Google traumatized marketers and web design teams everywhere by announcing that they would begin factoring mobile compatibility into search engine results. While this was widely treated as a crisis in many circles, the fact of the matter was that it was good business for all involved—mobile users make up more than half of all web traffic, and so it only makes sense that up-to-date websites should receive the biggest share of visitors.
Still, there were (and still are) pockets of resistance amongst some businesses that didn’t want to give up their existing websites for responsive versions. If you’re one of them, you’re not going to like what I have to share today: Mobilegeddon Part 2 is on the way.
That’s because Facebook recently announced that it would also begin tweaking its formulas to emphasize mobile compatibility. This isn’t an effort to punish smaller marketers. Just like Google, Facebook is taking this step in response to user demand— they’ve recently noticed that that nearly half of all users will leave a link if it takes more than a few seconds to load on a mobile device or if it doesn’t load correctly at all.
What does all of this mean for you? In essence, two of the leading Internet marketing platforms, cumulatively representing billions of potential customers, are practically screaming that it’s time to add mobile compatibility to your website. Here are a few steps you can take today to ensure that you stay on the right side of this growing trend…
Upgrade to a Responsive Web Design
Responsive websites adjust themselves to a visitor’s screen size, so they work with regular computers and mobile technology. There’s no easier way to ensure you have maximum mobile compatibility and get ready for the next set of devices that are going to hit the market in the near future. Best of all, adding responsive capability to your website is quick and affordable.
Keep Images and Text to a Reasonable Size
Huge images take a long time to load on a mobile device, and few of us enjoy reading long blocks of unbroken text on a tiny screen. Knowing that, you should reduce the file size of your images, and ensure that your content is broken into small, manageable chunks with lots of subheadings and internal links. That will make your website faster and easier to scan.
Adjust Your On-Page Calls to Action
If reading lots of material on a small screen is a pain in the neck, then typing it is even worse. Whenever possible, make it simple for your mobile users to respond to your offers with buttons, click-to-call options, and short forms that require things like first names and email addresses. The more information they have to enter, the less likely they are to make the effort.
Consider Upgrading Your Hosting Package
While this doesn’t strictly affect your mobile compatibility, upgrading your web hosting could speed up your website. The faster your site loads, the less time users have to wait (and the higher the odds are that they’ll stick around to read your pages instead of taking their attention elsewhere).
Mobile web traffic isn’t going away, but businesses that refuse to adapt just might be. If you aren’t sure whether smartphone and tablet users are able to view and use your website correctly, call us today for a free website review to see how we can help!