Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?
With smart phones and tablets outselling desktop computers and laptops 10 to 1 and mobile search now being a higher volume than desktop search, it is more important than ever to have a mobile friendly version of your website. In this article we are going to look at ways you can get your website mobile responsive without it costing the earth and help your Google rankings at the same time.
What is a Mobile Friendly Website?
We have all seen those websites that resize when you go to the mobile version, you know the ones where you have to enlarge the text or have to use a magnifying glass in order to see the text because it is so small. Well that isn’t a mobile friendly website. There are hundreds of different types of screen sizes for mobile phones and tablets, so your site needs to fit in with as many of them as possible.
Mobile Site or Mobile Responsive
With a mobile site you are basically getting a second version of your website for the mobile traffic to your website. A much better option is a mobile responsive website where the design adjusts for the screen size meaning there is more chance that your site will look good on a mobile device (just a personal opinion here but they look a lot nicer as well).
How Does a Mobile Site Help My Search Rankings?
With a large percentage of people searching on a mobile device, the search engines, like Google and Bing have built in as part of their calculations that if you have a website that is easy to view on a mobile device then it will obviously be a better user experience for the searcher. With this in mind it will therefore help you rank higher than a site that isn’t mobile responsive. User experience is highly important to the search engines and it is an ongoing area of improvement for them to give the best possible results that lead to a good experience. Let’s face it when someone is happy they spend more and stay longer.
How can I find out if my site is responsive?
As per most things, there is a cool website that will soon tell you and show you if your website is mobile friendly. Simply go to http://ami.responsivedesign.is and type in your website address and your site will display in different layouts.
How can you get a Mobile Responsive Website?
If your website is less than two years old, then I would go back to your website designer and ask when your site was designed if they took into consideration how the site would look on a mobile device, if the answer is no then it is time to find a web designer who is keeping up with Internet trends.
Is this something I can do myself?
Absolutely! If you can use a word processor then you can use a website management software called WordPress. A hosting company such as Siteground.com will install WordPress for you on your own domain name and you can buy a theme for around £30 that would make a professionally designed website look child like. Someone will install the theme and upload your content for you from sites like Freelancer.com and Fiverr.com. You do need to be a little web savvy and I do advise that, if possible, you get a professional to do this for you to make sure you are getting the right solution for your website.
With all this in mind the most important thing to remember is that you are serving your website to your potential clients on every device possible.
Working with websites since BG (Before Google) and totalling around 20 years, Steve Hooper has helped companies of all sizes grow their profits through the powers of their websites. Having run his own successful online businesses, he now helps hundreds of companies each year through online promotion campaigns and coaching companies through online course and consultancy. For more information on Steve and his services please visit www.UKWeddingSEO.co.uk
