Please welcome Dan Globus of Digital Solutions for Jewelers (DS4J) to The BIG Network. This BIG Tip is the second in a series of articles that Dan will be writing dedicated to both retailers and vendors.
Is your website mobile friendly? Why you need to be concerned about this?
by Dan Globus
Two very important events in the ever evolving history of the web have taken place or are about to take place. Going back to January of 2014, websites that track browsers (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) usage reported that for the first time, more people were viewing the web on their mobile devices than desktop computers. Starting April 21st, Google will start using mobile-friendly compliance as a ranking factor when conducting searches via a smartphone.
Why should you care about these events and why should you be concerned?
Most websites are not mobile-browser friendly.
More than 50% of jewelry industry websites are still not optimized for mobile devices. These websites were designed to be seen on desktop computers but when you try to view these websites on iPhones and smartphones using the Android operating system, they appear to be miniature versions of the website and you must zoom in to see every piece of content.
Forcing visitors who are using smartphones to zoom in to read your pages, and to click on links, is a guaranteed way to lose your visitors. If they’re shopping online, you’ve just lost a sale. If they’re interested in finding out where to buy your jewelry, you’ve lost an opportunity.
How do you know if you have a mobile browser friendly website? When looking at your website on your smartphone, if you have to zoom in to read the text and see your links, your website is NOT mobile browser friendly.
Google is sending a loud and clear message.
If you do not have a mobile-friendly website, or the site does not comply with Google standards, Google may devalue your rankings in mobile searches. If you have a strong online and/or print advertising program including Google AdWords, Facebook, Twitter and other mainstream advertising avenues, making sure that that mobile version of your website meets with Google’s guidelines is not so important.
However, if you are in the majority and are not paying much to anything for online advertising, it is essential that you make sure that your mobile website meets Google’s guidelines.
In Google’s Webmaster Tools, under the “Search Traffic” section, there is a link to “Mobile Usability”. This page will tell you whether you need to correct any issues in the mobile browser version of your website. If you’re not familiar with “Google Webmaster Tools”, ask your Webmaster to look into this.
Most people are tethered to their smartphones.
They not only rely upon these devices for e-mails and text messages, they rely upon them for information available via websites.
If you don’t have a mobile browser friendly version of your website, chances are that you can have a mobile browser version created fairly inexpensively. Platforms including WordPress make great looking mobile browser friendly websites very quickly, relatively easily, and they don’t have to cost a fortune.
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