Google Analytics and Your Dated Website

You bet it can! If you have a moment, log into your Google Analytics account, and view your mobile statistics. Are you finding that more and more visitors to your site are doing so via mobile phones and tablets, rather than desktop computers? If this is the case, my next question is, how long has this trend been going on? Statistics show that more than 50% of adults now carry a smartphone, and you can bet they are using it for more than just calling and texting. They are using it to research summer vacations, places to eat, places to shop, tourist attractions, etc. Through Google Analytics, you can document this trend. While still viewing your mobile statistics, scroll to the top of the page, and change the date range of the data. Go back three months, six months, or even a year. My bet is that you will see a steady increase in the number of users accessing your site via mobile phones and tablets.

As an example, I pulled mobile analytics data for a visitors bureau website from January 1st to May 1st of 2013, and from January 1st to May 1st of 2014, and this is what I found…

1/1/2013-5/1/2013
Desktop: 35301 visitors
Mobile: 7385 visitors
Tablet: 3767 visitors
1/1/2014-5/1/2014
Desktop: 31830 visitors
Mobile: 13471 visitors
Tablet: 5328 visitors

As you can see, the number of visitors accessing the site from mobile phones and tablets has almost doubled compared to the same timeframe the previous year. That is pretty amazing. So, now my question is, is your website responsive, meaning mobile-ready? Is it time for some spring cleaning of your site to make it mobile-ready?

If you need more convincing, consider this scenario: A regular visitor to your dated website now has a new smartphone and is excited to explore the technology-driven world of data that is constantly at his fingertips. He opens the browser on his phone and goes directly to your site. The only problem is that the text and links on your site are so small, he cannot read them. He enlarges the view enough to read some of the text, and he attempts to use the navigation, but he is just not having much luck. He concludes that his only solution is to find a site that is usable and easy to navigate on his new phone.

So now, you have a decision to make. Should you continue to ignore your mobile audience? Can you afford to neglect them by not providing a friendly, mobile-ready experience?

If this gets you thinking that now may be the time for a new site, contact us, and we will gladly help get the gears moving to turn that dated site into a well-oiled, mobile-ready machine!