How Important is Mobile Website Design?

You have heard about mobile website design, but how important is it really?

Two key online assets can impact your mobile performance. They are basic business assets every business should have. The two assets are your:

Responsive Website Design + Google Business Page

A responsive website adapts to the viewer’s screen environment, making changes in the display of sections, modules, and images to show the website in the best possible way. Responsive website design looks fantastic on desktop, and still looks amazing on a smartphone.

Your Google Business Page listing is the information Google presents when people search for your business through their search engine, and on Google Maps.

You may be thinking: But my customers don’t really use their phones to view my website.

That might be true, especially if your website isn’t responsive. However, statistics show that they are looking at SOMEONE’S website on their phones, and if it’s not your site, it’s your competitor’s!

Here are some recent stats to change your mind about mobile:

• 88% of local search is conducted on a smartphone
• 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphones visited a store within a day
• 50% of consumers searching on smartphone want your business hours, directions, address, phone number
• 53% of consumers use their phones to research a purchase
• 83% of consumers use their tablet or computer to research a purchase

Consumers are searching for local information everywhere, on every device, at every point in the purchase process.  Google, Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior

Website Design for Younger Consumers

When you focus on younger consumers, such as the 18-35 year old group, the use of smartphones for local search is steadily increasing. For example:

• 67% of younger smartphone users use their phones for navigation while driving
• 91% of younger smartphone users use their phones for social networking (vs. 55% in the 50+ group)
• 44% of smartphone users use their phones to look up real-estate listings

Get more detail from the report.

As smartphones become more widely accepted, and as the population ages, optimizing your business for mobile devices is becoming more beneficial to every kind of business and organization.

Being available on mobile means more than just having a website. It means having a responsive website that makes your business easy to access from a smartphone.

More than that, it means connecting your website and your business through Google Business Pages, so that you appear on Google Maps and in Google Search with the correct contact information and website link.

If you have been delaying your website upgrade because you think your customers don’t search on mobile - stop it! Remember that statistic: 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphones visited a store within a day.

You may be losing the customers who are the most likely to make a purchase today!

What should you do now? Everyone’s needs are different. Call me to book a consultation today.