Why your website should be phone friendly
Being phone friendly is one of the first things most new businesses should do when they set up their website or blog. If you don’t ensure this you are alienating a large number of potential clients before they have even seen what you offer.
Wider Audience
Many people these days do not have a desktop or laptop and it’s estimated that 57% of online traffic is accessed through a smartphone or tablet.
Google uses different algorithms for different platforms. This means that sites that perform well on desktop won’t necessarily have high ranks on mobile. One of the key factors they look at is if a site is mobile friendly.
Not having a mobile optimised site denies 57% of your potential customers the chance to see what you have to offer. Instead they’ll find your competitors that do have mobile friendly sites.
It’s not rocket science – having a phone friendly site enables you to reach a wider audience.
User Experience
Sites that are not phone friendly have a host of different issues when viewed on a mobile device.
Long loading times and unfriendly page layouts can cause major issues for mobile users. This is why Google and other search engines penalise sites that are not phone friendly in their search results. Loading times are significantly longer on mobile when a site is not optimised.
The longer it takes for a page to load the higher the bounce rate (people who leave straight away). Time is valuable and most users aren’t willing to wait more than a few seconds. Then they give up and move on to the next website.
Another issue is layout. Because mobile screens are smaller and longer, a site layout designed for desktop looks out of place on a phone. Menus need to be moved, images need to be resized and the layout needs to be redesigned.
You want the most important information on your page to appear “above the fold” (on the page without scrolling to see it). Space is limited on mobile so you need to be much more selective with what you show first.
Contact Details
If you have a phone friendly website it is much easier for people to contact you.
Clicking on an email link or a phone number on a phone friendly site means customers can contact you immediately. That way you will get people contacting you when they have that impulse to do so. Rather than having to actually tap in a number or an email address.
If you want some help with your website or want to be sure that it is phone friendly and offers the best experience for your clients, then give the team at Breathe Creative a call.
It could be the best call you make this week.
