Smart phones and mobile devices are starting to become a much more common way for people to access the internet, whether it is to check their email, look up information or read reviews and choose a restaurant to dine at in the evening. According to a study by statcounter 33% of web browsing takes place on a mobile device. If these trends continue in the same way, mobile devices will overshadow traditional PCs as the most common way of accessing the internet.
Research by Ipsos MediaCT has found that 46% of people use their smart phone or mobile device to find out about the best bars, restaurants and pubs in their area. This means that there is a very good chance that your customers are using their smartphone to find information about your restaurant while they are on the go. If you can capture the attention of these mobile users, it could result in more visitors to your restaurant.
However, you might be surprised to learn that in a poll of restaurant websites only 15% were designed with mobile devices in mind. That means that 85% of restaurant websites are not designed for mobile and might be slow to load, difficult to navigate and unattractive when viewed on a mobile phone.
If you own a restaurant, have you considered what your website looks like on a mobile? If visitors see your website on their smart phones, will they be able to find the information they need about your restaurant quickly and easily? Will they be enticed by clean navigation, attractive photos and a sleek design? Or, will they be turned off by a website that looks terrible on mobile?
What is a Mobile Responsive Website?
This type of website is one that is designed to look different when viewed on a web browser compared to viewing on a mobile phone. The website will be able to sense the size of the screen it is being viewed on and it will adjust its parameters to fit. The mobile version of the design will have many of the same elements of the full browser version, though they might be simplified and rearranged so that they are easier to view on a small screen. Also, the navigation system might also be different, so that it is easier to click on pages with a tap of the finger on a touch screen.
The responsive design will adjust to any screen size and resolution, which includes any new style of mobile devices that haven’t been released yet. It ensures that the important information and the most striking visuals are always displayed in the same way on every possible device, which makes it much easier for people to find what they are looking for when they click on your Mobile Responsive Restaurant Website.
Advantages of Having a Mobile Responsive Website for Your Restaurant
Here are some of the major advantages to using a mobile responsive website:
- It offers a much better result than the third party applications that automatically create a mobile version of the website. These apps usually create a mobile version that does not resemble the desktop version and offers a poor experience for users.
- Also, a mobile-only website will not be able to adjust to any future size or style of screen that might come out in future years.
- A mobile-only website might put you in the position of having duplicate content, which is a major SEO issue that Google has penalized for years.
- When you have a responsive website you will only have one website to maintain, which saves you time and money.
- There is also no need to invest time and money into creating a mobile app for your restaurant.
- A mobile-friendly website is more likely to get shared on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which will help to spread the word about your restaurant.
- On April 21st 2015 Google announced that they will expand their use of mobile-friendliness as an SEO ranking signal. This means that any website that is mobile-friendly will have a huge SEO advantage over one that isn’t.
These are just a few of the reasons why it is so important to have a mobile responsive website for your restaurant. To find out more, please feel free to Contact Us at any time.