If there is ONE thing your website needs, it’s the ability to be seen and navigated…and that means having a “mobile responsive website.”  In a nutshell, this means that visitors to your site can easily find the information they’re looking for on any device – desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Why is a Mobile Responsive Website Important?

Mobile devices are outselling personal computers, and many believe that eventually mobile devices will completely replace desktop computing for most people. Today, more than 50% of ALL searches are made on a mobile device.  So if you sell or market anything online, you need to have a mobile responsible website.

A mobile responsive website is even more important if you have a local business, as people tend to search for — and buy — local products and services as a result of a mobile search.

“Nearly 80 percent of local searches on mobile devices turned into purchases, with nearly 90 percent of those purchases being in a physical store (73 percent) or on the phone (16 percent) vs. online (11 percent). Roughly three-fourths (76 percent) of those purchases happened the same day and most (63 percent) within a few hours. However time to purchase varied by category and degree of consideration involved.”

… Furthermore…

“Nearly half of all service, restaurant and travel searchers were looking for a business they have never made a purchase from before.”  Source:  SearchEngineLand.com

A Mobile Responsible Website Can Boost Sales

1. No One Leaves Frustrated – Nothing is more frustrating to a user than clicking a link to your site and not being able to read it. They’ll leave it and go to another site, and probably use another business.  This happened to me just this past weekend.  I was searching for a particular restaurant’s menu on my iPad while I was out and about.  After finding the site and clicking “menu” I was staring at a small section of a PDF menu inside a “frame.”  I could not scroll down the page to see the rest of page 1 of the menu, nor could I see any additional pages of the menu.  The experience was frustrating, and as a result my dinner party for 7 enjoyed a very nice (and expensive!) dinner elsewhere…and the original restaurant likely won’t be visited anytime soon.

2. Your Site Always Looks Great – It won’t matter what device the user is viewing your site with.  Using a website theme with a mobile responsive design works with any device by creating fluid and flexible layouts, using CSS to adapt an entire site to the device or operating system the user prefers…automatically.

3. Your Site Actually Shows Up In Search Results – In April 2015, Google shook things up with their algorithms once again with “Mobilegeddon.”  What this did was omit search results from non-mobile responsive websites.  And since Google is the “King of the Search Engines” if you don’t show up in Google…you just don’t get found.  And that means lost sales…today and in the future.  While Mobilegeddon ONLY affects mobile searches…remember:  more than 50% of ALL search, and 80% of LOCAL search, are done on mobile devices.

What is a Mobile Responsive Website and How Does It Work?

The thing to keep in mind is that mobile responsive website design doesn’t mean just cell phones. It means any type of device the user chooses to use – whether it’s a PC with a large screen, a laptop with a small screen, or a tablet device. The fluid design elements used in mobile responsive design knows how to automatically display your site on each device. Even though mobile devices haven’t taken over yet, it’s important to get on board now because they will.

Creating separate mobile sites and separate specific browser-optimized sites is over if you want to truly compete in the changing and advancing mobile marketplace. By using a mobile responsible theme for your website you don’t have to restrict what different people see and read…only how they see it and read it. This means that your audience will be able to always have access to your products or services regardless of their choice of device.

Taking the approach that each user is unique, and designing responsive sites that don’t rely on one browser or one device, is the best way to go when trying to appeal to your target audience.

This is an often overlooked aspect of website design.  I can’t tell you how many sites I struggle to view and interact with, only to be told, “Oh, you need to view our site in Browser X…that’s the only browser we support.”  Huh?  Really?  I have to download a certain browser to interact with your site?  Forget it!  Have you ever had that experience?  If you’re like me, I’ll bet you went to a competitor’s website right after that!  Who wants to remember they have to change browsers to do business with your company?

It takes some new thinking to realize that we are not restricted to one type of design for all readers and all users like we are with print media. With the right code, the content can and will adapt to each individual user, so that they can have a personalized experience that encourages them to buy from you.

By using responsive web design, you’ll no longer need to redo your website every year to reflect the newest trend in browsers because you are considering all users when you create a mobile responsive website. During the design we have to consider many different factors – the actual device, the screen size, the method by which the user browses and interacts with the content (mouse, or T9?).  That can be a lot of work.  Or you can just make it easy on yourself and buy a mobile responsive website theme.

Just get a mobile responsive website so your business can thrive by allowing new customers to find, interact with, and buy from you.