Last week, we covered the strategies of a user-friendly web design, including creating a mobile-friendly site. A lot of major brands are implementing this trick in their own websites, and Google even started penalising websites that are not optimized for mobile devices.

Aside from avoiding punishment from Google, what are the other top reasons to create a mobile-friendly site?

Attract more users

There are more and more mobile users than ever before. This is especially true for online shoppers. According to a report from Fast Company, most impulse buys are usually from tablet users.

But how do you catch their attention in the first place? Often, people prefer information presented to them in a quick and easy format. In other words, make sure that your site is easy to navigate, even on mobile devices. This way, visitors will stay on your site for longer.

Boost your site speed

Mobile gadgets just don’t have the same memory and energy capacity as their laptop and desktop counterparts – though they are catching up fast. This means you’ll have to minimise the number of files in your site so that it won’t take too much time to load on these portable devices.

Because your site isn’t too large, this reduces the loading time for your visitors regardless of device.

Improve user engagement

With a mobile-friendly site, you can include more mobile-specific features and tools. For instance, you can include a click-to-call button so that users can immediately get in touch with you whenever necessary.

Another useful feature is a mapping function, this is especially useful if you have a local target audience who can use this tool to find your establishment faster.

Integration with offline media

Unlike laptops and desktop computers, mobile gadgets can be used for reading QR codes. A QR code is a matrix barcode that contains information that can be detected and used by mobile devices.

A perfect example of this is the BirdCodes app from Angry Birds. When the game’s movie adaptation was released, creators integrated these codes on specific merchandise. In order to win these items, players must first scan the QR code with the app, before playing customised games to win the merchandise. With the help of these codes, Rovio introduced a more interactive way of playing Angry Birds.

Ultimately, if you choose not to optimise your site, soon it will be obsolete. So it is best to make it more mobile-friendly now while the landscape is still evolving. This leaves you with more time to adjust to trends as they come up.