Do Small Businesses Need Mobile Website Design?

Yes. With caveats, of course — if your business doesn’t have a website, you probably don’t need your non-existent website redesigned for mobile devices. If you have a website and you don’t intend to use it to make money, drive foot traffic through your doors, or tell people about your business, you probably shouldn’t waste your time on mobile website design — or having a website in the first place.

But assuming you have a website and you want to use it to improve your business, mobile website design is pretty much a no-brainer. Why? Simple — most people these days have some form of Web-ready mobile device, and if your website is frustrating or annoying to use on a mobile device, you’re risking driving those people away from your business entirely.

Fortunately, mobile website design is relatively inexpensive, and with a clever redirect or two, you can even take advantage of your main website’s SEO. It’s fully possible for your website to detect what kind of device the browser is using to read it and replay by putting the mobile version of your website in front of mobile viewers. That means the same SEO that drives people to your main site can drive mobile viewers seamlessly to your mobile site.

So, knowing that mobile website design can turn your website into a tool that will not only tell surfers at home everything they need to know but also give the essential information (like where you are and when you’re open) to mobile viewers, why would you not do it?

The only real objection you can possibly have is the price — and most mobile website design prices are a few hundred dollars per page. When you consider the profit you can drive by capturing the “out and about and ready to walk through your door right now” crowd, the cost is pretty darn minimal, all things considered.

Do small businesses need mobile website design? Probably not in a literal sense, just like they don’t need a radio spot or an advertisement in the paper — but will most small businesses profit from mobile website design? Resoundingly, yes.