Marketing Resolutions: Finally Get Mobile Friendly

Are you still keeping your New Year’s marketing resolutions? If you’ve slipped up, that’s okay. There’s still time to get on track.

We know we preach mobile friendly websites all the time, but the truth is that many companies still haven’t bothered to update or upgrade their websites. It’s bad for your brand, sure, to have an outdated website. Worse, however, is what an old and mobile-hating site can do for your bottom line. This year, let’s fix that for good.

Now, you may be convinced you have done something about your mobile website. Maybe you used a mobile template to make sure your site would look okay on an iPhone. It’s a start, but the reality is, if you haven’t made the switch to responsive design, whatever “tricks” you’ve pulled to make your site work on a mobile device will actually hurt you in the long run. If you’re not sure you have a mobile-friendly site, consider these things:

Mobile Friendly Means ALL Mobile Devices

Does your site work on all mobile devices? Does it work on mobile devices that haven’t even been invented yet? If not, then you haven’t used mobile responsive design. All the templates in the world can’t help you fit every device out there. You’ll spend all your time checking the appearance on BlackBerrys, iPhones, Samsungs, iPads, and Kindle Fires. Then, when something new hits the market, you’ll have to start over. Who has time for that?

Mobile Friendly Means One URL

If your mobile site needs an “m.” in the address to work, then you’re already in trouble. That second URL acts as a second site, which can lead to issues with updates and duplicate content. Google never knows which site to send users to, which results in visitors landing on full sites instead of mobile sites when they’re using their phones. And that usually results in a quick bounce from your site. Sure, you’ve got a Band-Aid on that sore spot, but it’s never going to heal.

Mobile Friendly Means Infinite Usability

Without responsive design and attention to detail, your customers will land on sites with small images and text that couldn’t possibly be seen on small screens. Some will go through the trouble of zooming and scrolling, but most won’t. With more than 50% of consumers starting searches for everything from shoes to houses on their phones and tablets, you can’t afford to send them running to your competitors when they can’t see anything on your website.

Mobile Friendly Means Easy Shopping

Whether you sell items right there on your site or use your website to direct traffic to your brick-and-mortar store, the end result should be the same: a purchase. If consumers can’t find your products or services, they’ll go somewhere else. If they can’t enter credit card information easily or provide other financial information to complete a purchase, they will definitely give up. Your buyers want instant gratification, and they won’t let a poor mobile website stand in their way.

If any of these are problems for your company, you can fix that in the coming year. We want to help you continue building your business in 2016, so make a resolution to finally become mobile friendly and then give us a call.