitOnline.com explains it, having multiple websites with duplicate content will send red flags to the search engines and cause your content to get penalized.
Reason 5: Increased visibility to the mobile market. Sales for mobile devices have reached more than 200 million households. With a mobile optimized website, you will have the ability to reach a broader range of users and prospective customers that use mobile devices for searching the web.
To conclude, in business keeping up with the latest trends in technology and staying ahead of your competitors is very important. If you have yet to get your website optimized for mobile users, there is no better time than the present to do so. Thanks!
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PSsssstt!! I almost forgot to mention that if you or anyone that you know is need of a mobile optimized website, Websites4SmallBiz is at your service. We would be more than happy to assist you with your web design and development project. Cheers!
