In the mid-2000s, it was important for companies to have websites as the tech boom was underway and millions of people began to use computers more and more for personal use and shopping. Now, it is imperative for companies to not only have a website, but a mobile friendly website as well.

The number of people using smartphones is high right now and is only going to get higher. Statista.com estimates that over 2 billion people are currently using smartphones worldwide and that number is expected to climb to at least 2.6 billion in 2019.

Also, according to Statista.com, mobile web accounts for 38% of all web traffic in 2016 and that number is expected to continue its rising trend in the future.

To be mobile friendly, websites have to be responsive, which means the website can adapt to different screen sizes. A responsive web site uses HTML and CSS to resize, hide, shrink, enlarge, or move the content on a website to make it look good on any screen, according to W3Schools.com

in 2015, Google introduced search penalties for websites that are not mobile friendly. When users search keywords on Google using a mobile device, Google filters out the websites that do not look good on that particular platform. With mobile web traffic increasing, websites that are not mobile friendly will be pushed on Google searches and possibly lose clientele if their site is not responsive.

On average, most mobile users are on a website for just 3 minutes (SimilarWeb) compared to 5 minutes (SimilarWeb) on a desktop. This means companies have a shorter amount of time to reel in potential clients or buyers on mobile devices. If the website is not mobile friendly, the time spent on the website will be cut drastically.

Mobile websites have, also, become increasingly important in e-commerce.

In 2015, mobile commerce sales totaled $104.5 billion, according to InternetRetailer.com. This is a 38.7% rise from 2014 and is expected to grow in 2016. Mobile sales also accounted for almost 30% of all online sales.

A great way to check to see if your website is mobile friendly is to use our “Mobile Friendly Website” on our website: https://stagingacsfstg.wpengine.com/mobile-friendly-test/. This will tell you if your website is mobile friendly, and if not, what a mobile-friendly website looks like.

If your website is not mobile friendly, or you don’t have a website at all, contact the experts here at IMG where we can build a brand-new, personalized website for your company so you can thrive in the new online marketplace.