The Importance Of Mobile Websites For Local Businesses
If you still need convincing as to why mobile websites for local business are an important aspect of marketing, look around. Everywhere you go, you see
people engaged with their mobile devices. The use of mobile phones and tablets has grown dramatically in the last 5 years to the point where more people are
now connected to the internet via mobile than via desktop computers. Now THAT is something to write home about!
Let’s examine why mobile is so popular.
Because most of us are always on the move, we’ve come to rely on smart phones and tablets to help us find what we’re looking for when we’re out and about. A
google search can help consumers find a local restaurant or gas station. Mobile searches allow comparison shoping online while in a store deciding on a
purchase.
Mobile devices also allow us to multitask so we can use our time more efficiently. We can stay in touch with friends or surf the internet while waiting in
line, or we can exchange texts discretely from the workplace.
When it comes to businesses holding video conferences, they used to be limited to using PCs or laptops. But with the video capabilities of mobile phones like
the iphone 4, it’s now possible to hold conferences and meetings on the go.
With all of this mobile usage, chances are your website is being viewed on a much smaller screen than the PC or laptop version it’s been optimized for. You
need to have a site that’s easy to view and navigate when a mobile user lands there, or they’re going to search elsewhere. Sure, you can add code to your
site to tell it to appear smaller when it detects a search coming from a mobile phone or tablet. But you’re just going to get a “mini” version of your site,
and searchers will have to scroll around and expand the areas of the screen they’re interested in. That’s not user friendly.
A web site or web page that is truly optimized for the mobile interface is built differently and has a different look and feel from a traditional, “large-screen” site. It’s optimized somewhat differently for the search engines too. If you haven’t taken this critical step yet and created a mobile site for your local business, now is the time.
