Many times small business owners rely on guerrilla marketing techniques to keep their heads above water. Improving a mobile website’s capability may be the last thing on the marketing checklist and in the budget. According to research from Yodle and Research Now, about 50% of small businesses have not optimized their websites for mobile performance. This statistic is terribly frightening considering most web searches are done from mobile devices. This statistic is also alarming because small businesses should now focus on developing mobile apps instead of only optimizing websites.
There is hope! Small business owners should not fret! Google has recently come out with a test that measures mobile optimization. This free service will analyze three metrics: mobile friendliness, mobile speed and desktop speed. Google’s test will even offer up specific suggestions on how the website can improve. Google also offers up suggestions of site builders such as Wix and Weebly. It’ll be interesting to see how this new test will differ from PageSpeed Insights and other free services.
Are you a small business owner? Do you want the newest advice on your website’s mobile friendliness? Check out https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/.
MediaEmerge 
Hey Jeff-
It is so true. Consumers are totally turned off by mobile not being optimized. I tried to access information on AAU’s (Amateur Athletic Union) mobile site on Saturday prior to my daughter’s track meet and was SO frustrated when the mobile site could not return information on my smartphone. I was in a hurry, needed the start time to her event and eventually gave up and had to make phone calls (that sounds a little whiny, I know!). At any rate, I was left feeling like AAU was a little behind-the-times. I think when organizations are not putting resources toward simple things like responsive design on mobile, it is strongly communicates that it is NOT a modern brand.
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That’s a great point – I think there has been more of an emphasis over the last few years in mobile site layouts, but there are still some websites I have visited that are a mess via my iPhone. What does that mean? I likely won’t revisit that site, because most of my time on the Internet is through my phone.
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As of late, mobile apps have become more affordable, simply because an increased number of resources have become available to the small business market. Consumers have a strong desire to interact with the brand they are loyal to – so it’s no surprise that they’re rapidly downloading app after app to stay connected 24/7 to their top brands. According to Small Biz Trends, 20% of companies use their apps to brand, 30% use apps to increase revenue, and the remaining 50% implement the use of apps to support and engage their consumers (which I think is one of the best reasons).
Check out the article here:
http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/03/2016-year-small-businesses-must-develop-mobile-apps.html
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Whether business’s like it or not, all webdesign should be mobile first. If you already have a website you need to make the shift to mobile or responsive design. Apps may seem like an easy choice, but you need an app developer, you are paying for yet another server and platform. You need to keep up with changes and update, and regularly post those updates. Apps are the place where consumers can comment on the app. Those comments can be none too kind. Do you see little comment areas for a website design? Apps just lead consumers to make demands on how THEY want the app to work.
Instead, just make sure your website is easy to use and read in mobile layout. Anyone can check if their website, or any website works well on mobile. F12 command brings up developers tools. From here you can change the view to mobile. This will tell you quickly how a website looks on a smartphone.
https://codemyviews.com/blog/mobilefirst
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