Mobile friendly websites are quickly becoming the norm for companies looking to cash in on the explosion in smartphone use. And they’re even recommended by Google.
If you’re familiar with the way Google does things, it’s wise to follow their recommendations. Whether you own an online business or a local business.
A mobile website means that your website can be easily seen and navigated on the small screens of smartphones and tablets. A good mobile site also makes it easy for viewers to see important information without having to navigate through a complicated series of steps.
It’s becoming apparent … according to Google itself … that more and more customers are likely to buy when they can visit a seller’s mobile friendly site on their smartphone.
The actual numbers? 67% of respondents said they were more likely to make a purchase if the company’s website was mobile friendly. And 61% said they would leave a site if it wasn’t optimized for mobile.
If Your Site Isn’t Mobile Friendly, You’re Losing Customers!
More than you think.
But what does it mean for your business if you mobilize your website? Well, two things really. Visitors to your mobile site are far more likely to be active as they explore your site. And they’re far more likely to revisit your site.
But what if you don’t mobilize it the right way? Well, your visitors … at least 52% of them … are less likely to become customers if they have a bad experience on your mobile website. In fact, 48% of them decided that a company didn’t care much about their business if their website wasn’t smartphone-friendly.
What Are Customers Looking For From a Mobile Friendly Website?
There are many service providers available who’ll convert your site to a mobile friendly website. But understand that you’ll get exactly what you pay for. There are free ones but they do a poor job. You can pay a little and you can pay a lot.
Do You Need a Mobile Friendly Website?
Well, it’s now apparent that many … maybe even most … of your customers are relying on their smartphones to research, locate, and buy what they’re looking for. In fact, more than 50% of local searches are now done on smartphones!
And a mobile website is probably the most effective tactic you can use for reaching customers with the absolute explosion of smartphone use.
Why Mobile Responsive Design?
First of all, what is mobile responsive design? That’s when a website’s mobile version … smartphone and tablet … has the exact same URL for all versions no matter what screen size. If you visit a mobile website … even the big ones … you’ll see they usually have a different version of their site on a sub-domain.
What does this look like? If your regular website has a URL of www.TheCoolestWebsite.com, your mobile site might be www. M.TheCoolestWebsite.com. Or any one of a number of sub-domains.
But Google has done what it’s always done. Kept us guessing. They now “recommend” that your mobile friendly website have the exact same URL as your regular website.
So you want different sites designed to fit the small screen of a smartphone, the larger screen of a tablet, and the full size screen of a PC or laptop. But all with the exact same URL.
The best way to see this is to view a regular site full size. Basically, a mobile responsive design will look great and be completely readable regardless of what size you shrink it down to.
When your mobile site has the exact same URL as your regular site, you don’t have to do any extra SEO work … or marketing work in general … to get your site to rank higher on the search engines. It’s the same site.
When your mobile site has a different URL, you have to do separate work … SEO and such … to move that site up in the search engine rankings. And Google is now starting to make some noise about preferring that all websites have the same URL no matter what device it was designed for.
If you know anything about Google … especially lately with Panda and Penguin … they can change their policies at any time. And probably will. Making something once recommended mandatory. With penalties for not complying.
Do we have any idea how long Google will let you have the same content on your mobile website if it’s on a different URL? Well of course not. But my recommendation is to play it safe now. Build your mobile site with the exact same group of URL’s as your regular website.
Benefits of Having Your Mobile Friendly Website On The Exact Same URL’s as Your Regular Website
Mobile media has changed how people get information. And how they buy. In fact, mobile traffic now makes up more than 12% of the world’s internet traffic. And it’s exploding.
Your customers … both current and future … are now using their smartphones and tablets to get information instantly. And to make immediate buying decisions from anywhere. At any time.
Consumers are turning to mobile media at an unbelievable rate. For example:
Your customers are using mobile media to search for products and services. They’re making instant decisions … buying decisions … based entirely on the information they’re finding on their smartphone.
It’s now quickly becoming all about mobile. Everyone is talking about it. It’s everywhere. And most people have their email set up on their mobile device now.
I built this website using SBI … Solo Build It. SBI allows users to convert websites to mobile friendly websites with a few clicks. And that’s all it took me to convert my site using the same URL.