If you are a B2B website owner then no doubt you will recognise the importance of providing an effective, user-friendly service that allows visitors to easily interact with your content.

But how well does your website perform on mobile devices such as an iPhone, iPad or an Android smartphone?

Google recently announced that mobile searches have grown by 400% since 2010 and many forecasters predict that by the year 2013 there will be 1.7 billion mobile internet users. That means there will effectively be more people using mobile phones than PCs for web browsing. If your website isn’t up to scratch for mobile devices then statistics show that 80% of visitors will simply leave straight away.

Whilst it can be a good idea to create a mobile website for your business, you can take a number of steps to ensure that your existing website is mobile-optimized.

  1. Ensure your website’s navigation is intuitive. Mobile users are more reluctant to make multiple clicks in order to find what they’re looking for; so present your content and menu in a way that reduces the number of clicks needed to get around.
  2. Consider the size of navigation buttons. Clicking a link can be quite fiddly using a touchscreen device. Most mobile devices have the option to zoom in on smaller text and links but if you make this process more comfortable with sufficiently sized buttons then it will be a much better experience for the end user.
  3. Limit the length of pages on your site. This will minimise the amount of scrolling required to view your content which can also be a discouraging factor for mobile users.
  4. Optimise web pages for faster download. Most mobile users will be browsing your website using a 2G or 3G connection; so it’s important to keep images and other file sizes to a minimum.
  5. Avoid using Flash. Many mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad do not support Flash; so if your site relies heavily on the software (e.g. for its navigation) then you should at least provide an alternative for mobile users as many of them will simply not be able to browse your website properly.

To encourage businesses to make their website more mobile friendly, Google have set up their GoMo initiative, which features a handy little tool which lets you check the mobile friendliness of your website.

Is your website mobile friendly? What steps have you taken to ensure your site is optimised for mobile devices?