TheImportance ofa MOBILEFRIENDLY WEBSITE
Copyright Notice The Importance of a Mobile Friendly Website NOTICE: You DO NOT Have the Right to Reprint or Resell this Report! You Also May NOT Give Away, Sell, or Share the Content Herein ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author. DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES: The information presented in this report represents the views of the publisher as of the date of publication. The publisher reserves the rights to alter and update their opinions based on new conditions. This report is for informational purposes only. The author and the publisher do not accept any responsibilities for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information. While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided here, the author and the publisher cannot assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Any similarities with people or facts are unintentional. AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: We may receive compensation from some of the entities listed in this report for referrals, as their thank you for sending you their way. However, we never recommend any product or service solely for the purpose of receiving commissions (and neither should you) we know our reputation is on the line. Copyright 2015 SpecializedComputing.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 1
Disclaimer and Legal Notices The information presented in this report represents the views of the author and/or publisher as of the date of publication. The author and/or publisher reserve the right to alter and update their opinions based on new conditions. This report is for informational purposes only. The author and publisher accept no responsibility for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information. While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided here, the author and publisher cannot assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Any similarities with actual people or events are unintentional and purely coincidental. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 2
Contents The Importance of a Mobile Friendly Website... 4 How Searches Have Changed... 6 Understanding Mobile Users... 7 The Types of Mobile Layouts... 8 Responsive Designs... 8 Dynamic Content... 8 Mobile URLs... 9 Making Your Website Responsive... 10 Keeping Your Current Theme... 11 Tips for Selecting Your Responsive Theme... 12 Differences Between a Desktop and Mobile Home Page... 13 What Mobile Users See... 13 Don t Forget About Mobile Apps... 14 What Does the Future Hold for Mobile Devices?... 15 Checklist for a Mobile Friendly Website... 16 We Can Help!... 17 http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 3
The Importance of a Mobile Friendly Website As a business owner, you may already know that it is important to run your website so that it is Google Friendly. This means keeping up with all the latest developments when it comes to updates and guidelines that Google has in place. Mobile devices have been around for years and it is estimated that over 57% of your website visitors are viewing it on some type of mobile device. The increase of online shopping has also hit mobile and if your shopping cart isn t mobile friendly you could be losing up to 30% of your potential sales! As of April 21 st 2015, Google is using the mobile friendliness of your website as a ranking signal. This is going to apply to all languages around the world. By doing this, Google is aiming to deliver higher quality search results to users on mobile devices. What this means to you as a business owner, is that if your website isn t mobile friendly then you are going to lose out on traffic, and you will probably notice that your rankings in the search engines slide. Not what you want to happen for sure! So what can you do about this? http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 4
Well the simple answer is to ensure that your website is mobile friendly. Not sure? Use the following link to take a look at how Google sees your site: http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly This is the result you want to see: Also make sure your website actually looks right in the viewscreen, too. Just because Googlebot can read your website content, that doesn't mean it s going to look right to the human beings that are viewing it. If your website shows up as just a bunch of text, or is otherwise just not right, it needs to be addressed or your mobile users will bounce right back out of your website upon arrival. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 5
How Searches Have Changed One important factor of mobile marketing is to understand how the world of online searching has changed. Especially when it comes to local and offline marketing. Do you remember years ago when you would enter a search term as follows? Restaurant + Toronto Dentists in New York This isn t necessary any more for mobile devices. As you search online, your mobile device will automatically detect your location and provide you with local search results. You will need to turn on the location services on your device for this to work. Google s Pigeon update did a major revamp of how local search results were displayed. Automatic local search results have helped both the mobile user and the local business owner. This means that if your business is listed in public review sites such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, and of course, Google My Business, your visibility will increase. Of course you need good reviews for this to happen! To increase your presence, list your business in as many local search directories as possible, and ask your customers to rate and review your business. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 6
Understanding Mobile Users Before we talk about how to ensure that your website is mobile friendly, you need to understand the habits and thinking of a mobile user. Yes, they are different than someone sitting at home on their desktop computer. The majority of mobile users say that they often make impulse purchases via their mobile devices, which is why their shopping experience needs to be streamlined. If they get hung up during your checkout process, they may not complete the purchase when they get home to their desktop computer. Not sure how many of your web visitors are coming from mobile devices? Just check out your stats on your hosting account, which should show the number of users on each different type of operating system, as well as what countries they re visiting from, and how they were referred to your website. Mobile users are usually out and about, which means that when they re looking for something, they need it immediately. This is why your website needs to provide easy-to-find content that loads quickly and is easy to navigate. It is now estimated that there are over 1 billion mobile users browsing the internet, and these numbers are rising. People are on the internet while sitting on the bus to and from work, while waiting in line at the grocery store checkout, and even while watching TV at night. This means that your website could potentially see an increase in traffic just by being mobile friendly. If a mobile user visits your website and has difficulty navigating your site, the chances they will return are very slim. They will most likely end up at your competitor s website instead. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 7
The Types of Mobile Layouts There are three main types of mobile layouts, and the good news is that Google views them all equally. Let s take a look at each one. Responsive Designs This would be the type of layout that is considered standard for most webmasters today. The benefit to this type of design is that it will automatically detect what type of device is being used. The layout will then adjust the design to fit accordingly. If you were to view your own responsive website on your home computer and then on your smartphone or tablet, you would easily see how the display changes, although the content stays the same. A responsive design only requires one design and one URL. It is probably the easiest method for making your website mobile friendly. The biggest disadvantage to this design is that it has the potential to load more slowly, since the original website design was made for larger screens and the smaller screen sizes require a lot of calculations to be performed on-the-fly in order to resize properly. Even so, it is still the most popular way to make your website mobile friendly. Dynamic Content With this type of layout, you still only use one URL for your website. The biggest difference is that you are showing visitors a completely different version of your website when they visit on a mobile device. While this method is popular, it does take more time to set up and maintain. The upside is that you can fine-tune your mobile friendly layout http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 8
to improve your visitor s experience, and to minimize mobile load times without sacrificing all the bells and whistles on your full-size website. Mobile URLs This type of layout is still worth mentioning, even though it is now considered to be out-of-date and old fashioned. This type of layout means you have to use a separate URL for the mobile version of your site, so you end up with two separate websites that need to be updated and maintained in tandem a lot of extra work. When a mobile user loads your site, they automatically get redirected to the correct version (URL) of your website. This redirection must be set up correctly, which is not always that easy to accomplish. Now let s move on to how to make your current website friendlier for mobile users. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 9
Making Your Website Responsive The easiest way to make your current website mobile friendly is by using a responsive theme. If you are using a site builder such as WordPress, then you have lots of choices available. Here are some top themes that are currently mobile responsive: 1. Thrive Themes http://www.specializedcomputing.com/thrive-themes 2. Studio Press Themes http://www.specializedcomputing.com/studiopress The Specialized Computing website is built on their Genesis framework. 3. Theme Forest http://www.specializedcomputing.com/themeforest Theme Forest also has designs for HTML and Joomla based sites. 4. Elegant Themes is another popular choice and they have 21 Wordpress responsive themes available at the moment http://www.specializedcomputing.com/elegant-themes 5. If you re looking for free themes, here s a list of 30 responsive designs http://www.specializedcomputing.com/wpmudev-free 6. Then there are the free responsive themes from the WordPress repository http://www.specializedcomputing.com/free-wpthemes If you haven t updated your Wordpress site lately, which you should get into the habit of doing, you may find that your current theme is now available in a mobile responsive version. To check for updates, go to Appearance > Themes and see if an update is available. Or look at the top of your Admin Dashboard and you will see a number beside the Updates Available area. Also be sure to test your shopping cart system (if applicable) to make sure it functions properly with whichever theme you choose, as well as being fully functional on mobile devices in general. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 10
Keeping Your Current Theme If you find that your current theme is not mobile friendly but you really don t want to change to a new theme, it is possible to make it mobile friendly with a little help. The Jetpack plugin for WordPress displays your content in a clean, uncluttered interface, making it easy for mobile visitors to scan your site. The Jetpack mobile theme is extremely lightweight to ensure fast loading times, and does offer some customizable options like custom menus, headers, and backgrounds. WPTouch is a plugin solution that will help you create a separate, mobile-friendly version of your site. This will not affect your desktop theme, which will stay the same. When visitors view your site from any mobile device, your site will display with a different theme. You can select from various themes that the plugin offers. If you are trying to brand your business though, this may not be the best option. WP Mobile Detector, this works in a similar way to the WPTouch plugin above. You can select from several different mobile friendly themes or upload your own, and it also has a built-in Interactive Theme Editor, so you can customize it by adding a logo, selecting colors, configuring the menu, adding analytics, and more. Please note that these themes have been designed to be about 4 times as fast as a regular desktop site, so they will load on a mobile device at super-fast speeds. There are additional plugins available as well. Just do your research and read reviews before using. And again, be sure to test your shopping cart system (if applicable) to make sure it functions properly with whichever mobile theme you choose, as well as being fully functional on mobile devices in general. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 11
Tips for Selecting Your Responsive Theme If you re looking to install a new theme and don t want to start uploading each new theme and testing or if you don t have access to a mobile device that you can use to test out the themes you can test your website by using Emulation Mode in the Google Chrome web browser. You can download the Chrome browser at http://www.google.com/chrome/ Then go to Menu > View Developer > Developer Tool This article explains exactly how to use the Developer Tool: http://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/device-mode Another way to check if your site is mobile friendly is by checking your page load speed times. This can be done at the following link; a high score is a good indication that your site will load quickly on a mobile device: http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 12
Differences Between a Desktop and Mobile Home Page When someone accesses your website at home on their desktop computer, they usually have a larger screen. This allows you, as the website owner, to have more content on your home page, including more sales and promotional content. But mobile users are limited as to how much they can see at any one time. For this reason, you want them to quickly find what they are looking for without having to scroll around and click too much. Keep in mind too that mobile devices all have different screen sizes, further limiting what each user will see. What Mobile Users See It is important to understand what mobile users see when they browse the internet. For example, your website will display differently depending on whether they are using an iphone, Android phone, Windows phone, laptop, tablet, or ipad. The layout of your page will depend upon the resolution and capabilities of each device. So two people with different smartphones could view your content in a different manner. Phones often display content in one column, whereas an ipad or tablet would display the content in two columns. Responsive themes are displayed on mobile devices by using a navigation layout that consists of the following main elements: 1. App Bar 2. Tab Bar 3. Navigation Drawer 4. Bottom Drawer If you have all these elements in place then your visitors will be able to navigate your site and enjoy a good mobile experience, meaning they will most likely return and your conversion rates will increase. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 13
Don t Forget About Mobile Apps One area that you don t want to get left behind is mobile applications, or apps as they are known. Some companies have developed apps for their mobile users which have been designed to replace the user s need to visit any website. This is for ease of use and for quicker loading and browsing purposes. It is possible that in the future, websites will only be accessible from a home computer or laptop whereas mobile devices will deal exclusively with apps. There are certainly benefits to apps: 1. They are easy to use. All the user has to do is download and install it, then fill in their details to log in or activate it (if necessary), and they are ready to go. If you want to develop your own app, be sure that it is easy for people to install and activate. 2. Apps can be used as add-ons or extensions of your website. Facebook is a great example of this. The contents of their website can be accessed via their mobile app, which looks and functions exactly the same for every user regardless of their location and what device they are using. 3. Apps can save users time. Who isn t busy these days and constantly on the move? What better way to stay connected than via an app. You are essentially taking your business straight to them, right where they live! 4. Apps allow you to capture data in real time. Businesses can now send Tweets at a specific time to all mobile users in their vicinity. Think about how this can benefit restaurants, for example. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 14
What Does the Future Hold for Mobile Devices? One thing you need to remember is that the world of mobile devices is forever changing. Just take a look at the types of wearable technology that are now available. Fitness trackers Cameras Portable trackers Portable monitors and devices Smart watches You have no doubt seen all the hype surrounding the Apple Watch. Wearable devices are a trend that needs to be heeded. So what does this mean for Google? Of course, no one can predict what Google will do when they release new algorithms. But one thing does seem to be clear; local searches will become even more localized. Instead of displaying results in a general location, the results could be pinpointed to just a few blocks, instead. As a business with a website, keep all of this in mind. Ensure that your website is responsive and mobile friendly. Make sure your visitors can easily click on links and navigate to other pages. Create pages that are easy to read with links that are clear and visible. And ensure that your shopping cart functions correctly on mobile devices. By taking all of these steps, you will have a mobile friendly website ready to handle customers from all across the country and around the world. http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 15
Checklist for a Mobile Friendly Website Use the following checklist to see how mobile friendly your website is right now, and what areas need improvement. Load your website on a mobile device and compare it to what you re seeing on your desktop computer at the same time. Then answer the following questions: 1. How fast/slow did the website load? 2. Can you easily identify what your website is about? 3. How well can the content be read? 4. What s it like to navigate? 5. Can you find the call to action? 6. How do you rate your experience as a user? 7. Would you return to this site if it weren t yours? 8. Is it easy to click on links? 9. Is there adequate white space in-between paragraphs? You need to be really honest here. If your site didn t perform well, it s time to concentrate on making it mobile friendly as soon as possible. With the latest changes from Google, it will really pay to have a mobile friendly website. For one, your rankings could potentially be higher in the search engines, which equals more traffic and new customers. At the same time, giving your website a makeover will benefit your business by making navigating your site more pleasant. If people find what they need and like what they see, they will bookmark your site and return more often. With the popularity of social media, users will also Share, Like and Tweet your content, providing you with more exposure. The bottom line is that you can t fight technology and new developments in the online business world. Instead, you must learn to accept them and integrate them into your business. Why stay outdated and out of touch when you don t have to? http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 16
We Can Help! If you need help bringing your website up to current standards so that it is fully responsive, loads quickly, and provides your mobile users an effortless online shopping experience, contact us today. We ll test your website on a variety of mobile devices and determine whether your website is currently mobile friendly, where it could use some improvement, and give you an estimate for the costs. We can also advise you on different ways of optimizing your website for local mobile searches, and whether your business may benefit from having its own mobile app. Contact Us Today! (888) 698-6548 service@specializedcomputing.com www.specializedcomputing.com http://www.specializedcomputing.com Page 17