It has been reported in a recent business survey that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) planned on increasing their online presence, such as setting up their websites, in 2014. According to the study, 40% of SMBs planned to increase spending on their company websites this year.
Paid search advertising was #2 trailing by 10 percentage points. In addition, company websites were the only digital area where a higher percentage of respondents planned to up spending compared with 2013. This was likely due to the fact that 50% of SMBs cited company websites as the most effective promotional or marketing method—once again, the top response by a long shot.
Data published in January 2014 by Ad-ology Research also showed that website improvement was the top digital marketing tactic on which small businesses planned to spend more—though it was cited by a much smaller percentage. Around one-quarter planned to spend more on developing and designing their corporate websites.
Though SMBs are focusing on their websites, they’re still struggling with mobile-optimized sites. Thrive Analytics found that 70% of SMBs with websites had ones that were not mobile-optimized. And according to Ad-ology Research, just 27.2% of small businesses offered smartphone users a mobile compatable version of their websites, compared with more than three in five that did not.
Responsive Design works on traditional browsers and mobile.
A responsively designed website automatically re-sizes the web page to fit the screen size – from desktop computers to mobile smart phones to tablets – the content and images fit the browser so a user does not have to scroll back and forth and side to side to see the entire page. Instead of seeing only part of your web page when viewed on a non-traditional browser, the web browser automatically detects the type of platform accessing the website and shrinks the page to fit viewers screen, leaving the text and forms large enough to easily read and access without adjusting the browser.
As SMBs see improvements in their company websites, it’s likely that those optimized for mobile won’t be far behind
