Why Now is the Time to Get Started with Mobile Web Design

Why Now is the Time to Get Started with Mobile Web Design You can no longer just build a website with the intent of it being viewed on a desktop computer. You now need to consider the fact that your site will be viewed on a multitude of devices that range in size from a small smartphone to a tablet to a full computer screen.

One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the use of responsive web design. This means a site will resize depending on the number of viewable pixels. It means the designer has accounted for what the site will look like on a phone, tablet, and computer. It means a one-size-fits-all approach was not put in play and that the end user’s experience was made the top priority from conception to launch.

With all that in mind, you might be curious as to why now is 100% the time you need to get on board with mobile design, responsive or not. What follows are 4 reasons that should convince you:

Mobile Search Queries Are on the Rise

More and more people are picking up mobile devices every year, too. In fact, it’s estimated that the majority of web browsing will be done on mobile devices by 2015, so if you haven’t jumped on the mobile bandwagon yet, now is the time. Once this tipping point happens, you’ll find that the majority of people are viewing your site(s) on a mobile device rather than a desktop computer. So, if your site isn’t optimized for the mobile browsing experience, you’ll be putting yourself at a serious disadvantage.

Mobile Sites Are Faster

Well, they’re not intrinsically faster but they are often designed to be faster loading than their desktop counterparts. Why? Because someone viewing a mobile site may be on slower, public wi-fi or using a cell phone network to access it. This means the site needs to be small and optimized to load quickly. If a site loads too slowly, a user is bound to jump off the site in a heartbeat and look elsewhere. That’s disastrous in terms of increasing conversions. Anything you can do to decrease your site’s bounce rate—on desktop computers or mobile devices—is a plus.

Mobile Sites Are an SEO’s Dream

Many people think of search engine optimization as something involving keywords but that’s only one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, a major part of SEO is considering how accessible a site is on mobile devices. At least, it will be. We’re already starting to a see a trend where sites that are optimized for mobile rank higher in the SERPs. Think of it this way: we’re on the cusp of a day where Google will serve up sites that are optimized for mobile devices when you’re searching for something on a mobile device.

This behooves you then to take mobile optimization seriously, don’t you think?

The Best Mobile Sites Are Responsive

And since the majority of web design trendsetters are pushing hard for more responsive design, this bodes well for the future of mobile sites. Instead of creating a dedicated mobile version of a site that’s only called up when a user clicks on a link to it while on a mobile device, you simply need to create one site with responsive attributes. This means that the CSS within the site reacts to the screen width and resizes the site depending on the device on which you’re viewing it. It dynamically generates the content to fit within the allotted screen size. This is inherently more user friendly because there isn’t a special mobile version of the site to contend with that often has fewer features than the regular site.
Hopefully you now have a fuller understanding as to why now is absolutely the time you need to get on board with mobile web design. There really isn’t any time to put it off anymore. As more people use mobile devices for search and more people make purchases from their smartphones and tablets, you owe it to your company to invest in making your site mobile friendly.

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