It’s 2015. Is Your Website Mobile Ready?

February 3, 2015 / in Information Technology / by Jason Terry

Post by Jason Terry

Did you know that more people use a mobile device to access the internet than a PC or Mac?  Do a search on Google for “website traffic from mobile higher than desktop” and you will see about 259 million results with more information.

I did you a favor and grabbed three of my favorites from the first 50 results:

• February 28th, 2014: (CNN)
  Mobile apps overtake PC internet usage in U.S.
• July 8th. 2014: (Search Engine Watch)
  Mobile now exceeds PC
• August 6th, 2014: (Shopify)
  Mobile Now Accounts for 50.3% of all ecommerce traffic

What Does This Mean For You?

The fact that more people use their cell phone or table to access the internet has been missed by many businesses.  Pull up ten websites of companies that you do business with… I’d be surprised if more than two or three of them are mobile friendly.  You can test their sites as well as your own with the free tool from Google that I link to below.  Odds are your site isn’t mobile friendly either.

Potential Penalty in Google Search Results

There are rumors that Google is going to start giving more credit to mobile friendly sites when presenting search engine results.  In other words, if your competitor’s website is mobile friendly, it could be listed before yours just because it’s mobile friendly.  It hasn’t happened yet, but I think it makes complete sense, especially if the search was done from a mobile device (and Google knows that when it happens.)

Frustrated Clients

If your website isn’t mobile friendly, you are making it harder for your clients, vendors and prospects to see the content on your website.  They have to pinch and zoom all over your home page to try to find the button or menu they need to click on.  And often the button they are looking for is the “Contact Us” button.  Do they eventually find what they are looking for?  Probably.  But their frustration level surely went up having to fight your website to get the information they wanted.

It doesn’t take much for people to move on if they hit any roadblocks on a website.  Making sure your website is mobile friendly removes a big potential roadblock.

Here’s just one real world example.  Your client is coming to your office to talk about the business you do together.  They think they have your street address in their contacts on their phone, but when they pull it up so they can program their GPS, the street address isn’t there.  So they immediately go to your website to find your address.  At this point, they may be running late to your appointment which is entirely their fault.  And they don’t know where they are going, again their own fault.  But none of that will be in their brain when they try to get the information on your website and they have a hard time doing so.

(Note: this real world story is a compelling argument for you to include your street address and contact information in the footer of every page in your website.  You’d be surprised how often this isn’t the case.)

Test Your Site With This Free Google Tool

Want to test your site to see if Google deems it “mobile friendly?”
Use this free tool from Google to test your site right now.

Fix the Problem

If you find that your site isn’t mobile friendly, talk to your existing web development company and ask how they can make it happen.  If you don’t have a trusted relationship for web development and your offices are in Kansas City, give me a call.  We’ll get you there.