Imagine the frustration of your customers if they try to view your website on their mobile, only to find that the content runs off the edge of the screen and they cannot navigate without a lot of scrolling and zooming in and out. Chances are that if this happens more than once, they will stop trying to view your site and move onto a competitor site that is mobile friendly; they want a site that is easily viewable from any type of device, whether they are on a laptop or mobile.

This is the reason why responsive web design is the only way to build for mobiles in 2018; put this on the backburner and decide that it is not worth the effort and see your website views, leads and sales begin to decline. Why take the risk when getting a suitable website in place can easily be taken care of by a mobile design expert?

Mobiles on the increase

As more and more people use the internet on the move, viewing by smartphones or tablets, the importance of your website being mobile friendly becomes crucial. Think of it this way; just as SEO is a vital part of your digital marketing strategy, being the owner of a website that provides the optimal viewing experience is just as essential.

If we look at the mobile market, the sale of mobile devices has already vastly overtaken desktops so it makes sense to see that searches via mobile devices are now commonplace. With a high percentage of people that buy online stating that they are 67% more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site, it makes sense for proactive businesses to begin transitioning their sites from static sites to those that are 100% adaptable, with the need for a mobile web design company being top of their agenda for 2018.

Convert or add?

The next question has to be, should you have your website made fully adaptable or instead have a separate mobile website? Much will depend upon what your website is used for, who views it and whether SEO has to be taken into consideration.

If you are a business that relies heavily on SEO, then going down the route of a fully adaptable web design should be perfect for you, fitting well with any mobile SEO strategy.

Here are some of the reasons why:

Google say ‘Yes’ – holding 67% of the market, Google recommend responsive web design for mobile viewers, referring to the it as ‘industry best practice’. This makes sense as having this type of site means that you have just one URL and HTML, no matter what type of device is used. This makes it easier for Google to operate when it comes to organising and indexing. If you have a separate mobile site, then Google is left with having to do this for a different version of the same site. Google also loves responsive web design because content is all in one place and much easier to share and use. Compare this to having two sites, with one of them being mobile, and you can see where confusion and clumsiness sets in. This in turn can result in your user-experiences being marked down as this is a Google ranking factor, this must be taken into account.

Your website will respond to the viewer’s device – once you have a single adaptable web site, the user experience is enhanced across all types of devices and screens of any size. When you can guarantee that your site will work perfectly, in spite of many variables then users will be happy and will not have to remember to switch to a separate mobile site that will only work with specific screen sizes or devices.

Imagine the scenario – someone finds a holiday that they like whilst browsing on their mobile phone and decide to make the booking when they get home. The problem is that when they arrive home, they switch to using a desktop. If the site is fully adaptable this will not matter as when the transition is made from one device to another, the site will change accordingly. If it is a dedicated mobile site then the viewer will have no option but to search for the desktop version, then having to look for the holiday all over again. Chances are they will not bother and will go elsewhere to a competitor that does have a responsive web design. The message is a clear one; if you don’t want to lose out on valuable sales, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer a preference but an absolute necessity.

Not sure how mobile friendly your site is?

You can check it out using the Google mobile friendly test tool here: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly. Just enter your domain name and it will give you a verdict; remember that if you fail this test then your website is sure to be taking a negative hit as far as the Google ranking is concerned.

How are mobile friendly websites different from static sites?

Your responsive website needs to cater for a different type of user; very often they opt for video and visual content far more than text. Not only does it make it easier for them to use a smaller screen but if they are on the move, it is far easier to digest. Whichever company you choose to make your site fully flexible, they will need to take account of this, particularly with regard to areas such as forms and navigation with simplicity being key.

Google also recommend via their Google Page Speed Developers Standards that your responsive site should load on a mobile device in under 2 seconds; if this does not happen then viewers are going to lose patience and go elsewhere as nowadays the trend is to have information available at your fingertips in an instant, and this includes your website too.

By having just one adaptable website rather than one static and one mobile, you will also save plenty of time and money. Your web designer will not need to create a separate mobile site and you will only have to focus on looking after, managing, maintaining and updating one site.

As far as cost is concerned, you will only have to pay to have one site developed, rather than two; with this saving in your pocket, you can use this to spend on other essentials such as SEO.

The next step

With research showing that as many as 60% of business websites are not mobile friendly, it is easy to see that getting your website made fully adaptable now is just one way of getting ahead of the competition. Take heed of this information and make getting your website totally mobile friendly a priority for 2018. Forget having two sites; one static and one mobile, as this only causes confusion. Aim for one sophisticated fully responsive website now and get ahead of your competitors before they latch onto the same idea.

Find a web design company now that can make your existing website fully adaptable for viewing on any device or create a new website that is totally mobile friendly.