Does Your Website Work on a Phone?

Does your website work on a phone? Mike & Mike talk about this problem and provide solutions in this week's episode of Tech Files. 🖥️🤖

 

Mike B: Welcome to another edition of Tech Files. My name is Mike Beck. I’m here with Mike Spina. And today we’re going to talk about mobile responsive design. What the heck does that mean?! (laughter) What is mobile responsive design?

Mike S: It’s… industry…

Mike B: …jargon?

Mike S: …nonsense. (laughter)

Mike S: That just means… and that every site should be, is… you design so it responds to the device the user is on. So, you don’t want your website to be designed just for the desktop computer…

Mike B: Right.

Mike S: And then, someone looks at it on their iPad, or a phone, and it just doesn’t look right. It needs to respond to the device, meaning either the size of the device, or the orientation of the device, landscape…

Mike B: For today, nowadays, when we look at, like, Google Analytics and we talk about how many… like, what’s the percentage of people that are viewing cell phones, tablets, compared to, like, desktop?

Mike S: You’ll get varying answers to that, but it’s about 50%...

Mike B: About 50%?

Mike S: Across the board. Industry… it doesn’t matter the industry. Globally, it’s about 50%, as viewed on a phone or a tablet, as opposed to, you know, a computer nowadays.

Mike B: Right.

Mike S: So, it been a while. It’s been kind of a trend now for 3-4 years. It’s about 50%. And I think it’s probably going to stay steady there, because, you know, people at work are on their computers…

Mike B: Right. That’s kind of what we talked about yesterday, is, as long as people are using PCs, desktop computers at work, we will still design for the desktop, unless people are jumping into your Surface Pros, your iPad Pros…you know, switching to, like, a tablet that can do what most computers can do.

Mike S: Yeah.

Mike B: But, like, when we’re at home, we’ve talked about when we’re at home, I don’t even use my desktop computer any more.

Mike S: Yeah.

Mike B: So, your website has to work on my iPhone…

Mike S: Absolutely.

Mike B: …otherwise, I’m not going to jump on to my computer for that.

Mike S: For us, you know, I mean… we started doing… Any site we’ve designed, probably 6-7 years now, has been responsive, because that trend was growing then. But there’s still a lot of websites out there that we’ve never re-done in that time. And still, when you look at it on a phone, it just basically squishes everything down. It’s not…

Mike B: Yes…

Mike S: It’s not responding to the device. It’s just kind of… so what it is, it’s really not useful. Especially if you have a Call-To-Action, or if you’ve done your site correctly, it contains some of the elements you need to get a return on your investment. It’s… you need to have it respond on a mobile phone, because they may not even be able to click on your Call-To-Action, or see your tag line, or anything like that. So I think you have to… it should be responsive and mobile responsive.

Mike B: Yeah… and well, I think what we try to do, and what anybody wants to do in business, is like, the least amount of friction possible.

Mike S: Yes.

Mike B: You know, when somebody goes to your website, you want them to do exactly what your goals are. You don’t want them to take 5-10 minutes… It should be very easy for them to navigate to what you want them to do as a business.

Mike S: Yes. You want to make it easy for them to want to do business with you. Simply.

Mike B: Yeah…

Mike S: And if the site doesn’t look good, and they get to it, and they can’t use it, they can’t… conduct business, they’re going to leave and go somewhere else. Yeah, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do business with you.

Mike B: And it kind of goes back to… you know… what we’ve talked about in the past, with “We Build Websites That Work!”, “What are your goals?”… If somebody jumps on your website, on an iPhone, an iPad, and your number one goal is for people to contact you….

Mike S: … and they can’t.

Mike B: And they can’t! Then… your website’s not working for you!

Mike S: Exactly. That’s what we say too – “We Build Websites That Work”. It’s not, you know, it’s functioning on a phone, but it’s not working. It’s not making it easy for your potential customers to do business with you. And that’s why you should have a responsive site. So, whatever device they’re on, if they’re on a gaming console, and have a web browser…

Mike B: Right.

Mike S: ...It responds to that device, and presents your website in the best light possible.

Mike B: Yeah, I think, like, even my Amazon Fire Stick…?

Mike S: Amazon Fire Stick…

Mike B: It, like, has an internet browser.

Mike S: So, any of that. Like you said, your phone, your tablet, your computer… it should present your company in the best light possible. So, that’s kind of what we mean by that.

Mike B: Your website should work on all devices.

Mike S: Exactly.

Mike B: That’s what it comes down to.

Mike S: But not just work, yeah, it should present you in the best light possible.

Mike B: Right.

Mike S: So that means, you know, modifying the look of it based on the device that they’re on.

Mike B: So, if you find yourself on an iPad, on an iPhone, and you go to your company’s website, and it just isn’t working that well… or you’re having trouble with your “mobile experience”, as we like to call it in the industry… Reach out to Quadsimia. We’re here to help. That’s what we do. We build websites that work – on desktop computers, mobile devices, tablets, Amazon Fire Sticks, TVs at home…

Mike S: All of the above. (laughter)

Mike B: So if you’re interested in making sure that your website needs a little upgrade, to be mobile responsive, to work on those devices… Give us a call, or fill out our Contact form on our website. Reach out to us on social media. Any of those things… right?

Mike S: All of those things.

Mike B: Call for Mike Spina. (laughter) Don’t call for me. Call for Mike Spina. (laughter) And we will see you next time on Tech Files. Take it easy.