Unless something drastically changes in 2017, the vast majority of small business owners are running the most critical part of their business like they’re Service Merchandise retail stores circa 1990. According to this 2016 small business study, only 30 per cent had web pages that were mobile friendly.
If you’re asking, “What’s the big deal? My small business is on the internet,” you’re acting just like Service Merchandise, the once mighty retail chain with a unique rapid ordering and delivery system. Their leaders didn’t see the big box stores like WalMart and Best Buy and the power of the internet making their conveyor system antiquated. What was a company with over $4 billion in sales at its peak in 1994 was filing Chapter 11 by 1999.
How do I know if my small business is mobile friendly?
The good folks at Google can help you with this simple test. Just plug in your business’s URL. In just a few seconds, it will scan your site, show you a rendering of what your site looks like on a mobile device, and tell you if your site is mobile optimized. If it’s not, they’ll give you some pointers on what to fix.
There’s really no good reason for the shockingly high number of small businesses who are still not optimizing for mobile devices. It’s a really simple fix to update any site. Here are a few problems your customers could be encountering if your site isn’t mobile optimized.
1. Poor visual layout From the size and placement of images to the readability of the text, if your site isn’t specifically optimized for mobile devices, all that effort that went into planning and designing your desktop website is for naught. In 2016, people accessing the web from mobile devices surpassed those who primarily used desktop devices for the first time, and that number isn’t going down. Your customers aren’t going to squint or play with the settings on their phones or tablets to get a better look at your content. They’re going to leave.
2. Scrolling If your content was laid out for a desk top, it’s not going to render the same way on a mobile screen. That means the customer has to scroll to find what he/she is looking for. If it’s not “above the fold” they’re going elsewhere.
3. CTA Problems The tiny text and graphics on your non-mobile optimized site isn’t just a problem for reading. It’s a big problem for ordering or finding other pages. Even people who don’t have fat fingers will have difficulty pushing the right buttons to order or filling out forms online. They probably won’t wait until later when they can fill it out on the desktop. That moment of conversion is lost.
As you might be able to tell, if your small business’s website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you’re probably losing a lot of potential customers. There’s no reason except your inactivity for that to happen.
When you work with Knuckleball Digital, your site is automatically optimized for mobile customers. That’s part of our dedication to quality. There’s no extra charge or anything. It’s just what we do to make sure your small business is getting the most out of its online presence.
Contact Knuckleball Digital today for a FREE estimate and wireframe preview. We’ll upgrade your old desktop site and make sure you’re equipped for today’s mobile marketplace, too.
Don’t be Service Merchandise. Make the changes needed to keep your small business competitive.