WOW, this has been a busy time for me both personally and for my WordPress website development and optimization business.

Three days ago I became a grandmother for the second time. Words can’t express what an incredible blessing this little bundle of sunshine is.

Next, there have been 2 much talked about website events that have recently occurred that impact your website.

First, on April 21, Google announced:

We will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.

This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

Why is this so significant to your business?

Google gets 1 Billion searches a day. Think about that number, it is a big one. And when you consider today, people search on their mobile device more often than they do on their desktop it is no wonder Google is favoring websites that provide visitors with a friendly mobile website experience.

Whenever Google makes such an announcement I take it seriously.

While others are either scrambling to update or convert their existing website to one that meets Google’s new mobile website criteria I am thrilled my clients websites meet these new requirements.

In fact, I suspect those whose website is mobile friendly will witness an increase in website traffic derived from Google because odds are not all of your online competitors have a website that meets this newly implemented proper criteria. Therefore, their website will not rank as high on Google when someone searches for your services from their mobile device in your local market giving yours additional exposure.

Secondly, WordPress has released version 4.1.2

This important update blocks a serious critical cross-site scripting vulnerability which could enable anonymous users to compromise a website.

Why is this so significant to your business?

If your website is run on WordPress, todays most popular website platform, this critical security update protects it from unwanted hackers and unscrupulous others.

It has been a busy yet very rewarding time. I hope your business is flourishing and as always if I can help in any way please do not hesitate to contact me.

Your Website MUST be Mobile-Friendly by April 21st says Google

Google Quote:

Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.

This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

Bottom line: Your website must be mobile friendly!

Full details here: Mobile friendly search results notice.

A Mobile Friendly Website Shows Your Online Visitors You Care About Them PLUS it Gives You Extra Google Love

There are numerous advantages to having a mobile friendly website. It is a must for anyone who wants to compete online today. – Randi Thornton WPWBB Visionary Founder

As always, if you have questions about your website contact WPWBB for help advice & answers.

Mobile Friendly Website Reference Guide my favorite go-to resources

Use this curated reference guide to help you convert your existing website to a mobile friendly version, build a mobile friendly website from scratch or just gain wisdom about the topic.

Visual Checkers how does it look?

http://ami.responsivedesign.is: Enter your website address and see what it looks like on 4 different mobile device sizes.
http://www.studiopress.com/responsive/: A WordPress website responsive website viewer.
http://codebeautify.org/responsive-website-tester: A visually appealing way to view your website on multiple screen sizes with the ability to scroll as if you were using the device.

Web Design & Development tutorials & best practices

http://wordpress.tv/2014/11/18/sara-cannon-smart-design/: A WordCamp NYC 2014 event featuring speaker Sara Cannon titled “Smart Design”
http://mobilewebbestpractices.com/resources/: A huge collection of articles, books, presentations, templates, testing, scripts plus more.
http://designsparkle.com/responsive-web-design-tutorials/: A great reference of over 35 insightful mobile friendly tutorials including layouts and more.
http://marketingland.com/google-survey-what-users-want-from-mobile-sites-22606: A survey by Google revelas what users want from mobile websites.

Examples & Exploration inspiration plus more more

http://www.awwwards.com/mobile-web-design/: best mobile websites and APP design examples from Awwwards. Great place for inspiration!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-rampton/business-mobile-responsive-design_b_5267077.html: An article that highlights the importance of having a mobile friendly website.
http://designmodo.com/responsive-design-examples/: 50 great mobile friendly website examples using best practices.

Google Guides learn from Google

http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/: Enter your website address and Google will show you how fast your website loads on mobile devices.
https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/mobile: Google wants websites to load fast & shares mobile analysis in pagespeed insights.
https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/rwd-fundamentals/: Technical mobile design best practices.
https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/index: Mobile friendly website and SEO straight from Google.
http://www.google.com/think/multiscreen/whitepaper-sitedesign.html: Google established 25 principles of mobile site design to help companies build mobile sites that delight customers and drive conversions.

“Do I need a responsive website” is a question I’ve been asked more frequently in the past few months.

The phrase “responsive website” is often used by the more geeky crowd (I guess that includes me!) so those who may be unfamiliar with the term “responsive website” let’s tackle this first.

What is a responsive website?

According to Wikipedia: Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).

Here’s What Google Says…

In the USA, 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones. Interestingly, 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work both places where desktop computers are likely to be present.

In Summary….

A mobile-friendly website is aka as a responsive website.

But, Do I REALLY Need a Responsive Website?

I can’t think of any valid reason or situation when I could honestly answer “no.” – Randi ThorntonMy 2 Reasons You “DO” Need a Responsive Website

1. Your Website Visitors

I am not going to quote numbers that represent how many people use a mobile device to browse the web. All you need to do is think about your internet history. If you are like me, a few years ago if you were to “Google” anything, shop online or just wanted to surf the internet you did this on your desktop.

Today, at least one-quarter of my internet time is spent on either my Microsoft Surface Pro 3 or iPhone 6 Plus. I get so frustrated when I visit a website that is not responsive.

Frustrated might be putting it mildly.

It goes deeper than that. I feel like the business of non-responsive website does not care about me. And they certainly don’t want my business… right? If they did, why would they not care about my experience? Do they really think I am going to waste my time and energy trying to find what I want and scroll their website when I can find someone who does have a website that is designed to display beautifully on my 5.5″ Retina HD display screen?

According to Google…

The desktop version of a site might be difficult to view and use on a mobile device. The version that’s not mobile-friendly requires the user to pinch or zoom in order to read the content. Users find this a frustrating experience and are likely to abandon the site. Alternatively, the mobile-friendly version is readable and immediately usable.

2. Google

As a website developer with over 15 years SEO experience, I have a passion for making websites SEO friendly. I believe a website built on solid SEO foundation maximizes it opportunity to be discovered on search engines by people searching for your products or services.

After all, what are the benefits when a beautiful website is launched onto the World Wide Wide and no one knows about it?

So… when Google publishes text content, videos and adds mobile usability to it’s Webmaster Tools about responsive websites I take notice.

And think about it….

The monster search engine’s job is to return the best results when someone does a search. There is no denying providing a list of websites that will deliver a positive user experience to the masses is more favorable.This is the second reason why you need a responsive website. You want to make Google happy to encourage Google to send online prospects your way.

Special Tip! Go to http://ami.responsivedesign.is to view your website on a variety of screen sizes!
If you have questions about responsive website, let me know. Together we can make the World Wide Web a great user experience no matter what device used.

To Buy a Mobile Friendly Website or Not….

that is today’s question.

You probably have a website, right? But if it’s not mobile friendly also known as “responsive” you may be thinking about your options or wondering if buying a mobile friendly website is necessary.

Let’s find out.

Learn if YOU Need a Mobile Friendly Website &gt in 3 Steps

The experts (online marketing experts and others) have been telling us for several years that mobile search is here to stay and can not be ignored.

According to Search Engine Watch, in early 2014 mobile EXCEEDS PC internet usage for the first time in history. That’s significant.

What about your website visitors?

OK… enough statistics from others. Let’s eliminate the guess work by diving into your website statistic. This data will will provide you with the answers you need.

Here is what we need to know:

How many website visitors arrive to your website via a mobile device?
What percentage of mobile visitors are new versus returning visitors?
What actions do mobile device website visitors take?

Knowing this data is critical and fortunately easy to answer assuming you use Google analytics or similar (you do have website analytics installed on your website, right?).

Step 1: How Many Website Visitors View Your Site Via a Mobile Device?

Open your Google analytics and click on mobile under the audience tab. The following chart should be displayed.

Under the Acquisition section view the sessions column. Here you can clearly see how many visitors viewed your website via a desktop, mobile device or tablet.

Because of my SEO background, I believe each visitor is important. And if a website had a total of more than 1-3% of its visitors viewing a website on anything other than a desktop I would think hard about making certain they had just as good of an experience as my desktop visitors.

Why?

If they came to my website I assume they are looking for information about the services or products I offer. And if they struggle to quickly access that information, they will leave and find a website that does make it easy for them.

Step 2: Who are Your Mobile Website Visitors?

Now you know how many and what percentage of your website visitors used their desktop, a mobile phone or tablet.

Great. But who are these visitors?

The more you understand your visitors the easier it is for you to make many decisions relating to online marketing including whether a mobile friendly website is in your best interest.

Next, under the Acquisition section let’s look at the New Sessions and New Users columns.

The New Sessions number represents an estimate of the percentage of first time visits.
The New Users represents the number of first time users during the selected date range.

A couple of things to consider about mobile device data:

If the percentage is new sessions and new visitors is 80% or above, does this mean most visitors do not return for a second visit?
Knowing how many visitors were new visitors, did you make a great first impression? Are they likely to return, tell their friends and buy from you?
If you have a healthy balance of new versus returning visitors can you assume their first experience was good and they returned to learn more about your services and products?

Step 3: What Actions Do Your Mobile Device Website Take?

We are trying to decide if you need to buy a mobile friendly website. And we could guess all day long. The good news is we don’t have to. Once again by using Google analytics instead of us guessing we can let your website visitors answer this question for us. We can learn from their behavior.

Under the Behavior Section the number in the…

Bounce Rate column indicates the percentage of single page visits (IE visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page). A visitor that lands on your website and immediately hits the back button indicates you did not make a good enough first impression or they could not find what they were looking for.
The Page/ Session column represents the average page depth or the average number of pages viewed per session. Other words, how many pages did they view before they left your website. Obviously the higher the number the better. We want to engage with and provide our online visitors with the info they are looking for.
Average Session Duration allows us to know how long the average visitor stayed on our website. Once again, the longer the better.

The Answers are in the Numbers

There is an enormous amount of informative takeaways we can use simply by taking time to study web analytics. Hopefully you will take action and learn about your web visitors behavior to help you decide if you need to buy a mobile friendly website using the above info as a guide.

Additional Considerations

This infographic I found on Visual.ly summerizes other important factors such as…

according to a survey by Google 48% of users said that if a site did not work well on their smartphone, it made them feel like the company did not care about their business.

I don’t know about you, but when Google makes a statement like this… I listen.

Being the number one search engine I want to make Google happy. And if Google thinks it is important websites are mobile friendly, I do too. And after all, it just makes sense. Google wants to provide its searches with the best results. And website owners should also want to provide their visitors with a good experience.

To learn more about mobile friendly websites, contact WPWBB CONTACT US

Mobile Friendly

Mobile Friendly #Website = Gain Google Love