In my humble opinion, if you are a business…and specifically a local business, you absolutely need a mobile website. And if you have put the creation of a mobile website at the end of your (long) list of “Things To Do” , you may want to strongly consider putting it at the front. In other words, your Number 1 New Year’s Resolution should be to build a mobile website.
Here are five good reasons why you need a mobile website, outlined so well in an excerpt from a recent ClickNewz! article:
“1. If your current website is not mobile optimized, chances are it is a nightmare for your mobile visitors to use. Smaller screen sizes and mobile web browsers mean your website displays differently on a Smartphone.
Without mobile-optimized code, most websites force mobile users to scroll or zoom, or become unusable because the content is squished together. Fonts can become so small that they are unreadable, and if your website uses Flash, you can be certain no one on an Apple device will be viewing it.
Mobile websites are not just minimized versions of your main website – they must be responsive, fast and designed with the mobile user in mind. Besides adapting to the smaller screen of a mobile device, mobile websites are easier to navigate using touch and help visitors get to the information and features they need faster.
2. Mobile Search is a universe of its own.
Everyone seems to live a fast-paced life nowadays, depending on their mobile devices to get information. What’s more, they expect it instantly.
Google®, Bing® and Yahoo!® each index mobile and mobile-compatible sites separately from non-mobile sites and are investing heavily in developing faster and better tools for mobile search to meet this demand.
After social networking, searching is the second thing mobile internet users do the most with their mobile web browsers. The earlier you adopt new technologies, the more time you have to build high rankings and secure a highly visible position.
As an added benefit, you are more likely to be discovered and found by local mobile users thanks to the way mobile search includes your website in local search results, maps and other localized applications.
With 50% of local searches being done on a mobile device, that’s a big deal!
3. More people buy mobile phones and tablets than desktop computers.
The shift in how many people access websites using their handheld mobile device has been dramatic to say the least. A staggering 2 billion people worldwide have a mobile device. More and more people will be browsing the web and searching for you using these devices, so capitalizing on this growing demand is critical for your future success.
Because of the growing popularity of tablets and Smartphones, having a mobile website is no longer a novelty targeting the affluent. Rapidly developing nations have far more Smartphone users than desktop computer users, which means your global reach increases significantly by building a mobile web presence
4. Not everyone is doing it.
It sounds counter-intuitive, but the name of the game is to stay ahead of the curve. The mobile web is still an emerging idea so your competitors may not be aware of the need to optimize for mobile. Less than 5% of online businesses have a website that is compatible with mobile. By going mobile now, you will be more experienced and in tune with your mobile market later, which is a huge competitive advantage.
Mobile traffic to sites designed for the desktop Web has increased in 2011 from 8.3% to 11%, a 32% increase!
5. People spend money on mobile.
42% of mobile internet users earn over $80,000 a year, and spend more on their mobile devices and mobile activities. In 2009, $1.6 billion was spent on the purchase of goods through mobile apps and websites. This is exciting news if you are an entrepreneur selling goods or services online.
According to mobile research, people have more trust and confidence in buying from a handheld device over their desktop computer, likely due to associating desktops with malware and other threats.
Shopping isn’t the only way mobile users are spending money. Budgets for mobile marketing are expected to exceed 500 million by 2012, a huge indication of just how booming the mobile industry is becoming.
This translates into more opportunity for your business from an advertising perspective, and potentially more ad revenue for your mobile website.”
Even if you don’t plan to do anything else ‘mobile’, it is imperative that you at a very minimum have a mobile presence in the form of a mobile website. With the Morgan Stanley prediction that more people will be accessing the internet through their mobile phones (versus their computers) within the year, you need to be sure that people can, at the very least, find you and interact with you in a mobile-friendly way.
Contact me today to get your website mobile-friendly!
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