Mobile website development is an essential part of operating a successful website in 2016.
It is no secret that online browsing via mobile devices is here to stay. With over 1.2 billion people online via their Smartphone’s and mobile devices your business needs to be on top of this trend and take mobile users into consideration. (resources.mobify)
Having a fast loading, responsive site is necessary to make browsing from mobile simpler and is no longer just a want, it is now a NEED. Keep reading to find out the how and why of optimizing your website for mobile.
Your market is on mobile
Smartphone users are no longer classed as the exception to the rule. A huge 80% of all online users are accessing the web through a Smartphone, meaning that the greater percentage of website views will come from mobile. These numbers, while already overwhelmingly in favor of mobile, are only going to become more skewed as we move to an even more portable and on-the-go future.
Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices
Mobile browsing holds the upper hand, beating out desktop browsing by 21% and making up 51% of digital media browsing. (Smart Insights, 2014)
If you are a website owner, you are interested in increasing traffic. This is a fact of being online so if over half of that available traffic is on mobile, you need to be tailoring yourself towards that.
Mobile is not the same as desktop
The people browsing your site remain the same whether they are using a mobile device or a desktop computer, however their online behaviours differ. Visual media is king on mobile, with short length videos and images dominating the preferred media types. This could be because of the popularity of visually oriented social media platforms like Instagram or Vine. Users are quick to leave a site if they are bombarded with too much text. If you want mobile traffic, your site design needs to be optimized to engage visual media users. Mobile optimization can more than double your social impact if done correctly.
Mobile users spend more money
Data suggests that mobile users spend money online more frequently than desktop users. While Smartphone users spend more frequently, they also spend the lowest average dollar amount per transaction. Smartphone users spend an average of $80 per transaction, tablet users spend $123 per transaction and desktop users spend a middle of the road $102 per transaction. This data shows that if you are selling cheap products, a mobile optimized site becomes even more important. (FastCompany)
One thing to keep in mind is that the average money spent per transaction could be skewed as mobile app purchases are largely made from mobile devices and are usually very inexpensive but repetitive.
Image Source: FastCompany
The duality of mobile users
It is important that your website is optimized to work on all screen sizes and platforms. This is because users switch between their devices while browsing or making purchases. Users do research and browse on their mobile devices when they have downtime at work or on-the-go, but then often move to a desktop computer to complete a purchase.
Landing pages are different for mobile
Due to the available screen size, designs that work well on desktop may not work properly on mobile devices. It is very important that you take the time to design your landing page to work optimally on both platforms. Looking specifically at mobile landing pages it is important that:
- The design is minimal
- Buttons are standouts
- Load speed is extra fast
- Headlines are 5 words or less
Google gives benefits for mobile optimization
SERP rankings are directly affected by the mobile friendliness of your site. There are significant penalties associated with bad mobile optimization and ranking your site will be a lot tougher, if not impossible, without optimizing for mobile.
Social media is mobile
Social media activities account for 91% of mobile Internet usage. Social media is primarily accessed on mobile devices, meaning that if your website derives traffic from social media, optimizing for mobile is that much more important. It would be silly to waste marketing efforts without being able to efficiently catch click-throughs from social media browsing.
Differentiate through mobile
It is hard to believe, but 56% of small business sites are still not optimized for use on mobile devices. If your business falls into the ‘optimized for mobile’ category, you’re automatically ahead of more than half of your competition. What better or easier way is there to gain a competitive advantage over your competition?
Mobile advertising is still behind the times
Even though the large majority of online browsing occurs on mobile devices, online advertising spending only accounts for 8% of total advertising expenditure. This underutilization means that demand is low and advertising costs are cheap; at least comparatively cheap to what they will be when everyone catches on. (Kleiner Perkins)
Image Source: Business Insider
Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices and reap the benefits for your business or project. Talk to your web developer and ask questions to ensure that your site is optimized for mobile. Mobile website development will only continue to increase in importance, so the sooner your business gets optimized, the better.
