If you’ve been holding out to make the switch to a mobile friendly site, then you might be running out of time. If your site relies on the power of Google for any fraction of your traffic, then it’s a good idea to make the switch sooner rather than later.
All signs suggest that mobile is going to be the future. Especially if you’re in a consumer-oriented business. As mobile phones become more powerful and cheaper expect the market and preferences for these devices to continue to grow.
Below we dive into four reasons you must have a mobile friendly website, if you want to continue to compete for the long run.
1. Your Search Engine Rankings Will Continue To Decline
Google’s earlier search engine update sought to penalize sites that didn’t have a mobile friendly design. This caused sites that weren’t properly optimized for the mobile web to lose their search engine rankings. However, if the necessary tweaks were made, they would see their search engine rankings restored.
Google made another announcement last month that stated they would begin ranking sites that aren’t mobile friendly even lower than before. Yikes!
If your business relies on Google sending you any form of mobile traffic, then you can’t afford for this great source of targeted traffic to dry up. Especially when all it takes is a website redesign to position your site for success.
2. Your User Experience Will Suffer
User experience means a lot these days. If a visitor is immediately overwhelmed when landing on your website, chances are they’ll begin looking for the back button. Today there is so much competition, it’s fairly easy for a customer to find another company offering a similar service. But, you can stand out by providing the best experience for your user.
By not having a mobile friendly website your user will have a hard time viewing and using your website on a smaller screen. Instead of reading your content, or purchasing your products, they’ll be busy trying to zoom in or re-size the window.
Having a mobile friendly website is a great way to guarantee your users a good experience, no matter the screen size it’s viewed upon.
3. Non-Mobile Sites Have Poor Loading Speeds
Loading speed is already a ranking factor in Google’s desktop algorithm, but you can bet it’s going to play a role in ranking mobile sites as well. Google introduced an initiative called AMP a little while ago that helps to improve mobile website speeds. By having this tool active as well as the current mobile friendliness test, you can assume Google will continue to push for mobile well into the future.
If you’ve only been optimizing the desktop version of your website, then you’re missing out on a large part of the equation. To truly cover all of your bases you need to ensure your site loads quickly, no matter what sized screen it’s viewed upon.
4. The Mobile Market Only Continues To Grow
The mobile market is slowly becoming a dominant force. You might even be getting a significant portion of your existing traffic from mobile. If you have Google Analytics installed, you can find this information by navigating to Audience>Mobile>Overview. This will tell you how much of your existing traffic comes from mobile devices.
Mobile is much more than a trend. It’s the way the marketplace is going, especially if your business exists in a B2C setting. It’s always a good idea to position yourself on the right side of existing and future trends.
If you’ve been contemplating a redesign, but haven’t pulled the trigger due to the workload ahead, then let us simplify the process for you, and get in touch with our Jacksonville web design team today.
