For the last 2 years or so, we’ve been pounding the drum to anyone who will listen—which mainly means small businesses we train, our clients, and audiences I speak to—that you must be ready for mobile visitors.
How can your small business website be ready for mobile visitors?
Two words: responsive design.
Your website should be responsive.
What Is Responsive Design?
Very simply: the “look & feel” of your website is built in such a way that it automatically accommodates different browsers.
Certainly, I’m talking about desktop browsers like Chrome, Firefox and (God forbid!) Internet Explorer. But more importantly, we’re talking about the browsers that come with mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, and Android phones & tablets.
With a responsive design, your site will look good (or at least be usable) no matter what mobile device a visitor might be using when they access your site. Also, the site should automatically adjust when the orientation of the device changes (think about when you rotate your phone or tablet).
But People Don’t Visit My Site from Mobile Devices!
It’s not uncommon for a small business owner to throw this objection our way. I can’t tell you how many small business owners are convinced that somehow their website is different!
Our users are technical!
Buyers of our products sit at their desks all day long!
Our clients haven’t purchased iPads!
I’ve heard it all. But the data says something completely different!
Think about this: there are 1.2 billion people accessing the web from mobile devices. (Folks: that’s more than are using Facebook!)
Neil Patel from QuickSprout compiled some relevant tidbits about mobile device usage and assembled them into a nice infographic (see below). I will warn you that much of this is geared toward shopping from mobile devices, which may or may not be relevant to your particular small business website. Regardless: your visitors are coming from iPhones, iPads, Android phones and… yes… even Android tablets.
And if you haven’t already done so, now is the time to deploy a responsive design on your website.
Responsive Sites on WordPress: Inexpensive & Relatively Simple
Now… for those who have been following our advice, you’ve heard from me since 2006 that you should be using WordPress for your small business website. And if for any reason that isn’t possible, you should use it for your small business blog.
But we’ve also spent a considerable amount of effort in the last 2 years converting e-commerce sites over to use WordPress as well.
Why bring WordPress up? Well… it’s simple: if you use WordPress, there’s no excuse for you to not have a responsive site. Responsive WordPress themes abound!
Converting your WordPress site over from an older desktop-focused theme to a responsive one is one of the least expensive modifications you’ll make. And the low cost and relative ease of the process will remind you about why you went with WordPress to begin with!
Now get to it! Convert your site to a responsive design today!
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