Your mobile unfriendly website – we need to talk
Darryl Britton
We bring the trades a minimum of 10-20 new CUSTOMERS every single month. 100s of leads if you want them.
Back in 2015, a marketing earthquake struck the world of Google search. With one announcement, the online world was changed forever. That announcement was from Google, which stated that websites that were not ‘mobile-ready’ would soon feel their wrath and be downgraded in their search results in favour for websites that were mobile-ready. This event became etched in marketing history as ‘Mobilegeddon’ – and for many websites, when it hit, traffic dried up overnight. Fast forward to 2018, some three years later, and what does Mobilegeddon mean for those that still haven’t caught up? In this blog article, we find out…
51% of customers say that they use mobile devices to discover new brands and products
Mobilegeddon (and the three years since)
“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices”.
- Google on changes to their search rankings
That was the initial announcement back in 2015, and just a year later, mobile traffic officially surpassed desktop traffic – accounting for 51% and 49% respectively. This was the tipping point. Businesses simply had to catch up. And today it’s more important than ever to be mobile-ready, as mobile browsing continues to dominate, with 63% of all traffic being mobile, compared to 37% on desktop.
Step back a moment… what is a mobile-ready website?
A mobile-ready website is one that…
- Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Uses text that is readable without the need to zoom
- Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
- Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
Our website is mobile ready – here’s how it looks on various devices…
STOP: Not sure if your website is mobile-ready?
Enter your website address in this Google tool to find out
Four solid reasons your mobile experience must be exceptional…
Google ranking is far from the end of the story when it comes to having a mobile-ready website. The following four pointers demonstrate just how valuable a website can be when it’s designed with mobile in mind…
#1 – A mobile-ready website delivers the best user experience
There are critical differences between desktop and mobile. Such as mobile sometimes relying on the carrier network, rather than Wi-Fi (so your website needs to be fast), and using fingers and thumbs to browse, rather than a mouse (so your website must feature large buttons and suitably positioned links) and having features such as one click call and a Google map to get in touch or visit your store. When all these quirks are considered, you can craft a website that is truly made for the mobile browser (rather than just tick boxing for the sake of Google’s rules).
#2 – A mobile-ready website is capable of boosting sales
Those on mobile are often eager and ready to buy, in fact - 88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours.
#3 – A non-mobile website could drive your would-be customers to a competitor
As a final pointer, we need to emphasise that any old mobile-ready website isn’t enough. It must be well designed and deliver a good user experience. If it doesn’t, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% will visit a competitor’s site instead.
Almost 1 in 5 businesses STILL don’t have a mobile-friendly website. Is yours amongst them? It’s time to catch up – let’s talk about the magic we could weave for your future customers and their online experience with you. Call the team on 01953 852939 or send us a message via our contact page, and we’ll be right back in touch.