Is your business website mobile friendly?
The thing is that these days having a mobile friendly website is the basic price of entry for any business – large or small.
So in this video I’m going to explain the different options for building a mobile friendly website that you can be proud of.
- I’m going to explain why having a mobile website is no longer an optional or nice to have
- I’ll show you how to check if your site is mobile or not
- I’ll show you the best options for building a mobile website
- & I’ll give you my recommendation for the best way to get an amazing mobile friendly website without breaking the bank
So first up, let’s address one fundamental question: Why bother?
Why Do I need a Mobile Friendly Website?
Well there’s only one answer to that – demand.
It’s official – more people access the web these days via mobile devices than traditional devices like desktop or laptop.
And that trend is only going to increase.
In a nutshell – mobile is the future of the web.
Google knows this & that’s why it’s starting to penalize non mobile websites.
So really consider this point. Mobile isn’t just the future – it’s the here & now & you need to get onboard.
So let’s check if your site is mobile.
Is My Website Mobile Friendly?
The acid test is to just check it on a phone or tablet and see how it looks.
But what’s really important is to check how Google views your site.
So head over to the Google Mobile Friendly check page & check your site. There’s a link below.
If it’s not don’t panic – there are a number of ways to address this.
How Do I Make My Website Responsive?
Option 1: Mobile Website Builder
First up, a mobile website builder like the one Pickaweb offers.
This is a low cost option – just a few quid a month.
You get an easy to use website builder & you can add your logo, create pages and publish it side by side to your main website.
If someone browses your website with a mobile device then it detects this & presents the mobile version.
The upside is that it’s low cost and easy to use.
The downside is that you’re limited to what you can do in terms of functionality and you effectively have 2 websites running side by side so you need to keep both updated.
Option 2: Website Builder
Another budget option is to use a Website Builder which has mobile friendly templates.
Sure this means that you would need to re-build your website but you wouldn’t need to maintain a separate mobile version.
Again, low cost but you may be limited by the choice of templates available as well as the hassle of rebuilding your website.
Option 3: WordPress Responsive Theme
Next is to rebuild your website with a pre-made Responsive WordPress Theme.
I’ll come out straight & admit that this is my preferred option for a couple of reasons.
WordPress is the World’s most popular web design tool so you’re future proofing your website.
Responsive Design is a really neat technique which means your website looks great whichever device views it – desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone – whatever.
And the great thing is that you can buy ready made Responsive WordPress templates & the quality is outstanding – really world class.
Sure, you’re going to need to get a designer or developer to customise the template with your content but because the templates are already made the costs are much lower.
The templates cost around $50 or $60 which is great value.
Finally you could always get someone to build your site for you from scratch.
If you do that you’ll probably be looking at double, triple or more the cost compared to using a template.
It’ll also take much longer and you can’t be guaranteed you’ll like the end result.
As I mentioned before though, my strong recommendation is to use a Responsive WordPress Template and get it customised.
So there you go – that’s how to build a mobile website.
And if you like this video please give it the big thumbs up and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel right now.
If you’ve got any questions or comments just leave them below. I really appreciate it, I always read them & I will get back to you.
Also share it with your friends or anyone you know who’s got a business website.
Great article.
Glad you found it useful Ceri. All the best.
Fantastic article and very helpful thank you
Great post, just love Pickaweb hosting they are grrreeeaaatttt…lol
Good thing I know how to code responsive websites
Knowing how to code a responsive site is an advantage.
Making mobile-friendly sites is very important nowadays because most of the population use the internet on mobile phones and its is very convenient for the user.
Great tips for beginners looking to make their website mobile friendly.
I tell a lot of people these days that most of their web traffic will be from mobile. So you really have to think of mobile first and not as an afterthought.
Hi Steve,
Absolutely agree. Just look around you – people are not sitting at home browsing on desktops like before. They’re out & about on their mobiles all day. So mobile has to be right at the forefront of your mind whatever your business or you’ll get left behind.
I have my own mobile friendly website but have to rely on someone else to edit it. Is there a way to convert the website so that I can do my own editing?
Hi Colin,
You could have someone build your site with eg WordPress, which is a great tool and very popular. But in order to update the site you would need to learn how to use WordPress. There are tons of videos on Youtube. It is a good skill to have.
I checked your site and it looks great. I love the portfolio.
All the best.