3 REASONS WHY YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO DELAY MOBILE OPTIMISATION

You might be sick of hearing about mobile optimisation by now but we're going to chime in too. You can't not optimise. If you don't you'll just be turning your tyres in the mud but not going anywhere while everyone else i.e. your competitors, race off ahead.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of mobile optimisation or ‘responsive web design’ as it is also referred to then we’ll explain. It’s the idea of producing a website that renders well, no matter what size of screen it is being viewed on.

1) Mobile browsing is growing faster than desktop browsing

New data shows that mobile browsing figures are rising faster than those of desktop. So fast in fact that mobile browsing is set to overtake desktop browsing. The data even gives us the exact date that this will happen: December 16th 2014 (SAScon 2014).

This means it’s well worth changing your website now to meet the demands of our visitors who you can bet are viewing it on a mobile device of some kind.

2) A responsive website is an SEO-friendly website

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) can often feel like a noose around the neck of every hardworking business. It seems that what works this month will be the target of Google’s penalisation in 6 month time.

There are a number of reasons why Google likes mobile-friendly websites. One is that it recognises the demands of web users for more sites that they can view on their mobiles and tablets. If your site looks just as great on a screen resolution of 640 x 960 (the size of iPhone 4) as it does at 1024 x 768 (the size of a regular computer monitor) then Google may rate your site more favourably.

Another reason Google like to see a responsive site is because it negates the need for a mobile version of your desktop site. Until recently if a website owner wanted to provide their content in a mobile-friendly format they had to build another website. This resulted in two different websites with some of the same content because the mobile website was a cut-down version of the main one.

As many of you may know Google hates duplicated content, penalising the site it thinks has copied the content. A responsive website gets rid of this problem, keeping everything at one address that simply works for all platforms.

3) Responsive websites provide a better user experience

Whether the website is viewed on a mobile device or not, responsive design provides a better browsing experience. On a responsive site the navigation is optimised for ease of use, minimising the amount of visual noise on the page and making it much easier to find what you’re looking for.

Studies into behaviour on the web show that many consumers begin their buying journey on a mobile device and end it by completing the purchase on a desktop. A product or service on a responsive website will out over a one that isn’t purely due to user experience.

If you need help upgrading your website to be SEO and mobile-friendly get in touch!