The days of a website’s success with features only suitable for users of traditional desktop computers are over. Most people access the internet on more than one device these days. So, as a business owner, it is recommended that you accommodate online shoppers and your account holders who are using laptops, tablets, and cell phones to visit your site.

Until very recent years, a majority of websites were not designed for mobile-friendly operation, and many still don’t render properly on hand-held devices or even on laptops. Most national brands have migrated to apps. Many thousands of other businesses have made the necessary website upgrades to provide a mobile-friendly user experience, including fast, smooth financial transactions. But, too many site owners have still not come to understand mobile compatibility as an essential for maximizing their online revenues.

What if Your Website Is Not Mobile-Friendly?

A website that is not configured for mobile compatibility can cause a frustrating user experience. Current customers and prospects in this situation are often unsure whether they can complete their desired transactions.

There are many ways your website may perform poorly for mobile users. For example:

It may take too long for the site to open or internal pages may take too long to load.
Graphic images and other elements might keep shifting around on the page and/or they might not be visible.
Downloads may be very slow or fail to execute.
Some images and fonts may not scale down to fit the user’s screen size.
Elements may run off the sides or bottom of the screen, requiring the user to scroll to view images or read text.
CTA buttons and other interactive elements may not readily respond to touch commands.
Navigating through the pages of the site may be confusing and difficult, instead of smooth and intuitive.
Downloading may be very slow and plagued with glitches.

Internet users know they have abundant alternatives, so they’re likely to abandon a poorly functioning webpage and just move on to a competitor’s site. That can lead to extremely high bounce rates for owners of sites that are unfit for mobile users.

By contrast, a website that is optimized for mobile use displays pages that all visitors can readily see and interact with on cell phones, tablets, and other devices. Site visitors can use all the functions smoothly from page to page. That means they can enjoy their experience shopping, learning, making purchases, or paying their bill on a mobile-optimized website. So, they won’t hesitate to return to the site again and again.

Business Benefits of a Mobile-Friendly Website

Today, over 60 percent of internet users are on mobile devices, so all businesses need to ensure that their websites are taking advantage of this new market access option. Significant benefits of a mobile-friendly website design for your business include:

Stronger ranking signal for elevated site performance on Google.
Enhanced user experience for reduced bounce rates.
Greater search visibility for increased site traffic.
Higher lead generation for increased sales traffic.
Streamlined functions across all devices for increased market engagement.
Higher mobile conversion rate for increased revenues.
Faster transactions online encourage repeat business.
Major cost savings compared to developing a mobile app.
Enhanced brand identity for greater financial sustainability.
Seamless use, no need for customers and prospects to download an app.

Mobile Optimization Raises Your Site’s Google Ranking!

Since 2015, Google has been giving preferential ranking in its SERPs to sites that are optimized for mobile use. This has significantly impacted the online visibility (which is equal to accessibility) of outmoded sites that do not appropriately accommodate users of hand-held devices.

How to Know if Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

An easy test of your site’s level of functionality for mobile device users is to use your cell phone to open your website. Do all of these elements scale properly to display content and enable you to navigate the site smoothly on the small screen?

Graphic images
Menus
Action buttons
Header fonts
Other page components

If not all of the above functions are operating properly when tested on a cell phone screen, you can safely assume your site needs mobile optimization.

Or, if you want to try a more formal test, you can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. Just enter your site’s URL in your web browser, and the Google system will perform an automated assessment. The system will immediately provide you with a pass/fail evaluation of your site’s mobile worthiness.

To Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

There is no instant solution to optimize your website for mobile shoppers, customers paying their bills, and visitors engaged in other activities with your business online. Transforming your site into a mobile-friendly one will require some web development work.

However, if your site is designed and coded well and supported by a content management system (CMS) database, you have a good start toward mobile optimization. You may only need to switch out page templates and make some comparatively minor adjustments to make the site suitable for mobile devices.

Typically, website owners choose to optimize their sites for mobile by one of these two methods:

Designing a second site for their mobile users, or
Redeveloping their existing site to make it scale properly to any device’s screen size.

The latter option, adapting the existing site to a more mobile-responsive design, is the most common approach.

First Step to a Mobile-Friendly Website

If you have decided to make your business’s website mobile-friendly but do not have advanced IT resources in-house, you will need to collaborate with a reputable web developer. Ask for a free assessment of your site’s design and programming needs for improving its mobile compatibility.

For more information about making your website mobile-friendly or to start the process of upgrading it, contact Element 99 Web Services for a site needs analysis and estimate today!