“Q. Lots of patients seem to be accessing the practice website with tablets and mobiles. How do I go about adapting my website accordingly?”
A. As smartphone and tablet adoption rapidly increases, so does the importance of a mobile-friendly website to any business – a dental practice is no exception.
But, it’s no longer enough to have a desktop website only, or a separate mobile website – your Google Analytics will confirm this. Upwards of 30% of all traffic will now originate from a mobile / tablet, making a positive browsing experience for your patients, across ALL platforms, absolutely crucial.
The solution is simple; responsive website design – as recommended by Google. Google describes responsive website design as “industry best standard” for all website owners and, with 67 percent search market share, when Google speaks, it pays (in digital currency) to listen.
So, what is responsive website design?
Simply put, a responsive website will interrogate your browser and automatically adapt the website design accordingly. It’s a one size fits all website marketing strategy. For instance, if you’re viewing on a mobile, the navigation will become ‘thumb-friendly’ and telephone numbers will be designed to ‘click-to-call’. As a device gets smaller, less information will be available – and you get to dictate what stays, and what goes. It’s clever stuff. Common sense dictates that navigation and contact details remain as the most important features across all devices, but you can tailor this fully to your requirements.
Use an online tool such as responsinator.com to see how your website will look on the most popular devices in various orientations. It can replicate the iPhone, iPad, Kindle and Android smartphones – amongst others.
What’s involved?
You have 2 real options. The first is to simply convert you current website – this is the most cost effective solution, and will set you back no more than £1500.
If, however, you are unhappy with your current website, or it’s under performing (for reasons other than accessibility) a full website re-design may be required and that will likely cost somewhere in the region of £2500 upwards.
It’s worth nothing that mobile sales have already overtaken desktop sales, and mobile Internet usage is predicted to overtake desktop internet usage by 2014. It is only logical that mobile search will overtake desktop search at some point in the near future as well. I look forward to the day that all website are responsive as standard. Until then, it’s my opinion that making cost an obstacle is a marketing mistake.
To learn more about responsive website design, call Dental Design on 01202 677 277 today!
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