Why do small businesses need mobile-friendly websites? Well, for one, the whole world is going mobile. Look around: everyone you see has a smartphone and they’re always on it. Walk into a Starbucks or a Tim Hortons; what are people doing? They are messing around with their smartphones! What does this have to do with small business? Well, chances are that if they're always on their smartphone, they are probably using them to make local purchasing decisions!
Take for example a person looking for a new hair stylist. They go on their phone and look up “hair stylist near me” and they see a whole bunch of local hair stylists.
Is your business showing up?
Here is another thing you probably weren't aware of: Google's mobile search results are different than the ones you will see on a desktop computer. Why you ask? Well Google understands that the mobile experience is important (that's why they've spent billions on Android). Chances are that if you don't have a mobile website, you are probably ranking a lot lower than you would if you had one. In fact, a study performed in 2012 showed that Google was expecting mobile searches to outnumber desktop searches by 2014 – and, yes that happened!
Is the experience customers have on their phones visiting your website optimal?
Research shows that the average mobile user will wait around 5 seconds for the page to load before abandoning the website. Factors that account into the page load time are the data size of the webpage served and its images, how far the website is hosted from the person accessing it, and congestion on the mobile network.
That’s not all! Once the page is loaded, are the users able to get the information they need without having to fish around for too long? Are they always having to pinch and zoom to find the information they need? Studies show that a website has an average of 7 seconds to catch the user's attention and if they are spending most of that 7 seconds pinching and zooming or are having sluggish performance while on the website, chances are you've already lost them. They will hit the back button and move on to your competitors.
I'm not going to bore you with any more statistics. The fact of the matter is that in this day and age, any smart business owner knows the importance of mobility and having a mobile presence. That is why we see more and more businesses investing heavily into a mobile presence. You may be wondering, “I don't have a big budget like those companies, how can I have a mobile presence without paying an arm and a leg for it?”
You will be surprised to know that the technology is so ubiquitous that you will be able to find a competitive and budget conscious option that will work for you. Get out there and take advantage of the technology that will make a difference in your business. After all 80% of consumers are making their purchasing decisions based on what they find on the internet.
