Here’s a quick test for you – we’d like you to see what your website looks like. (Go ahead … we’ll wait.)

Now what did you see? Most of you probably envisioned the desktop or the full version of your website. This is the default “home” for your site, but not all of your games will be played at home; you also need to win some matches on the road. For people viewing your site from anywhere with their smartphones or tablets, the mobile version or the responsive version is the default “home” for your site. How do you win there? We are glad you asked.

Is your site mobile friendly (or as we like to call it ‘finger friendly’)?

Creating a mobile site is about more than just cramming your desktop site into a smaller screen size. Mobile device users tend to be more goal-oriented and focus on a smaller set of tasks. Your mobile site must respond directly and quickly, or you will be left out and lose viewers who are prepared to buy from your competitors.

With so many people searching for information on their mobile devices lately, 80% of Internet users own and search the web on their smartphones. It seems that Google has determined (along with the rest of the world, it seems) that if you are not mobile, you are toast. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore customers who are still using desktops and laptops. They still represent a significant portion of your customer base and new prospects.

Stop riding on the bench and get in the game. Here are 5 reasons to create a mobile website:

1. Because Google said so. (This is kind of like the “because I said so” argument from your parents when you were little). Google’s newest algorithm ranks mobile-optimized websites higher in search results on mobile devices. Now if your website is not mobile friendly, Google will recognize it and it will be less likely to show you as a legitimate search result. That makes sense, since Google wouldn’t be doing its job if half of the displayed results were useless to mobile device users.
2. Set yourself apart from your competitors. Less than 10% of businesses have mobile-optimized websites, but it’s fast becoming a top priority. So acting fast will give you a competitive advantage!
3. It’s what your customers want and they expect you to deliver. In 2014, mobile users accessing the Internet surpassed desktop users for the first time in history. Increasingly, your customers are not sitting in front of desktops or laptops. Instead, they are on the go, accessing your website from their mobile devices. What does that mean for you? If you don’t give customers what they want (easy visibility and navigation so they can browse and shop while on the go), they will go elsewhere. With the use of mobile devices on the rise, having a poorly developed mobile website, or lacking a complete one, is as useless as a screen door on a submarine; it will simply sink to the back of the customer’s mind.
4. Getting a mobile website is relatively inexpensive and often easy to create.
5. A website optimized for mobile devices can increase user engagement. Research shows that a site optimized for mobile devices can generate almost twice the average traffic per user than sites not optimized for mobile devices. More engaged users spend more time on it and therefore will see more of what it has to offer.

So how can you create a mobile-friendly site?

Don’t just try to “tweak” your existing desktop website to try and make it happen.

Smartphones have smaller screens and often distort images that look good on desktop websites. Narrow your site down to just the essential features, with content that includes links to secondary information pages. You should also expand the interface elements (buttons, etc.) to facilitate touchscreen navigation.

Why should you care?

According to Google, 85% of Americans are never more than a meter from their cell phones. And a recent Search Engine Watch blog says that 80% of searches start on a mobile device. If your website is not mobile friendly, potential customers will quickly find a site that is. It is simply smart business to design your website to be mobile friendly as many customers access the web on the go.