It’s no secret that mobile internet usage is on the rise. Remember cell phones before they were smart phones? You know, those tiny flip phones with the T9 texting? Remember when you had to actually go home and log into your desktop computer to check your email? Feels so prehistoric doesn’t it? If you don’t feel like mobile websites are important in 2013, you’re living under a brick.
I personally rarely check my email on my laptop, and I google just about everything from my iPhone in the middle of seminars when I have a question. In fact I google just about everything from my iPhone when on the road, and I leave a reminder in my notes to check the website from my laptop when I get home.
It’s just the way of the world now, and this makes a huge difference in your business too! Mobile websites are important. It’s more important than ever to have a website optimized for smartphones and tablets, just take a look at the statistics:
- In 2012, there were 115.8 million 3G smartphone users in the US alone! That’s 47% of the population who own mobile phones, a jump from 39% in 2011.
- More Android devices are activated a day (700,000) than babies born in the world!
- 93% of mobile users access the web daily on their smartphones in the UK
- In 2013, trends predict that more people will use the internet on their mobile devices than computers
- 68% of mobile users in the US made a purchase from their mobile device in December 2012
These are just some key indicators why you should be optimizing your website for mobile devices in 2013. Not all websites look good on smartphones and tablets. Mobile devices have a different browser size, are generally a bit slower when it comes to loading webpages and don’t incorporate some of the software that computers have (eg. Adobe Flash).
This is why websites who have caught on to this trend early tend to perform better as a whole. They are optimized to load quickly, look good no matter what the browser size, and always function properly. This leaves the customer happy, and helps your business by allowing them to engage more with your website.
Websites which have not been redesigned within the past two years are falling behind the pack and losing traffic simply due to the fact that they don’t function properly on mobile devices. Test this for yourself! Visit a big internet brand such as eBay or Amazon on your computer, then your smartphone, and you will see the difference! Notice how they made sure that their design is responsive to the device being used? It is just as easy to navigate and use their website on a computer, as it is on a mobile device. Even check our website, www.PlutoSketch.com, on your mobile device and see for yourself what mobile design can do for you!
