BY JENNIFER MANZ
It’s no secret that people use a handful of different
devices to search for businesses online. As
more people use their mobile devices, one critical
question remains: Is your website mobile-friendly?
On mobile devices, a desktop-only website can
be very difficult to use, which means a mobile friendly
website is essential if you want to keep
your visitors engaged. Without a mobile-friendly
website, there’s a good chance visitors may leave
your site and go to a competitor’s mobile-friendly
site which is easier to read and navigate.
It comes as no surprise that Google has clued
into this behavior, too. In April, Google changed
the way websites were being ranking in the mobile
search results by rewarding mobile-friendly
websites.
Are you considering a mobile-friendly website
solution for your business? Below, we provide a
quick overview of the most common solutions
businesses generally use to ensure they have a
mobile-friendly presence.
• Mobile Website.
A mobile website is designed to be used exclusively
on smartphone devices and is generally a
separate version of your main desktop website.
When a smartphone user comes to your website,
an “auto-detect” will recognize the device
they’re using and then send him or her to the
mobile version of your website (for example,
“m.yourdomainname.com,” rather than “www.
yourdomainname.com”).
Mobile websites typically display a limited
number of the many pages that are featured on
the main desktop version of a company’s website.
However, many companies include a link from
the mobile version to their main desktop website
so that visitors have the option of accessing additional
information.
Since a mobile website is a condensed version
of your desktop website, it’s generally considered
to be a budget-friendly temporary solution if you
don’t have the budget to immediately invest in a
responsive designed website.
• Responsive Website.
A responsive website is a website that is designed
to be user-friendly on desktop, tablet, and
smartphone devices. Think of it as having one
website that works on many different devices and
screen sizes.
Rather than creating a separate version of your
website for smartphone visitors (as is the case
with a mobile website), the content on a responsive
website adjusts to fit the screen dimensions
of your visitors’ browsing device.
A responsive website is ideal for SEO because
all of your web pages live on a single domain (i.e.
the “www.” version). Moreover, Google’s preferred
configuration for creating a mobile-friendly site is
responsive design.
Additionally, it provides a consistent brand
experience across devices, such that the color
scheme, calls-to-action, and display of information
will be presented similarly to desktop and
mobile visitors.
• Mobile App.
A mobile app is an application that is downloaded
and installed on to a user’s mobile device
– perfect for gaming, banking, personalization
and when you want something unique that uses
your phone’s functionality like the camera or
GPS. However, a mobile app is not accessed via
the internet unless the app is already installed on
the user’s mobile device, and can be deleted on a
device. A separate app also needs to be developed
for the different devices (iPhone vs. Android) so
it can get very costly to develop and maintain.
Find out if your website is mobile-friendly
by taking the Google Mobile Friendly test today
at www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobilefriendly. Manz is director of digital marketing at Mannix
Marketing.
Photo Courtesy Mannix Marketing