Optimize Your Content for Mobile, or Suffer the Consequences
We live in an age where consumers have become accustomed to getting what they want, when they want it. And if it isn’t easy for them to do through one company’s services, they’ll simply go to another company instead. Mobile technology, namely smartphones and tablets, are placing the power of the internet in the palm of anyone’s hand and allowing them to take it with them around the corner or across the country.
As more and more consumers acquire smartphones and tablets, they are in turn accessing the web more and more frequently from these devices. Companies that rely heavily upon the web for business need to adjust to this reality and optimize their content for mobile devices, or suffer the consequences of lost traffic and lost sales.
According to the Pew Research Center, as of January 2013, 31% of Americans owned a tablet and 45% of them owned a smartphone. The Pew Research Center also found that as of 2012, 56% of cell phone users in America use their device to access and browse the internet. The trend is clear, mobile devices are quickly replacing desktop and laptop computers as the means for surfing the web. If your site doesn’t accommodate these mobile visitors, you will lose out.
Why Optimize for Mobile?
Beyond the simple fact that more and more people are accessing the web on a mobile device, optimizing makes sense from a usability standpoint. There are some mobile device users that will tolerate a site that isn’t mobile friendly, specifically tablet users with larger screens, but optimizing a site for mobile devices makes the experience better for visitors.
When your site is optimized for mobile devices, visitors get a cleaner, faster experience using your site. Mobile versions of your site offer visitors faster page load times and faster rendering times for images, making the experience more enjoyable for visitors. Additionally, they don’t have to use the pinch-to-zoom feature on their device which inevitably slows their experience.
Consumers who are hungry for information on-the-go are driving a lot of the change in mobile and web technology right now. Business travelers and tourists alike, in particular, are increasingly leaving the laptop at home in favor of their smartphone or tablet’s sleeker and lighter profile. Hotels, restaurants, shops, and bars can all benefit from a mobile site that makes it easier for these people to discover these establishments on-the-go, find a location, and learn more about what they have to offer.
Developing a mobile site can also mean less work for business owners and employees. Some companies elect to fill the gap for mobile users by developing apps, but with four different mobile operating systems out there (iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, and Blackberry 10) it is becoming a daunting task to create, update, and support apps on all platforms. Mobile versions of a site eliminate the need for multiple apps that serve the same purpose as one well-designed mobile site.
Optimizing Your Site
The internet is full of blogs and tech sites with tips and tricks for optimizing your business or personal website for mobile devices, but there are also professionals like those from Elite Venture Media that can do the work for you. Their professionals are trained and equipped to redesign and retool your existing site to accommodate mobile devices, or build a new site from scratch. Before you try to tackle this project on your own, see what the professionals at Elite Venture Media can do for your business site.