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The Apple iPhone celebrated its 6th birthday this past January. The I-pad is three years old. Today, there are well over a billion smart phones in use around the world while one-third of American's own tablets. More than 43% of Internet users accessed websites by a smart phone or tablet since July of last year. Almost 75% of people say they're more likely to return to a site if it's mobile websites friendly. Amazingly, 67% are more likely to buy something on a friendly site and 61% are more likely to leave if the site is not friendly.

When mobile users access mobile websites they are looking for things they can act on right away. Half of mobile users going to retail sites buy something, while almost 75% get directions to a store.

Incredibly, studies show that 90% of websites are not mobile friendly. If you're a restaurant or do retail sales or service and you're website is not mobile website design and development friendly it means that you're likely to be missing half your online customers!

Mobile websites that are friendly

For mobile websites to be useful to mobile users it must load in 5 seconds or less. It should also allow you to access information in two clicks or less. Mobile websites should also be designed to fit the small screen and they should have big, easy-to-use buttons. There should also be a click-to-call feature for smart phone users.

Fortunately, companies don't have to spend an arm and a leg to begin to have mobile websites. Start by singling out the one or two features of your website that would be the most useful for your customers. For example if you have a restaurant, it might be take out items or making reservations.

Eventually you want to have everything on your main site available on your mobile website. But, by taking things in steps you can get the most return on your investment.