Ericka Lewis
We've been quite busy with clients to show our site much-needed love, but a mobile optimized site is underway! Here's why you should optimize for mobile too!
Ever wondered how much business you may be missing out on by having a website that is not at all optimized for mobile users? Let’s just say this -- A LOT.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center last year, approximately 63% of adults now resort to their mobile phones to go online. No doubt these numbers increased even more this year as smartphone features improve and WiFi becomes more accessible. The fact is, by failing to ensure that your site is duly optimized for mobile devices, you’re literally giving your competitors a hefty opportunity to knock your business out.
Take for instance a study conducted by Adobe in 2011. Adobe concluded that the mobile market has evolved and will continue to be -- a lucrative cornerstone of e-commerce. Analyzing about 16.2 billion online transactions from more than a hundred top US retailers, Adobe found that users spend more than 50% more per purchase on mobile device gadgets such as tablets, when compared with traditional laptop and desktop site visitors.
Earn Brownie Points From Google
Google itself recognized this early on. In early 2010, Google started factoring in website loading speed when it comes to search rankings. With more and more internet users turning to mobile devices for online activities, Google placed a heavy emphasis on page-loading speed on mobile devices. With last year’s switch to the recent Hummingbird algorithm, Google solidified the importance of optimizing sites for mobile devices, making it clear that search ranks for sites not duly optimized for mobile devices will definitely take big blows.
Since then, Google has been strictly enforcing site mobility guidelines when it comes to online searches from mobile devices. Recently, they made this an important ranking factor for location-based searches. And why, not? A whopping 57% of mobile device users easily abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. Around 30% of these users abandon online transactions, even if they were ready to buy, if the site they are buying from are not optimized.
Sufficed to say, if you don’t want your years of SEO hard work go to waste, you better optimize your site for the future of online searches -- mobile devices. Otherwise, might as well hand your list of customers and prospects to your competitors and close up shop.
Here are a few more things you’re missing out on if your site is not optimized for mobile users:
1. Better Site Traffic
With Google’s latest algorithm change and the Google My Business feature, your site may not even rank high enough to attract traffic on mobile searches, especially location-based searches -- and this right here is a great loss for your business. Location-based searches are usually conducted by users who are more than likely ready to purchase products or services they are searching for.
2. Reduced Bounce Rate
Think about it from a user-experience perspective -- if you're on a site that's taking forever to load or you couldn't navigate your way around the tiny buttons and the complex site map on your mobile, would you stick around or hop onto a different site with similar offerings? When it comes to marketing, time and attention of your users are golden currencies. The more time it takes for them to get to the right action for a conversion, the more likely they'll say adieu to you. Take a look at your analytics right now. If your site is not mobile-optimized, chances are you have a ridiculously high bounce rate.
3. Increased Conversions
This right here should be a no-brainer. If your site is not optimized for mobile users, it will not be an effective tool for lead conversion. Chances are your CTAs are not even anywhere near the direct line of sight of mobile users and is probably too tiny or obscure to see or interact with. With a site that’s not optimized for mobile, links are usually hard to click and important information such as your contact details may be buried in pages that are not easily accessible, turning mobile users off from converting in the process.
4. A Purchase-Ready Demographic
Your mobile visitors usually have a different purpose upon visiting your site from your desktop users. Mobile visitors are most likely ready to buy or avail of your service, and are more likely to conduct impulse purchases. In fact, according to statistics, mobile users spend more money on purchases compared to their desktop user counterparts. Simply put, you have an advantage convincing your audience to commit to that purchase or avail of your service if your site is optimized and gives them a great user-experience to go through with their spontaneous purchase decisions.
Get with the times and optimize your site for a great mobile user-experience. By providing your mobile audience with an intuitive experience with a site that is easy to navigate, landing pages that are easy to fill in, click to call contact information, content that is easy to read, and call-to-action buttons that capture the eye and are easily clickable, you will engage more leads and up your conversions. Not to mention you'll capture leads from your competitors that are not yet optimized for mobile.
