Is your business losing out on mobile traffic?

When was the last time you rebuilt your website? If your answer was “no” or “not in the last three years” it’s probably in need of an upgrade. Not just because web design techniques evolve and change, and as do expectations of what a good website looks like; but also because you’re likely missing out on the rapidly growing mobile web market.

The common solution a few years ago was to build a separate, replicated mobile site (usually beginning with the ‘m.’ prefix at the start rather than ‘www.’). This was often a stripped-down version of the website that would be light on images, owing to small screen sizes and a lack of functionality on devices at the time. But as the technology has improved, and the screens have got bigger, so has the demand for more functional sites for mobile. With responsive design, this is now absolutely possible.

Approaching a responsive design is one that adapts to the size of the device. Elements are built in blocks that can move fluidly around – so when a screen gets narrower rows and columns of text and images stack on top of one another.

Why is mobile important? Well, there is a tonne of data out there – here’s a small sample:

• Nearly 60% of time consumers spend online is on mobile devices.
• 70% of mobile searches lead to action on a website within one hour
• The data is growing: it’s estimated that between 2013 and 2019, mobile data traffic will grow by 10x.

In short – if your website isn’t mobile soon you’re going to get left behind. Evidence shows that users who visit a website on their phone that they can’t view properly will go away very quickly.