Having a well-developed and designed mobile website has always been important, but soon it might be more important than a typical desktop site. Why? With how much we do on our smart phones and tablets on a daily basis, it’s possible becoming more important if want to have any success on your website. Smart phones are now used for just about everything — from finding information for shopping to searching local areas to grabbing a bite to eat. In a recent report from Cisco, “by 2019 there will be nearly 1.5 devices per capita” which means most people will have another mobile device besides a smart phone.
Mobile Usage Overtakes Desktop
With mobile usage on the rise, having a poorly developed mobile website, or lacking one all-together, is just as useless as a screen door on a submarine; it will just sink to the bottom (of results?). Having a mobile website can boost the amount of consumers you would normally reach, sometimes by as much as doubling the amount of viewers. According a fact page that Google pulls together, 85% of Americans are never more than three feet from their cell phones. And a recent Search Engine Watch blog says that 80% of searches start on a mobile device. If your website isn’t mobile friendly, potential clients will quickly go find a site that is.
What People are Searching for Locally
Through a survey conducted by comScore, results showed categories of businesses that are the most popular in local search, and to no surprise, restaurants were among the top. With mobile searches:
- Restaurants are searched for 23 percent of the time.
- Auto service establishments and dealerships at a rate of 10 percent.
- Arts and entertainment at 9 percent.
Approximately 75% of searches performed by mobile devices lead to a purchase, often within a few hours, the survey showed. And compared with other devices, the mobile phone showed the highest conversion rate, with nearly 80 percent of mobile phone searches ending in a purchase.
Mobile Design
But what goes into a good mobile site? When creating a mobile website, it’s important to consider how well the site works with mobile devices. Functionality is key to the design no matter how “pretty” a website looks. If it’s confusing or hard to navigate through the site, the user will either leave it or go to the desktop version. When thinking about the layout of the mobile site, there are some basic things to consider. An example of this would be the information displayed on the first page. The desktop site should have different information displayed compared to mobile site; if the content just rambles on before making a point, the user will quickly leave and look for a site with information more pertinent to their needs.
Better User Experience
Having a mobile website also gives your business a better chance or opportunity of getting in front of a consumer while improving search engine optimization (SEO). To learn more about SEO, check out our blog about 4 Easy Ways To Improve Your SEO Rankings.
“77% of mobile search happens at work or home even though a computer may be accessible” according to Searchengineland.com. A mobile website will improve your search engine ranking and optimize your site when the search originates from a mobile device. A typical looking desktop website on a mobile device makes the experience of going through your website difficult, with the user having to scroll and pinch. A mobile design fixes this and creates returning users.
If you want your website to be reachable by more viewers and you want to compete with your competitors, having a mobile friendly website will help point you in the right direction. If you don’t know how to make your website more mobile friendly, contact us at UZU Media, your local mobile website designers in Colorado Springs. Our team is dedicated to improving your search engine optimization and making websites more user friendly. We can help make your website mobile friendly to adapt to this new era of technology.