Small business owners of the world, we know that you are looking at refreshed annual budget and planning marketing strategies that will light up your sales like a fireworks display on the first of July! You are dreaming of investing in a new machine, adding to your staff, and expanding your sales reach to another province! This year, dreams are gonna come true!
But first! For the love of cash flow and your recent business loans! Make sure your website is optimized for mobile use!!!!!!
One does not simply have a website anymore. Your website has to play nice with all the smartphones and tablets and who knows what all else is going to come next with a data plan. When your website is designed to be mobile optimized, that means it will adapt to load and properly fit a smaller screen, or a screen that has different requirements than a traditional computer, and it easily clickable by mouse, trackpad, fingertip, or stylus. Websites don’t just come like that (but they should, ours do!) this feature is additional so if it wasn’t part of your contract, your website does not have mobile optimization.
These are the 2 most crucial components of mobile optimization:
Page Loading Time.
Your customers don’t have time for your page to load up on their phone. They are too busy with meetings and family and a social life, and they’re searching for you while waiting for their kid to get out of piano practice, so time is of the 
essence. If your website takes too long to load, and by “too long” we mean any amount of time other than instantly, they’ll bounce right on over to your competitor. How many times have you called a customer service line and hung up when you heard that wait times were longer than usual? That’s how your customer feels if your website doesn’t load up in its entirety on their phone or tablet the moment they press GO on their phone.
Page Size.
Your website has to fit on the screen of the phone or tablet your customer is using to view it. Horizontal scrolling is an insult to your customer. Graphics need to fit or not show up at all. Anything that requires clicking you have to assume will be clicked on with fingers, which means links can’t be too close together, and they have to be large enough to be useful.
If it sounds like your website has to be redesigned to meet mobile optimization standards, you’re correct. That’s why it’s not an automatic feature in website design, it’s an added cost. But it’s a worthwhile one. Consult your website's analytics ASAP to see how many of your website visitors are coming from a mobile device. We bet it’s over half! Use some of your marketing budget this year to roll out the mobile welcome mat so that your customers feel comfortable visiting your website from any location.
Sign up for Jelly Triangle’s Website TLC service to find out what’s dragging your website down from mobile optimization, customer satisfaction, broken links and more. Call to book your free consultation at (519) 624-8888 today!
