Mobile websites are becoming the way of the future, in regards to the way people gather information and interact with the world around them. These days, most people are more likely to look up directions to an address, find reviews for restaurants, and buy the latest fashion trends on their mobile device, rather than a desktop computer.

In fact, mobile user traffic has almost surpassed desktop traffic in a number of categories, including news, shopping, arts, entertainment, and search engines. A study, conducted by SimilarWeb from June to November 2014, showed that in almost all categories, mobile user traffic was as high, or sometimes higher, than desktop traffic.

For example, the number of average monthly users visiting Google.com during the study was 16,564,000,000 (mobile and desktop combined). Mobile visitor traffic was 8,002,000,000 and desktop visitor traffic was 8,562,000,000.

As you can see, mobile is quickly taking over as the dominant platform for web viewing. What does that mean for your business? It means that in order to succeed in an evolving market, you need to make sure your website is mobile friendly! Here are four reasons why mobile optimization matters

More Traffic

On average, mobile visitors equate to about half of a website’s total number of visits (if the website has been optimized to be mobile friendly). From the data presented by SimilarWeb, shopping websites and search engines are 50/50 on their mobile and desktop traffic. Other categories, like news and media, and arts & entertainment, are more one-sided, but are quickly shifting more toward mobile use.

The point is, when you optimize your website for mobile traffic, the overall traffic to your site is likely to increase. That's because people are looking to get info in a faster and easier way, and smartphones make that task extremely simple. If someone visits your non-mobile friendly site on their phone, and has to struggle through it because of constant pinching and zooming, they'll look to find the information they need from someone else's website.

Easier To Use And Faster

Mobile sites are always going to be faster than desktop sites. It's a fact. You might have the fastest Internet speed in the country, but if you were to ask someone to compare finding a certain page on a mobile site and a desktop site, the mobile user will usually find it first.

That's because mobile sites, and smartphones in general, are engineered to be simple, quick, and efficient. Users need to be able to find the info they need on the fly, with just a few simple thumb clicks. With a desktop, the navigation bar -- and the use of a mouse or touchpad -- add a few extra steps to any site search.

Brand Recognition

Your brand recognition is what people identify your website by, whether that be the services and products you offer, or the aesthetic appeal of your company. Your brand recognition defines your company.

In the same way that you wouldn't decorate the inside of your store with mismatching colors and old dirty furniture, you wouldn't want your website to look unappealing either.

In order to have a good brand recognition (or, e-presence, as it's sometimes referred to on the web), you should focus on 4 things: your design, navigability, incentives to stick around, and up-to-date appearance.

Because Google Says So

When Google makes a big change, you kinda have to go with it (being the multi-billion dollar tech savvy company that they are). Recently, Google released a new update to its search engine algorithm, that ranks websites that are mobile optimized above non-mobile optimized sites in their rankings list.

So, if you want your website to show up higher on the results page when someone searches for keywords, you need to make sure your site is completely mobile friendly. Google was even kind enough to create a handy tool to check how mobile friendly your site is, right here.

With Atwill Media, each site that we create is already mobile optimized for you, so you don’t have to do any extra work! When customers visit your Atwill Media website, they'll be able to find info quickly, and efficiently. They also come with a mobile "quick info" bar, to make calls, access store hours, and view a location map at the push of a button.

Mobile friendly sites are a necessary feature for every site built these days, so make sure your site is mobile friendly and ready for customers to enjoy!