Mobile devices have caused a major shift in buyer behavior. Regardless of whether the buyer is searching for a new set of headphones or a new product for their business, the majority are using their mobile devices to search, learn about and buy these products and services. In fact, according to Statcounter GlobalStats, 57.44% of all web traffic is through mobile devices. So if your website is not mobile-friendly, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers.
What is a mobile-friendly website?
A mobile-friendly website works seamlessly across different devices. It means your website has the ability to adapt to being visited on a mobile device rather than a desktop. If you look at your website from your desktop browser, a tablet or your smartphone, you should have a good experience regardless of which device you are on.
There are several ways to implement mobile device support for your website. For most small businesses, creating your website using responsive design is the easiest and most cost effective means to achieve this mobile-friendly goal. Responsive design means that your website serves the same HTML code to all devices along with different CSS style rules to optimize the site’s interface across the varying devices.
Most WordPress themes today are mobile responsive. But make sure you pick a theme that is lightweight and can be easily customize.
Why you need a mobile-friendly website
Some industries are affected more than others when it comes to mobile traffic to their websites. On average, from 25% to 60% of traffic comes from mobile. Even if your business only gets 25% of its traffic from mobile, that doesn’t mean mobile support and optimization isn’t important.
Mobile-friendly websites make it easier for your customers to find information or purchase your products and services. Take some time to review your website to see if it works properly on a mobile device. Look for the following:
- Simple design and clean graphics with no shifting of content
- Easy navigation to find the important information
- Content that is easy to read
- Big, clickable buttons for your calls to action
- Fast, page load speeds
And just because your website is responsive and looks like it works on a mobile device, make sure it is optimized to work seamlessly on all devices. Test your pages to make sure that:
- Images are responding properly, especially page heroes
- Content grids are collapsing properly so the content makes sense
- Users can fill out and submit forms
- Margins and padding are mobile specific so the website looks professional on the mobile device
- Menus and navigation links are all visible
The benefits of a mobile-friendly website
The key benefits of a responsive mobile-friendly website include:
Lower setup and maintenance costs
The use of a responsive web design involves the use of a single URL. Therefore, there is only one website for all platforms including desktop, tablets and smartphones. This ensures that your content is consistent regardless of the device you are using.
Before responsive web design, you would have to support at least two different versions of the site – one for the desktop and one for the mobile device. This increased costs and caused your content to become inconsistent.
Better search engine ranking
Google indexes and ranks websites based on their mobile first index. This means Google is using the mobile content of a web page to determine its search engine ranking. Since mobile-friendliness is a ranking signal for Google, mobile pages that provide a poor search experience can be demoted in rankings, causing your business to lose precious search engine visibility.
Improved user experience
Websites optimized for mobile devices create a streamlined user experience regardless of the device they are using. If they happen to find you from their desktop but then go back to your website from their smartphone, the experience should be consistent and similar.
In addition, a website that was designed for mobile first will perform better than one designed for the desktop. Fast load times improve the visitor experience, keeping them from clicking away to your competition.
Not just for B2C websites
Everyone knows how prevalent smartphones and tablets are in our personal lives. But the impact of mobile is not just consumers using them for social media, checking email, searching or shopping. According to 2022 B2B eCommerce Trends:
- 60% of B2B buyers reported that mobile played a significant role in the recent purchase
- 61% of B2B buyers use mobile to research products and services
If your business sells to other businesses, you also need to be sure your website supports mobile devices and provides the information these buyers are looking.
Users are on their smartphones more and more. Not providing a quality user experience on all devices can hurt your business. A well-designed and implemented responsive WordPress website is the center of your online presence. Make this a top priority for your marketing so your business stays visible to your target audience.
