How often do you visit social networks on a mobile device? How many times per day do you check emails on your phone? And how many times do you click on links and visit websites from emails or newsletters you read on your phone? If you are anything like me or my family, friends and colleagues, I’m assuming you use your mobile device quite often. Actually, I just recently heard someone comment that for many of us, our phones are the very first and last thing we touch before going to bed and when we wake up!

1. How Mobile Usage Affects Web Design
How often do you visit social networks on a mobile device? How many times per day do
you check emails on your phone? And how many times do you click on links and visit
websites from emails or newsletters you read
on your phone? If you are anything like me or
my family, friends and colleagues, I’m
assuming you use your mobile device quite
often. Actually, I just recently heard
someone comment that for many of us, our
phones are the very first and last thing we
touch before going to bed and when we
wake up!
If personal experience doesn’t convince you, here are stats that put figures where my
“mouth” is:
 Mobile devices accounted for 55% of Internet usage in the United States in January
[2014] (Source)
 About 20% of all global web traffic now comes through mobile devices (Source)
 This will likely continue to increase thanks to improved user experience
on mobile apps and the expansion of high-speed 4G access (Source)
These stats show that having a mobile-optimized website is a must. And the best way
to create a mobile version of your website? Responsive website design.
What is responsive website design?
Responsive web designs assimilate data depending on the device you’re using to view
the site, then adapts the site for optimum user experience—adjusting the design and
functionality to better fit your screen, whether it’s a mobile phone, tablet or
computer monitor. Our blog on responsive web design explains what it is and helps
determine if the move is right for your business.
Optimizing your website for mobile user experience
With the rapidly increasing number of people using mobile devices to browse the web,
companies are now really required to have a responsive website that adjusts to every
device being used. Working with many clients in the staffing industry, I’ve seen a
trend recently that focuses on the job seeker experience, including viewing and
applying for jobs on mobile devices. This trend is underscored with figures like these…
 43% of job seekers have used their mobile device to engage in job-seeking activity
 27% of job seekers expect to be able to apply for a job from their mobile device
 1 BILLION job searches are done per MONTH on a mobile device

2.  Mobile-friendly recruitment has a conversion rate 5-10 times better than
traditional PC recruitment (Source: 2014 Job Seeker Nation Report by Jobvite)
Similar figures can be seen in other industries as well, as more and more people read
work emails and conduct business on the go from their phones or tablets.
Social media use on mobile devices
According to ComScore, 65% of time spent on social networks happens on mobile.
We’re checking status updates and replying to messages on Facebook. Networking and
connecting to other professionals using our LinkedIn phone apps. We’re tweeting and
retweeting, Instagraming and Snapchatting solely from our mobile devices. Some 73%
of online adults now use a social networking site of some kind, and most of us
actually frequent these networks using our phones—at the checkout line, waiting at
the doctor’s office, while watching TV on the couch, etc.
For businesses, this means that when people are clicking and sharing your content,
they’re likely doing it on a mobile device—so your website had better be optimized for
mobile.
Mobile optimized websites impact SEO
With ever-changing algorithms and updates in Google crawlers, websites that aren’t
optimized for mobile (non-responsive sites) may get penalized.
“To improve the search experience for smartphone users and address their pain
points, we plan to roll out several ranking changes in the near future that address
sites that are misconfigured for smartphone users.” (Source)
Google also says that if you properly configure your mobile friendly pages, it will
“improve the mobile web, make your users happy, and allow searchers to experience
and experience your content fully.” (Source)
The application for businesses is obvious: we all want to show up and rank high in our
prospects’ search result pages—SEO should be a priority for companies in this digital
age.
If SEO is a priority for you, here are 4 reasons you should have a responsive website
design, according to Search Engine Journal:
1. Google vouches for responsive website design
2. One URL—no need for a mobile-specific URL which means all of your traffic will
weigh in for the same URL

3. 3. Responsive helps combat a high bounce rate—if your mobile user lands on a site
that shows all the main links and content they want to see, they’re less likely to
bounce away from your site
4. User experience is enhanced: you want visitors to easily find buttons to share your
blog and find the information they’re looking for—happy website visitors are more
likely to come back again, share it with their networks and eventually give you
their business
Your homework:
Look at your website on your mobile device and/or tablet. Is it easy to navigate? How
long does it take to load? How many clicks until you get to the blog, contact page and
other resources on your site? Do you have to zoom in to click on the navigation menu?
Can you easily share blogs and articles with social networks? Can you find a phone
number and address easily? Do you have to scroll up and down or side to side to view
text or images?
Then take a look at your Google Analytics to see how much traffic is coming from
mobile devices and what pages on your site are most frequently visited. These
questions should get you thinking about optimizing your users’ experience on mobile
devices through responsive web design. And if you’re still in doubt, click here for
more signs your website needs to transition to responsive web design. Or leave it to
the experts: sign up for our complimentary website audit by filling out our
registration form!
I always welcome your questions—be sure to contact us or leave me a comment
below!