Since the internet first started becoming mainstream in the ‘90s businesses have sought to take advantage of this technology by building a presence online. Those that were slow to adopt were quickly eclipsed by new entrants to the market who better understood the implications of this digital revolution.

The launch of the iPhone in 2007 ushered in a new era of mobile internet, forcing businesses to rethink their approach once again. Businesses who already had websites looked at cost effective ways to make their existing site function on the new wave of mobile devices. But as the adoption of mobile rapidly grew, forward thinking businesses flipped that model on its’ head, designing new websites with mobile as the starting point.

Today more than half of all global web traffic is mobile, and that percentage is increasingly rapidly. It is therefore vital that your site is fully functional on mobile so that you aren’t missing out on potential customers.

The benefits of mobile first web design

From a consumer perspective, mobile web has an obvious benefit; the power of the World Wide Web at your fingertips almost whenever you need or want it.

Businesses that take a mobile first approach will therefore also see several benefits:

  • Ensuring your website is visible and accessible to customers – Given that such a large proportion of web traffic originates from mobile devices, you want to make your site easy for these potential customers to use. Having a mobile first design means that these customers won’t have any issues accessing your content.
  • Preference by search engines – Google considers how “mobile friendly” web pages are and penalises sites that don’t function properly on mobile. By going mobile-first, you can avoid this issue and potentially improve the ranking of your site.
  • Access to new features – Building your site for mobile allows you to access features on the devices, like allowing customers to simply click on your phone number to instantly call you without having to dial, or using the device location to show how close your store is, or whether you deliver to that region.
  • Attract local custom – If customers are in your local area and search for businesses related to yours, search engines will gives preference to businesses in that local vicinity. By having a mobile friendly site, you will be able to harness this local traffic, rather than turning them away with a site that doesn’t function properly or that they can’t read.

Going Mobile

If you don’t already have a website for your business, you have the opportunity to get this right from the outset, building a fully responsive, mobile first site that works properly on all mobile devices and takes advantage of the latest device features.

If you have a site in place already, you can think about upgrading your  website from a mobile first perspective, but potentially reusing some of the elements such as images and content.

For more information on ensuring that your site is mobile friendly, don’t hesitate to get in touch.