Why Small Business Marketers Should Place an Emphasis on Mobile Design

September 22, 2016 by Christine

With the proliferation of smartphones, more people are browsing the internet via mobile devices than ever before. In fact, more people are now performing web searches from mobile devices than desktop devices, a relatively recent development that is truly a sign of the technological times. A third of the world’s population is expected to own a smartphone by 2017, marking more than 2.6 billion smartphone owners across the world.

Simply put, more people than ever before are using these devices. Ultimately, smartphone users want the convenience of being able to access websites from devices they carry with them all the time.

This means marketers that work with small businesses need to stay up to date with all of the latest features and design options available for mobile devices. As smartphones continue to evolve rapidly, so too do the web and app design capabilities associated with them.

None of this is any great secret in the world of marketing. Yet only about 6 percent of small business websites have shifted to using mobile-friendly designs.

At the beginning of August, Google announced it would be bringing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to all of its mobile search results in the near future, and even provided a demonstration tool to allow searchers to see how it would work. By giving webmasters a heads up about this upcoming change, Google has provided them with the time they need to begin optimizing for AMP as well. People with Google Webmaster Tools accounts have already received numerous messages through the Google Search Console message center about the importance of adopting AMP and its impending presence.

There are several potential reasons for this. The biggest of these, however, is that smaller businesses have significantly fewer resources than larger companies, which means they might not be able to hire dedicated web design or mobile design specialists. As a result, the owner of the company might attempt to wear multiple hats, but might lack the knowledge to develop a mobile-friendly site.

But mobile-friendly web design is more important than ever before. This isn’t just about creating a more convenient customer experience either, though that is one huge reason to place an emphasis on mobile in web design. Now Google is pushing mobile harder than ever by punishing websites in searches that do not have mobile-friendly pages. Its development of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) shows just how committed Google is to driving a better, faster, and sleeker mobile experience for web users across the globe. Marketers that aren’t able to jump onboard could find themselves left in the dust.

A faster, more convenient web browsing experience

Speed and convenience are the two primary concerns associated with mobile web use. People want to be able to take their phone out of their pocket, type in a quick search and be able to browse slimmed down pages designed for their smaller devices.

This means that designing a mobile-friendly page must focus on features that create an efficient and user-friendly experience. The time it takes to load data is absolutely crucial, even more so than desktop browsing.

Here are just a few benefits associated with creating a mobile design, in addition to creating a better customer experience and keeping them on your website:

• Purpose-driven, high-quality content:  As mentioned earlier, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are the new standards for mobile pages. Facebook has also introduced Instant Articles, which will help you to get more clicks and higher search rankings. Basically, the idea with AMP and Instant Articles is to create content that fits snugly within a mobile screen, removes the “fluff” that creates slow load times and generally creates a sleeker experience for web users.
• Accuracy: There is a significant market demand for mobile sites that are user-friendly, responsive, and accurate. Designers need to be able to pare down how much time users are actually spending online, much of which is wasted due to slow loading times on mobile devices. The more nimble and more accurate designers can make their sites, the more they can cut down on load time, which leads to higher search rankings and a more efficient browsing experience.
• Greater credibility: We’ve gotten to the point in the technological world where not having a mobile-friendly website could be damaging to your business’s credibility. This is especially true if you work in tech or marketing fields yourself. Who’s going to want to hire a tech company that doesn’t even have a mobile site?! Staying on the cutting edge of the latest technology and placing an emphasis on mobile design will add instant credibility to your business and your website.
• Better performance: As we’ve noted, there are many aspects of mobile sites that allow you to trim down and get better performance. One big example is images. Images for mobile sites can be compressed to fit on smaller screens and decrease their file size, so they load more quickly. While you shouldn’t feel like you have to remove images entirely, you can get much better performance out of a mobile site by compressing them.

If mobile marketing is not a major part of your company’s strategy already, it should be. Contact us today at Viral Solutions for more information about how to develop a mobile campaign.

Copyright 2016 Viral Solutions LLC

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Filed Under: Business Tips Tagged With: automated relationship marketing, Business Strategy, marketing tactics, mobile marketing, small business needs