I HAVE A WEBSITE. WHY DO I NEED A MOBILE SITE?

Yet another question that has arisen lately is the one in the title: "I already have a website, for which I paid a lot of money.  Why do I need to spend more money on a mobile site?"  The answer is you don't...necessarily.

Have you ever brought up a website on your phone?  If you have internet access on your phone, you have. The U.S. statistic is about 20% of all visits to a website come from a mobile device.  This statistic includes both phones and tablets (like the iPad).  Now, have you ever been to a website that is packed with so much information and tiny links that you have to zoom in just to read what a company has to offer?  And the links? If you have fingers bigger around than a pencil, forget about it.  I will personally go to another site rather than fiddle around with those tiny buttons.

The primary function of a mobile website is to put all of your contact information up front, in a design that is friendly to smaller screens (and people with fingers bigger than a pencil).  You could use your mobile site as a landing page for mobile devices, a page that mobile friendly and has your contact information (address, phone number, email, etc.)  and a link to your full site or you can create an entire multi-page site.  It's really up to you.  However you use a mobile website, if you have a lot of copy on your home page, I would recommend having one.

"But bald man, only 20% of my visitors are using a mobile device to access my site?  That's less than a quarter of my customers!  I can't afford to have a mobile website built for 20%!"  Well, while as a business owner myself, I can certainly understand the concern, I will put this another way:  what if your business dropped 20%?  What if 20% less customers started showing up at your brick-and-mortar store?  Or, if you don't actually own the business, what if your paycheck was cut by 20%?  I imagine you would be searching for another job in short order.  While I am not saying that every website out there needs to have a mobile site, I have seen plenty that should have one.  Those are websites that have a high bounce ratio (when someone visits your site and leaves without looking around at other pages...maybe because of normal-sized fingers?).  If you check your analytics, an average bounce ratio is 60-70%.  If yours are higher, you might want to research why that number is so high.  I'm not saying it's because you need a mobile site, but it's something to think about.

And one other thing, did you know that the average width of an adult fingertip is 2 cm?

Have a great day, and remember to keep moving forward!

WHAT DO PENGUINS HAVE TO DO WITH MY WEBSITE?

Although I do not specialize in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I care a great deal about my clients and their businesses. SEO is integral to the success of the web side of your company. It is how your customers find you when they do a Google search for your product. Great, but I’m still not making the penguin connection.

Here it is. Google will occasionally change the criteria it looks for in rankings (how high on the list you are placed when someone does a Google search). Those criteria are called algorithms, and although they are constantly being modified, there is a package of fairly substantial changes about once a year. In 2012, it was called Panda 2.0. On May 22, 2013, Google released Penguin 2.0 and the Penguin changes could dramatically affect how many people see your website. If you have noticed a drop in your web traffic, it could be because of Penguin 2.0. You might wonder how you should react to this news. Some people panic and call an SEO company and order massive changes. Some just panic. Some people, hopefully you among them, are too busy running a successful company to do anything. But, what should you do? First thing is, don’t panic. Second is, continue running your successful business. Third is, consider your content.

Although the Penguin changes cover a wide array of criteria, the biggest thing is content, the descriptive wording on your website that tells your customers who you are and what you do. Google is looking for original content (ergo, don’t go copying your competitor’s content and paste it into your site). They are looking for how you stand out from your competitors, what you can do for the purchasing public and how you interact with them on your website. They want to see you post on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. They want to see that you are saying something that connects with your customers in such a way that your customers want to share your posts (back linking). As it relates, my advice is dealing with a Penguin is to think about what you are saying to your customers. Make them want to share with other people. Tell them something they don’t know, something entertaining, something interesting, maybe about penguins. If you need something, penguins see better underwater than in air.