The Importance of a Mobile-Friendly Website

Upon reading up on 2015 digital trends, one that was very noticeable was the fact that more and more businesses are going to need to have a mobile-friendly website. The reason why is mainly because of the rise in the number of people owning smart phones and using them as an internet source, rather than a desktop computer.

Take a walk through any shopping centre or go eat at any restaurant and you’re guaranteed to see people engaging in some way on their mobile phones. It is extremely important for businesses to take note of this and to adapt to the mobile world.

We live in a busy world where everyone is on the go; and as a business, you want your website and information to be found by potential customers wherever they are – so let’s take a look at why this is so important and how it will benefit you. 

What makes a website mobile-friendly?

Before we get started on why having a mobile-friendly website is fast becoming vital for the sake of your company, you need to understand what exactly being mobile-friendly means.

While most websites, when searched for on a mobile device, will show up and open; not all of them will display properly. The web pages won’t fit the device’s screen size correctly and some features on the website may not even work or be hard to navigate around. When your website is mobile-friendly, however, it means it is responsive. When opened, your website will display perfectly on the device’s screen, making it easy for visitors to navigate and get hold of your information. 

Why should you have a mobile-friendly website? 

There are plenty of reasons as to why having a mobile-friendly website is important, but we decided to focus on three important points:

The use of mobile phones is on the rise

2015 saw a massive increase in the use of mobile phones – there are an estimated 4 billion phones globally at the moment – and the number is only going to keep rising. With more and more people choosing to invest in smart phones, they are able to have the internet at their fingertips. This is good news for your business if you have a website that is mobile-friendly. If not, it’s time to invest in one as the world won’t be seeing a decrease in mobile usage any time in the near future.

Be your customers’ first choice

There will always be competition amongst businesses and in the digital world it’s vital to stay ahead of your competitors by embracing the current trends. Not only will having a mobile-friendly site help you out with your search engine rankings, it will also alleviate customer frustration by allowing them easy access to information on your website – no matter where they are.

Let’s face it; with the internet literally in our pockets, most of us these days whip out our mobile phones if we need to Google something or find contact details for a business. You want your business to be found on the internet even when your potential customers aren’t at home sitting in front of a desk computer.

Remember, a website that doesn’t work well or fit well on mobile devices will have your visitors leaving your website and potentially visiting a competitor of yours who does have a mobile-friendly website.

Better customer user experience

When it comes to business, your customer is often number one. As mentioned before, many business owners don’t want their customers to leave their websites feeling frustrated and having not found the information they were looking for because their websites weren’t compatible with mobile devices.

Many of us have been in a situation before where we’re driving and need directions to a company, or we’re late for a reservation at a restaurant and need to find their number to call them to let them know we’re on our way. What do most of us do in these situations? We take out our phones, search for the company’s website and find the number or directions on there.

Of course there are many more benefits to having a mobile-friendly website, but we wanted to show you how it can benefit your customers and why it’s important to take note of the increase of mobile phone usage. At Online Innovations, our website development team can design and develop your website to make sure it’s responsive, or even change your existing website to a responsive website.

Give Bronwen a call on 041 365 4919 or email her at bronwen@onlineinnovations.com for more information on the process of making your website responsive.