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Building responsive websites that work across different devices is essential to ensure a good user experience. A study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Price Waterhouse Coopers showed that mobile ad spend in the UK overtook desktop for the first time –therefore, having a mobile-friendly website is key to tapping into this growing trend. 

What does a mobile-friendly website mean 

The meaning of mobile-friendly refers to a website with a clear and light structure, which uses a web design capable of making navigation fluid and usable even via mobile devices. The pages of a site of this type load quickly and are readable in their entirety, without the need to zoom or scroll horizontally to continue reading. 

But, why make a website mobile friendly? 

1. There are more users. 

The first reason why it is necessary to make your website to be mobile friendly is, essentially, a numerical fact: users who access the Internet from mobile have overtaken those who do it only from a desktop. The latest figures show that in the UK, mobile and tablets accounted for 52.4% of the market share when browsing (source). 

Mobile-optimised websites can use unique features that make it easier for users to engage and provide them with the information they’re looking for. 

2. Google penalises non-mobile Friendly sites 

Google has already made it known for some time that it has updated its search algorithms to favour Mobile Friendly websites and Google considers a long list of items when deciding how optimised a website is for mobile devices, such as: 

· The scalability of fonts for readability on small screens 

· The spacing and usability of the tactile elements 

· Whether the website uses Flash or not (which doesn’t work well in mobile browsers) 

· Page loading time 

3. User experience is maximised 

Taking text and other page elements designed for a computer screen and compressing them to fit mobile phones is far from the best way to optimise the user experience. 

A mobile responsive design should be focused on making it as easy as possible for users to navigate and find the information they need. A responsive design can reduce elements to fit the screen, but this is only the first step in creating a good mobile user experience. 

Today, 44% of consumers say their mobile device is their most important aid in making purchasing decisions. 

4. Effects on brand image 

A brand that does not have a mobile-friendly website, in addition to being penalised by Google, gives itself a careless online image because it is not in line with the latest technological developments. The consequence of this is in the next point… 

5. Favours competition 

A customer who needs a product or service at a precise moment will favour a mobile responsive website over a desktop-only site due to the nature of how we like to buy things these days; he/she will be pushed to engage a competing brand that offers the same product/service but that has of a mobile-friendly website. 

Conclusion 

Developing a unique, mobile-friendly website is simply the only way to maximise user experience which, ultimately, can lead to important results for your bottom line. 

If you’d like to know more about online marketing for your clients, get in touch with one of our digital marketing experts at https://elevateom.com/contact/