Recent studies show that mobile website traffic has grown to capture nearly 25% of the market and has doubled in the past year. Consumers purchased 1-billion smartphones and 70-million tablets in 2012 alone. These figures align proportionally to spikes in mobile traffic, thus proving that the age of mobile is here and now.

The question is: if consumers are so anxious to search for your business on their mobile devices, why aren’t you (the business owner) just as aggressive at giving them what they want? 2013 is the year to go mobile, and those who don’t will be left in the dark ages of unfriendly desktop-only websites.

WHY GO MOBILE?

1. User Experience
People who search for your business online are starting to anticipate a cohesive experience across all devices and screen sizes. This means your desktop site will not serve as an appropriate means to convert mobile traffic.

2. Increased Conversion Rates
The more easily a user can navigate your site, and the more comfortable you make them feel in their chosen browsing environment, the greater chance you’ll have at turning visitors into customers.

3. Marketing Opportunities
Mobile advertising is on the rise, and it’s now easier than ever to serve search and display ads on devices and applications. The options vary based on your need, and range from dedicated mobile Pay-Per-Click to in-app banners ads.

4. Flexibility & Scalability
With the advent of responsive website design (websites that scale themselves to fit the screen size of the devices on which they are being served), comes ease of maintenance and and upkeep. Gone are the days of building separate instances of desktop, tablet and mobile. In 2013, you have the option of developing a single website that serves the needs of virtually all of your potential customers.

5. Psychological Impact
First impression has always been a key factor in a brand’s ability to entice consumers to take notice. An inconsistent web presence will undoubtedly reduce trust and loyalty, as users are now anticipating that brands will keep up with the latest advances in technology to offer experiences worthy of their time.

HOW TO GO MOBILE

1. Build a responsive website
For a detailed description of how responsive website design works, read more here (link to responsive article). Creating a responsive website will incur more upfront cost, but the return on investment will far exceed the initial expenditure. You will not be required to maintain separate websites controlled by independent CMS’s, and updates will be done collectively to ensure a seamless front-end layout.

2. Engage in mobile marketing
Building a mobile-friendly site is only half the battle. Next, you’ll want dedicated campaigns for desktop and mobile devices to take advantage of the hyper-targeted capabilities of modern ad serving platforms.

3. Test and optimize to ensure your new mobile presence is paying off.
After you’ve launched a beautiful new responsive website, you’ll need to continually tweak and test performance. Once your marketing efforts start driving a decent volume of traffic, it’s essential to keep a close eye on key metrics such as conversion and bounce rates, unique vs repeat visitors and desktop vs mobile traffic.

Wrapping Up

Web technology has advanced significantly over the past few years. Luckily, smart designers and developers had your best interest in mind, and have created exciting new methods of ensuring your online presence keeps up with the rise of mobile. Now is the time to take the leap. Go mobile and watch those conversion rates shoot up.