Right now there are 16 million smartphone users in Australia and it’s been predicted that by the end of 2014, mobile use will overtake PC use as a way for people to access the Internet. It’s never been more important for your business to have a website which looks as good on mobile as it does on a computer.
We all know how frustrating it can be when you load up a site on your phone and you have to scroll endlessly across to find the navigation bar, or the information you’re looking for doesn’t display properly. If you’re like me, you’ll probably give up quickly and move on to the next site that has the products or information you’re looking for.
I experienced the pain of a non-responsive website myself recently when I found something I wanted to buy online and went into the city to pick it up. Not sure where the shop was, I tried to look it up on my phone. Unfortunately I couldn’t even navigate to the contacts page to find the address or phone number and I ended up having to go somewhere else.
It’s not just about looks – if your site isn’t responsive, your customers could find it hard to use and you could miss out on sales.
What is a responsive website?
If you want to see what a responsive website looks like, visit www.businessblueprint.com.au and grab a corner. Drag it around to make it bigger or smaller and notice how the rest of the content adjusts in scale to fit the screen size, no matter what it is.
A responsive website is more than just a website that looks good on mobile. A responsive website is actually programmed to detect what size screen it’s being viewed on and adjust the display size and resolution accordingly.
With the recent release of the iPhone 6 and the new trend towards “phablets”, there’s no standard screen size for a smartphone any more. If you want your site to be viewable and functional on any device, having a responsive website has never been more important.
Why is it so important to have a mobile friendly site?
There are five main reasons why a responsive website is essential for your business.
- Traffic
- Reputation and rankings
- Better email marketing results
- Improve direct sales
- The future of your business
If you aren’t sure how many people are looking at your site from a mobile phone, you can check on your analytics. You might be surprised how many there are. These are all the potential customers you could be losing if your site doesn’t work properly on their devices.
You only have one chance to impress your visitors, and if they can’t use your site, or it doesn’t look professional, they may go elsewhere. Recently, Google indicated that they will be penalising non-responsive sites, especially if they use out-dated videos, have pages that won’t display on smartphone or if they are too slow to load on different devices. A non-responsive site could potentially affect your search engine rankings in the future.
As well as your website, it’s important that your marketing emails are easily viewable on any device, especially if you want readers to click on the links and convert. Most email service providers offer responsive templates – make sure you’re using one otherwise your readers could get frustrated and/or unsubscribe.
Consumers are increasingly using smartphones to make online purchases. The estimated rate of smartphone users buying directly online is around 50%, which is expected to increase to two thirds by 2017. To make the most of this fast growing market your site needs to be responsive
Mobile phones are just the first step in a whole future of sweeping changes. Your business needs to get on top of technology now, otherwise your long-term growth could be affected. If your competitors have responsive sites and you don’t, you run the risk of falling behind.
A responsive website can benefit you through increased traffic and sales, a better user experience and more growth in the future.
If you’re not sure how to get started, talk to us at Business Blueprint or come along to my next free 52 Ways event where I’ll show you step by step how to create a responsive website as well as giving you a whole new set of tools to take your business to the next level.
