At this point, writing about mobile-responsive websites might seem like a waste of time. Google first announced their move to a mobile-first index back in 2016. For SEO-conscious business owners, that was more than enough reason to update.
But believe it or not, I still regularly find websites that haven’t yet made the switch. Owners get busy, and well-intentioned projects fall off the radar. Others have sunk so much into customized, non-responsive web designs that they’ve postponed updating until they can raise the budget to hire a new designer.
Whatever the reason, if you haven’t yet confirmed that your site works for device screens of all sizes and functions, that time is NOW.
No more excuses
Look, you rely on your website to collect leads, which means you need to maximize your number of visitor interactions. More and more, those interactions take place on mobile devices.
You don’t have to look up worldwide usage statistics for proof. Just check your own analytics. (You do track your site analytics, right?)
Even if your own stats aren’t at the 50-50 desktop/mobile split seen everywhere else on the Internet, you’ll still see a significant percentage of mobile users.
If your site doesn’t work with a phone or tablet, those are potential clients you’re turning away. Not to mention what it’s doing to your professional image.
If your site isn't mobile-friendly, you're turning potential clients away AND hurting your professional image. Click To TweetHow to check your mobile-friendliness
You don’t even have to load a special tool to check if your pages are mobile-friendly. A quick Google search for “google mobile friendly page check” will bring up the test box right on your search page (along with links to the more robust testing tools).
In 30 seconds you can be confident that Google sees your pages as mobile-friendly, and will index them accordingly. Or, at least you’ll know you’ve got work to do.
But on top of this, you should also take the time to browse your site not only on your own devices, but on other phones and tablets as well. Get a sense of the look and feel, and make sure the design is still intuitive on mobile. Menus are a common problem here – can visitors find information easily?
Check the mobile-friendliness of your site with Google, AND by testing with multiple devices of your own. Click To TweetHow to update
If your site isn’t yet mobile-friendly, you MUST prioritize getting it updated. This is too important.
The amount of work required depends on what you’re using to design and run the site. Your hosting provider’s website builder should have been updated long ago – you may just have to reload and save the pages, or maybe switch to an updated page template. You’ll likely find support documentation that can help.
If you’re using a CMS system like WordPress, it can be as easy as installing a new mobile-responsive site theme. Be aware that changing themes can sometimes break functionality – test every page! You might want to consider using a Page Maintenance plugin while doing this work, so that a temporary “Under Construction” page will show to the public while you do the update work behind the scenes.
Then there’s custom web designs. Unfortunately there may not be an easy fix for this. You’ll have to speak to your designer about — at minimum — adding “media queries” to your website CSS code. And likely there’s a fair bit more to it than this.
If your web design budget is tight, you may want to consider reducing the site down to one or two mobile-friendly pages that best represent your business, and take the others offline temporarily until you can update everything. Better to give future mobile visitors a minimal site that works than continue to chase them away with one that doesn’t.
Make your website mobile-friendly. NOW. No more excuses. Click To TweetUpdating might be a painful process, but it’s well worth the effort. No other website optimization is more effective than making sure your pages work for everyone!
Optimizing your website is just one of my “9 Ways to Get More Clients in 7 Days or Less!” Click here to request a copy of the free report.
