You’ve probably been seeing reminders to create a mobile-ready version of your website for ages. If you’ve been putting this project on the back burner, though, it’s time to stop procrastinating.
Your small business probably has dozens of important projects on your to-do list, but this is one that should be prioritized and put on the fast track. Why? Because if you don’t have a mobile-ready site (or you have a terrible one) you’re losing customers before they even walk in the door.
Just ask Bob Parsons, the chairman and founder of GoDaddy.com, he’ll tell you so via his video blog and with research to back it up. Businessman Parsons has a seven-minute video, embedded here at the end of the text.
While there are lots of convincing reasons to add a mobile-optimized site, the essence of all of them is the same: consumers have more and more mobile devices. They’re using those devices to check out businesses. If they don’t like what they see, they won’t use you. If they don’t use you, they’ll probably use your competitor.
Essentially, if you don’t have at least a decent and usable mobile site, you’re handing off customers to the competition. Sound alarmist? Now for the factual portion of the program.
- The population is increasingly web-savvy and discerning as to what quality of website they’ll spend time researching. Recent research says 79 percent of people who find a site difficult to use on their mobile device will give up and look for another site.
- People with smartphones tend to carry them all or almost all the time. Parsons cite a study by Google showing “more than 80 percent of smartphone owners use their device to research local businesses and nearly 3/4 of those people either call or visit that business within a day.”
What does that mean for your small business in the here and now? You must have a mobile version of your website and you need to launch it as soon as possible. It needs to be simple and easy for people to use. The mark of a good mobile site isn’t how much you spend on it or how many widgets and flash animations are on it. A good mobile website will have basic information about your business like:
- Where you’re located: Preferably with the address in a format where it can easily be opened in an application.
- How to find you: What are the landmarks, what does your shop look like. Where can you park?
- What are your hours? This is vital. If people are looking for your business, they probably are interested in visiting it and will need to know when you’re open.
- How to contact you: If they have a question can they call you? If so, where, how often to you respond to messages. Do you frequently miss phone calls due to in-shop business? Do you respond to email faster? Small businesses are different from big-box retailers and corporations, let your customers know what they can expect from you.
Are you convinced? Will you create a mobile ready site? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments!