[Attention Cleaning Businesses] Optimize Your Business Website For Mobile: Here’s Why and How
51% of all internet users access the web using their phones only. Not the desktops; not the laptops; just their smartphones.
In fact, global mobile commerce sales are expected to hit a staggering $2.92 trillion this year.
Back home, the number of smartphone users in the US has touched 260 million. What’s more, these people spend an average of 3 hours and 43 minutes per day on their mobile devices, which is more than what they spend watching TV.
Evidently, people are going mobile, and a massive number of them are using only smartphones to access the internet.
The writing on the wall is clear – either your business goes mobile or ends up being invisible to all those mobile-only potential customers. This is especially true for a company that offers physical services like residential cleaning and relies on the internet to find new customers.
You already know this. That’s why you have a website – to reach all internet users, whether they are using desktops or smartphones.
But that’s not enough!
It’s not enough that you have a website, it must be optimized for mobile devices.
You’re probably wondering, “What does ‘optimizing for mobile’ mean? Why should I do it? How do I even do that?”
Let’s find the answers to each of those questions.
What’s Mobile Optimization of Websites?
The world of mobile is a complex, ever-changing, and intensely challenging one. There are thousands of devices, with an equally large variety of screen sizes. Your website must be accessible from every one of those devices.
Also, the behavior of smartphone users your website is vastly different from that of desktop users. They search the website differently; navigate the website differently; and they consume your website content differently. Indeed, the landing pages for mobile devices utilize design elements that maximize conversions for mobile users.
That’s why most consumer-centric businesses have a separate website for mobile users. Even when the budget is limited, companies take a mobile-first approach and optimize their website for mobile devices. What works spectacularly on mobile usually works great for desktop users too.
Mobile optimization is fine-tuning your website’s design, technology, content, and presentation to give a user-friendly, engaging, and action-oriented experience to your mobile users.
Why Should You Optimize Your Website for Mobile Users?
Mobile internet usage overtook desktop internet usage long ago. But, for a residential cleaning business, mobile users are a goldmine that they cannot afford to ignore. Here’s why:
It’s Where Most of Your Customers Are
Mobile internet search results are highly localized. When users search for key phrases like “house cleaning businesses near me”, “residential cleaning businesses near me”, or “cleaning businesses”, the top search results they get are likely nearby businesses. They check a few of them and pick a business based on various factors.
This experience has taught them that they can find virtually any type of business near them, including house cleaning businesses like yours. That’s why they use mobile devices and that’s why their experience on your website must be seamless.
It’s Where Referrals Happen
Let’s say you send your existing customers coupons to share with their friends and family, and every time someone redeems the coupons, the referrer gets a $50 gift card. Where do you think those coupons and codes are shared? The answer is WhatsApp, text messages, or other messaging platforms in most cases. They share them via mobile. Therefore, when the referral lands on your website, the site must be optimized to excite, engage, and convert.
Mobile Users Decide Faster
When users are on a laptop looking to hire a business, they perform extensive research and arrive at the best choice. On the other hand, when they are using a smartphone, they make their decisions quickly. What’s more, mobile users tend to purchase more too.
They use mobile devices to get out of boredom and are “conditioned” to avoid mentally intensive tasks like evaluating, comparing, and shopping. So, they perform those tasks as fast as they can.
Mobile Users Have Low Attention Spans
They do not stay on the same page for long. They hardly take a few seconds to decide whether a page offers any value to them, and if your page doesn’t convert them during those few seconds, you’ve lost a potential customer forever.
How do I Optimize for Mobile?
Now that you know why mobile optimization is critical to your business’s rapid growth and success, let’s take a look at some of the ways in which you can optimize your website.
Make it Responsive
Responsive websites seamlessly rearrange the page layout to suit the screen size of the user’s device. This ensures that your mobile users get a fluid-smooth and clean website usage experience.
When you Optimize for Mobile, Keep it Light
Data speeds continue to be low in several regions across the US despite high internet penetration. If your website doesn’t load on the user’s mobile device within a few seconds, they’ll just close the tab and go to another business’s website. Therefore, each of your website’s pages must be lightweight and must load on the user’s devices quickly, even on a slow connection.
Optimize Images
Several tools allow you to reduce the file size of the images without substantially compromising their resolution or quality. Use them to make the images on your website lighter.
Flash is a Big No
Don’t use flash as a principle. It’s dead, even for desktop users. In the case of mobile users, they may not even have a plugin to run Flash. So, avoid using it.
The Fat Finger Design
Design your website’s buttons for the fat fingers. This helps avoid accidental clicks and offers a smoother experience to users.
Use Mobile Keywords
That’s right, mobile users must be targeted with a very different set of keywords. Most mobile users perform searches using voice input. That means the keywords must have a natural sound to them.
Local is the New Black
As mentioned before, most mobile users look for businesses nearby. So, optimize your website content for local searches.
Separate URLs or Mobile-first
Google has announced that it predominantly uses the mobile version of your website for indexing your site content. That’s why you must have at least separate URLs for your mobile-friendly webpages. Or better, follow a mobile-first approach that emphasizes mobile experience over desktop experience.
Final Thoughts about how to optimize for mobile
With more than half of your potential customers being mobile users, it’s critical that your website offers a brilliant experience to them. If not, act now and create a killer mobile-friendly website.
To know more about how your residential cleaning business website can be optimized to attract, engage, and convert pre-qualified, high-converting potential customers, get in touch with us.
Related Links
51% of all internet users access the web using their phones only. Not the desktops; not the laptops; just their smartphones.
In fact, global mobile commerce sales are expected to hit a staggering $2.92 trillion this year.
Back home, the number of smartphone users in the US has touched 260 million. What’s more, these people spend an average of 3 hours and 43 minutes per day on their mobile devices, which is more than what they spend watching TV.
Evidently, people are going mobile, and a massive number of them are using only smartphones to access the internet.
The writing on the wall is clear – either your business goes mobile or ends up being invisible to all those mobile-only potential customers. This is especially true for a company that offers physical services like residential cleaning and relies on the internet to find new customers.
You already know this. That’s why you have a website – to reach all internet users, whether they are using desktops or smartphones.
But that’s not enough!
It’s not enough that you have a website, it must be optimized for mobile devices.
You’re probably wondering, “What does ‘optimizing for mobile’ mean? Why should I do it? How do I even do that?”
Let’s find the answers to each of those questions.
What’s Mobile Optimization of Websites?
The world of mobile is a complex, ever-changing, and intensely challenging one. There are thousands of devices, with an equally large variety of screen sizes. Your website must be accessible from every one of those devices.
Also, the behavior of smartphone users your website is vastly different from that of desktop users. They search the website differently; navigate the website differently; and they consume your website content differently. Indeed, the landing pages for mobile devices utilize design elements that maximize conversions for mobile users.
That’s why most consumer-centric businesses have a separate website for mobile users. Even when the budget is limited, companies take a mobile-first approach and optimize their website for mobile devices. What works spectacularly on mobile usually works great for desktop users too.
Mobile optimization is fine-tuning your website’s design, technology, content, and presentation to give a user-friendly, engaging, and action-oriented experience to your mobile users.
Why Should You Optimize Your Website for Mobile Users?
Mobile internet usage overtook desktop internet usage long ago. But, for a residential cleaning business, mobile users are a goldmine that they cannot afford to ignore. Here’s why:
It’s Where Most of Your Customers Are
Mobile internet search results are highly localized. When users search for key phrases like “house cleaning businesses near me”, “residential cleaning businesses near me”, or “cleaning businesses”, the top search results they get are likely nearby businesses. They check a few of them and pick a business based on various factors.
This experience has taught them that they can find virtually any type of business near them, including house cleaning businesses like yours. That’s why they use mobile devices and that’s why their experience on your website must be seamless.
It’s Where Referrals Happen
Let’s say you send your existing customers coupons to share with their friends and family, and every time someone redeems the coupons, the referrer gets a $50 gift card. Where do you think those coupons and codes are shared? The answer is WhatsApp, text messages, or other messaging platforms in most cases. They share them via mobile. Therefore, when the referral lands on your website, the site must be optimized to excite, engage, and convert.
Mobile Users Decide Faster
When users are on a laptop looking to hire a business, they perform extensive research and arrive at the best choice. On the other hand, when they are using a smartphone, they make their decisions quickly. What’s more, mobile users tend to purchase more too.
They use mobile devices to get out of boredom and are “conditioned” to avoid mentally intensive tasks like evaluating, comparing, and shopping. So, they perform those tasks as fast as they can.
Mobile Users Have Low Attention Spans
They do not stay on the same page for long. They hardly take a few seconds to decide whether a page offers any value to them, and if your page doesn’t convert them during those few seconds, you’ve lost a potential customer forever.
How do I Optimize for Mobile?
Now that you know why mobile optimization is critical to your business’s rapid growth and success, let’s take a look at some of the ways in which you can optimize your website.
Make it Responsive
Responsive websites seamlessly rearrange the page layout to suit the screen size of the user’s device. This ensures that your mobile users get a fluid-smooth and clean website usage experience.
When you Optimize for Mobile, Keep it Light
Data speeds continue to be low in several regions across the US despite high internet penetration. If your website doesn’t load on the user’s mobile device within a few seconds, they’ll just close the tab and go to another business’s website. Therefore, each of your website’s pages must be lightweight and must load on the user’s devices quickly, even on a slow connection.
Optimize Images
Several tools allow you to reduce the file size of the images without substantially compromising their resolution or quality. Use them to make the images on your website lighter.
Flash is a Big No
Don’t use flash as a principle. It’s dead, even for desktop users. In the case of mobile users, they may not even have a plugin to run Flash. So, avoid using it.
The Fat Finger Design
Design your website’s buttons for the fat fingers. This helps avoid accidental clicks and offers a smoother experience to users.
Use Mobile Keywords
That’s right, mobile users must be targeted with a very different set of keywords. Most mobile users perform searches using voice input. That means the keywords must have a natural sound to them.
Local is the New Black
As mentioned before, most mobile users look for businesses nearby. So, optimize your website content for local searches.
Separate URLs or Mobile-first
Google has announced that it predominantly uses the mobile version of your website for indexing your site content. That’s why you must have at least separate URLs for your mobile-friendly webpages. Or better, follow a mobile-first approach that emphasizes mobile experience over desktop experience.
Final Thoughts about how to optimize for mobile
With more than half of your potential customers being mobile users, it’s critical that your website offers a brilliant experience to them. If not, act now and create a killer mobile-friendly website.
To know more about how your residential cleaning business website can be optimized to attract, engage, and convert pre-qualified, high-converting potential customers, get in touch with us.