For the first time, smartphones have become the UK’s most popular device for getting online, overtaking laptops in popularity, according to Ofcom’s 2015 Communications Market Report.

The report also revealed some other interesting statistics about smartphone usage. While 90% of 16-24-year-olds own a smartphone, the use of smartphones in the 55-64-year-old category has more than doubled since 2012, rising from 19% to 50%.

And here are two more important stats to consider:

1. 33% of Internet users see their smartphone as the most important device for getting online.
2. Two-thirds of people now own a smartphone, and they use it for nearly two hours every day to browse the web, get on social media, and shop online.

The bottom line: We’re already spending almost twice as long online with our smartphones than on our laptops or desktop computers.

So what does this mean for you and your business? If you don’t have a website built for mobile users, now is the time to start.

Why should I make sure my site is mobile-friendly?

Due to its rapid adoption and expected growth, building for mobile should be a priority. Websites that don’t provide a good mobile experience will soon find themselves losing out to competitors.

Google’s also been encouraging site owners to make mobile-friendliness a priority over the past few years, increasing the visibility of sites that are doing it well. On April 21st, Google released an update that gave mobile-friendly websites a major boost in its mobile search results, meaning that your mobile-optimised website could see an increase in your site rankings, while a non-optimised site could see its rank slowly decrease.

Google released a guide to mobile practices to give you best practice tips for optimising your site for mobiles, as well as a testing tool to see if Google considers your web pages to be mobile friendly.

How can I make my site mobile-friendly?

Here are some of things you can do with your site in general:

WordPress

There are plenty of responsive themes to install and use on WordPress, as well as plug-ins that add even more mobile responsiveness. When looking for a theme, just filter by “Responsive Layout”, and when looking for a plug-in, use the convenient search tool to find the right plug-ins.

Your Content

If you have Flash on your site, make certain that any information that is in the Flash files can also be found in plain text. Many mobile browsers do not play Flash, meaning that whatever you tell them in that page is completely hidden to them. And remember that PDFs can eat up a lot of data and usually need to be opened in a new app, so use them very sparingly.

Pop-ups and Interstitials

While that banner appearing suddenly over your content might look good on a desktop, it takes over the entire screen on a mobile, and it can often be difficult to navigate out of. Make certain that any interstitials or pop-ups you include do not appear in the mobile version. And if you were thinking of having a banner pop up telling mobile users to download your app? Don’t.

Broken redirects

If you have a separate mobile-friendly site, make certain that all your links and redirects go to the right places. It’s unhelpful to list a mobile version of your Opening Times page, only to have it automatically redirect to the Home Page. And if you have a link that works on your desktop site, but not on your mobile site, make certain you remove it, make a mobile version, or inform your visitors that they’re going to the desktop version of your site.

So are you ready for the smartphone society?

Do you have a mobile-friendly site? What have you used to get it online? And what problems have you faced?

Background image by Jonathan Chie.