Thinking Mobile First for Your Web Design
64% of American adults own and rely to some extent on smartphones. That’s just shy of two-thirds of the entire adult population in the country. These smartphone owners are using their mobile devices to shop, work and play. All day long, they’re on their phone, ready to receive your message.
With so many people relying heavily on these gadgets, you need to design your website with the mobile market in mind.
Improve Your Mobile Accessibility
It’s not enough to just have a website. Your site needs to be mobile so people can access your information from anywhere. You don’t want your website to be limited to just desktop and laptops, when there’s a sea of tablets, iPhones and Androids out there. Right?
People today are too busy to chained to one spot. They seek information on the bus, in the car, at the gym – anywhere they can. Consumers are mobile, so you need to be as well.
Reach Your Audience via Digital Marketing
To stay competitive, you need to be reachable to your market in all avenues. That means you need to expand beyond traditional marketing methods. You need to leverage social media, email marketing, PPC…and more.
Your website is the hub of all your online marketing tactics. All digital roads lead back to your website.
Picture this. You decide to start sending a monthly email newsletter to a list of your prospects. You link to pages on your website where they can find more information, and even submit a form to take advantage of one of your offers.
The problem? A good portion of the email opens are on mobile devices. They click over to your website and are met with buttons too small to click, oversized images, and text out of place. They’re so frustrated that they just exit your website, instead of learning more about your company.
Not a very good experience. And definitely not ideal for business.
To be where your customers are, you need to be online. And if you’re online, you need to be mobile.
Make it Mobile
There are three main ways to ensure that you have a mobile ready website.
Separate Mobile and Desktop URLs
When you choose this method, different websites will be served up to your visitors, based on the type of browser they are using. So, mobile users will see the mobile specific version of the site.
Dynamic Serving
Similar to having separate URLs, this method uses the user’s browser to determine which version of the site to serve. But, the URL stays the same.
Responsive Web Design
This is hands down the preferable approach. When you choose responsive design, you’re choosing to think mobile first. The same code is displayed across all browsers and devices.
But, the website is designed to respond to different screen sizes. A responsive website will display your website in the best possible format, based on the screen size a visitor is using.
Stop overlooking the mobile platform…you need to be mobile to be in front of your customers! Want to know if your website is mobile friendly, or how you can get started? Reach out to us.
