5 ways to make your small business website more mobile friendly

In just a few minutes, you can ensure your small business website is smartphone friendly

By Cary Weston

Though there are many ways to create a mobile website for your small business, there are things you can do right now to help make your existing small business website more mobile friendly.

Your website looks great on your office computer with all the software updates installed. But the fastest growing segment of the internet browsing world is not situated in the office/pc world.

They are most likely in their car, at the coffee shop, or walking the streets.

They are on their phone. And they may be looking at your website. Will your website serve them well?

A few questions for you to consider:

Is your phone number on the home page and easily found?
Is your address on the home page and easily found? Is the PO box or an actual address that will work well on GPS devices?
Is your phone number and address posted as text on your homepage and not part of a graphic? Your website footer is a great place for this content.
Is your website heavy in elements, such as flash, that will not register well with many mobile devices?
Most importantly - have you looked at your website on a mobile phone - does it look like it should?

There are many different ways to service the mobile browsing world. They range from just paying attention to the basics listed above to actually providing a mirror website designed for just mobile users.

You don't need to be a tech wizard to serve the growing mobile browsing world well.

Consider this:

If you are a restaurant, you rely on the local market for your business. You want to be accessible to those making last minute decisions about where to eat when the hunger strikes.

If your phone number is not in text, but rather as part of a graphic, the mobile user cannot quickly copy and paste it into their phone and call you to make the reservation or order the pizza for pick up.
If your address is not in text or visible at all, the mobile user cannot paste the text into their mapping software for quick and easy directions right to your front door.
If your menu, or at least your most popular items, are not featured on a separate and easy to view page, but rather in a large, heavy PDF document that must be downloaded, then you are adding yet another barrier to the opportunity of connecting with that mobile user.

Of course, if you're not a pizza shop or local restaurant, these lessons can benefit you as well. Being easy to reach and easy to find will never harm you in the web world, be it with mobile phone browsers or website visitors in general.

Take a few moments and conduct a mobile phone test of your site.

Those moments could lead to some quick, easy, and profitable modifications that could mean more opportunities- and more money - for business.

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- Cary Weston is a partner of Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications in Bangor, Maine

Connect online:
Cary's Google+ Page
Company's Web: www.sutherlandweston.com
Company's Twitter: www.twitter.com/SWMC_inc
Cary's Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/caryweston

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