When mobile websites were first launched, they were considered a novelty. The most effort anyone ever put into their mobile website was to create a piece of software that converted their desktop website to a text-only mobile website without any other conversions. But as mobile technology has developed, so has mobile websites. These types of websites are no longer novelties, they are essential marketing tools, and they are getting the same kind of attention that desktop websites have been getting for years.
Creating a program that converts your desktop website to a text-only site for mobile devices no longer cuts it when it comes to mobile website optimization. Today, companies must focus on developing a completely different mobile website that optimizes the experience for users. The content must fit perfectly on the mobile screen, and the navigation must be smooth and seamless.
Most website developers have created completely different ways to design and implement mobile websites. These differ from desktop layouts in terms of utilizing the front page, how ecommerce is laid out, a less intrusive navigation system, and smaller file sizes for images. These methods have been developed rapidly over the years, and have become the standard for mobile website development.
In 2015, Google unleashed what industry insiders called “Mobile Armageddon.” Any mobile website that did not meet the basic design criteria that Google laid out previously would not show up on mobile search results. Companies scrambled to get their mobile websites up to date, and a new age in mobile web development was born.
Google demanded that all mobile websites be optimized to improve user experience, and this move helped to solidify the new mobile web development guidelines as the gold standard in the industry. If you want your mobile website to be seen on Google’s mobile search results, then your site has to be brought up to the new standards.
For the past several years, there has been a move away from desktop and laptop computers and towards mobile computing devices. In 2016, it was estimated that the number of mobile users on the Internet finally outnumbered the number of desktop and laptop users. At that point, the idea of having a mobile website was not only a good idea, it became mandatory for any business that wanted to grow.
Millions of potential customers every day are on their smartphones or tablets looking up products and making purchases. Business professionals are taking out their smartphones to look up businesses they can partner with, and investors are scanning mobile websites for their next investment projects. The best frame of reference to use to get business owners to understand the importance of mobile optimization is to say that it is even more important to have a mobile website now than it was to have a desktop website in the 1990s.
Times are changing and your business needs to change with them. If you do not have a properly developed mobile website, then you are missing out on millions of potential web hits and millions of potential customers. As more and more people shift to accessing the Internet through mobile devices, optimizing your mobile website becomes more important than ever.
