Even Smaller Boca Raton Businesses Need to Realise The Importance of a Mobile-Optimized Web Site

There is a very significant figure that Boca Raton businesses should be aware of as it affects small businesses just as much as it impacts on the large multinational industries. More than three-fourths of American adults now use a smartphone, meaning that we have recently seen a huge rate of adoption of smartphone internet browsing by older generations, when in the past it had mostly been young adults that were using their devices for internet activities. When you contemplate how vitally important a business’s website can be for generating trade and providing information to existing and potential clients, it’s plain for all to see that ensuring your website is mobile friendly is an essential business practice.

Most businesses are aware of this and if you’re not optimised for mobile use then there can be little doubt that you’re losing business and missing commerce opportunities. Fortunately, there are some good examples of businesses that have sought to take advantage of mobile optimisation. If you’re not already convinced that you need to look into mobile optimisation for your business website then here are few more very persuasive reasons to take action.

The Switch

Multi-screening has become a common practice in recent years, as many people will generally view your business through multiple devices. Often this means that they’ll carry out their research on the go through a mobile device and later on place an order using their desktop or laptop computer. If your mobile experience isn’t on a par with the desktop site you’re not just losing a sale, but losing a customer to the competition. Very simply put, a site that is poor for mobile users is not providing customers with what they want and they’ll switch to a business that provides the consistency and functionality they require.

One very good case in point here is the booming casino gaming industry. As one of the industry leaders, 32Red have made sure their mobile website is every bit as accessible and easy to use as their desktop counterpart. To see the comparison for yourself, you can visit 32Red on mobile here to find a site that allows you to log in with your existing desktop gaming account to partake in the same games you can on your PC or Mac. They’ve also made sure they offer the option to sign up for a new account on their mobile site too, also offering the same promotions – such as the no deposit sign up bonus – regardless of where you access the site from. Another example to look at is Platinum Play – another member of the online casino industry that is acutely aware of the desire people have to play casino games on their smartphone or tablet.

A Different Kind 

Although there is a large amount of multi-screening, you should be aware that customers act in a different manner on their mobiles compared to when they’re using their desktop. A mobile user has different objectives and generally wants information faster and more digested than their desktop persona. They are also more likely to make impulse purchasing decisions, whereas those using a computer make more considered purchases after conducting greater amounts of research.

Realising that mobile optimisation is important is the first step, but what does that look like practically for your business website? It can vary depending on the nature of your business, but a few best practices are:

• Increasing page speed by more carefully selected images, minifying code, reducing the number of redirects and leveraging browser caching.
• Don’t block JavaScript, CSS or images, as mobile users want to see the same things as their desktop counterparts and these elements are useful in helping Google identify your site as a responsive site.
• Don’t use flash or pop-ups as mobile users might not have the capabilities to run flash and pop-up are far more difficult to deal with on a mobile device – and Google won’t like it.
• As more and more mobile device users are of an older demographic remember to optimise your site for fat and clumsy fingers so all users find it easy to use the touchscreen navigation and scroll paths. That means buttons rather than text links, at least for the most important links you have.
• Use meta descriptions, which are 160 character scraps of information in HTML that will be displayed by search engines and thus very important.

Mobile Traffic Will Increase

Although projected shipments of mobile devices are set to remain flat for 2017, there is an anticipated growth for 2018 and no one is suggesting that figures will drop. We love our smartphones and visiting sites such as 32red to play games, our site to read the latest community news or going on Netflix to watch TV while on the commute to work or during a short break from work has become more and more commonplace. As a business, you need to be aware that your customers will increasingly be finding and viewing your business through a mobile device.

Be a proud member of the Boca Raton community by listing your city and state within your site’s metadata in order to capitalise on local searches.

There’s lots more to consider, but these are the main best practices and if you’re not sure where your site stands in terms of mobile optimisation the best thing to do is simply grab your mobile and visit your site. Is it fast? Does it draw the eye to your key functions? Can you read everything? Can you navigate and make a purchase easily? If you answered no to any of those questions, it’s time to optimize for mobile.