7 Reasons to Optimize Your Website for Mobile Users

As mobile usage continues to grow apace, the need to optimize your website for smartphones is essential. Mobile marketing is no longer a single feather – it’s becoming the entire cap. If you have yet to create a mobile website, take a look at some compelling reasons to get started:

1. Nearly 50% of daily Facebook users are mobile-only. Mobile ads account for around half of the company’s total advertising revenue. With such a large audience at your disposal, these facts alone mean that delaying mobile optimization is hurting your business. With 31% of smartphone users claiming in a recent Pew survey that mobile is their primary access point to the web, your mobile website must offer the same functionality as your desktop site.
2. Mobile traffic makes up nearly 10% of global web traffic. There’s only one direction that figure is headed in future, and some analysts have predicted that by the end of 2014 more people will use mobile phones than PCs to browse the web.
3. By next year, U.S. mobile sales are forecast to reach $31 billion. Similar stories are playing out all over the developed world. To describe mobile as a global growth market would be a massive understatement. Any business that fails to provide a comprehensive mobile-friendly version of their site will lose millions of potential customers.
4. 50% of internet surfers are using smartphones. Making content mobile-friendly is the only way to reach them. That means providing the best possible user experience on a small screen. Even Google recommends using responsive web design. In some regards, start-ups are in the best position here, as they can build their entire brand around mobile optimization, right from the get go. Established companies need to go back to their existing online presence and question whether a mobile audience will get the message.
5. Only 21% of all websites are currently mobile-friendly. Despite half the population using a mobile device for their web activity, only a fifth of all sites have been rendered with mobile devices in mind. According to one piece of research, mobile optimized websites reported a conversion rate three times that of non-optimized sites. The implication is clear: users who don’t see what they need on one site will quickly move onto a competitor who answers that need. Mobile optimization is absolutely essential for driving business.
6. Mobile commerce accounts for 23% of online sales. Again, this figure is predicted to grow in the future, as more and more people conduct their activities from a smartphone. Businesses who can carve out their market share as early adopters of mobile optimization will have safely developed brand loyalty by the time the rest of the world catches up.
7. 49% of smartphone owners have made at least one purchase on their device in the past six months. Even people who are not regularly using their phones for shopping have dipped their toe in – and these are all potential customers, looking for a good user experience. Make sure you are providing it.