In October of 2016, worldwide Internet usage on mobile devices surpassed usage on desktops/laptops for the first time in history. What does that mean for your business’ website? It means now more than ever your website needs to be mobile friendly.
What Does Responsive Mean?
When a website is responsive it automatically adapts to any screen size, so it is easy to navigate on any device. This means no more pinching your screen! And this means an enjoyable experience for all of your users whether they visit your site on their desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. Beyond user experience there are other important reasons to have a responsive website.
Improved Search Engine Rankings
Google leads the way in search engine requirements. While no one knows how they do it, they do provide guidance and rules for improving your site’s search engine results. For example, Google has incorporated mobile-friendliness into its search algorithms. Theoretically, that means if there are two sites that are indexed identically, but one is mobile-friendly and the other is not, Google rewards the mobile-friendly site with a higher-ranking position in the organic search results. And with Google’s rollout of their “Mobile-First Index” they started using the mobile version of the Internet as the primary source of content when indexing. What does this mean? A mobile version of a site might show up in search engine results ahead of the desktop version even if the user is searching on a desktop. For these reasons Google recommends developing your site’s content to be accessible for audiences regardless of the device.
Be Social
Around 80% of all social media is now consumed on mobile devices. If your company does any digital marketing/advertising through social media channels, you need to make sure your website and all landing pages are mobile-friendly for visual appeal and ease of navigation on all screen sizes.
Online Shopping on the Go
A whopping 80% of consumers regularly use their mobile devices to shop online. The number of online transactions has steadily been growing across mobile devices with a particularly high purchase rate for tablet users. If you have an e-commerce site that is not optimized to easily view your products and services on mobile devices, you are likely missing out on potential sales.
In shorts, implementing responsive styling on your website will ensure that your customers and prospects can access your site information and make contact with you from wherever they are, on any device.