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With so much of our online activity being done from our mobile phones, there’s no surprise that one in two people will not recommend a business with a poorly designed website. We’ve stressed on the importance of having a mobile-responsive website in one of our articles, so if your website still behaves the same wherever you access it from, we’re here to give yet another incentive as to why you should switch: the footer.

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In 2016, Google announced that it will block all Flash sites within the following two years. The major browsers adopted this change and, although a little saddened by the news, we embraced it because it made perfect sense: as much as we love the Flash websites we’ve designed for our clients for many years, they would soon become obsolete in the dawn of this new update. Such is the advancement of technology.

Another aspect we had to take into consideration was the way browsing has drastically changed since the arrival of mobile devices. When our company began, browsing was done strictly on desktops, thus, functionality and design were created for just one type of screen: your laptop or desktop landscape layout.

The rise of mobile browsing

Let’s go back to 2016 and compare it to the following year. Mobile browsing has increased drastically. This study shows just how much our behavior has changed when it comes to going online. Moreover, Google has taken a clear stand on prioritizing mobile browsing and, furthermore, it will penalize websites that have different content on their two versions – desktop and mobile.

Since Flash isn’t responsive, a new platform was ready to take its place. In our case, we chose HTML5. These are the three main reasons for our decision:

1. Browser cross-compatibility with all major browsers.

You can never tell whether your visitors are avid Google Chrome users, dedicated Safari fans or simply true Internet Explorer believers. With HTML5, your website will work and look the same on them all. Yes, sometimes the colors of your photo content could appear differently on them; we’ve covered this issue in a previous article.

2. It’s optimized for mobile devices.

All your content and SEO will be the same on both versions of your site – desktop and mobile. Some design elements might change to better fit the device used, but your visitors will find all the info they need on your properly structured HTML5 website. In other words, no more horizontal scrolling from your tablet or phone, unless the owner of the website has a reason for it.

3. The code is clean.

Tell this to any developer and watch their eyes sparkle. While this is more of an in-house piece of information, it’s good to know that a clean code runs in the back of your website. This means that any adjustments you would like to see on your website should be done in an easy and error-free manner – this applies for changes made both from the Design Editor as well as any custom code alterations.

What is website migration?

Website migration is the operation of moving all content from one platform to a better one. This includes:

Images
Written content
Links – social and contact links as well as any on or off-site redirects
Image metadata – image info and tags
Website, page, and image SEO – SEO Everything™
Legacy URLs – redirect links from all your old links to your new ones

This is the setting in which we started the migration process of all our sites from Flash to HTML5. In next Tuesday’s article, we will analyze in depth all operations which allow for a smooth transition of content to the HTML5 platform. We will also give a couple of examples of websites we’ve migrated, to observe the improvements in functionality and design.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news about our platform as well as useful tips that will help your website draw more business.

Within the last few months, Google has announced that it will be changing its algorithm to rank mobile-optimized websites higher than ones that aren’t as mobile-friendly. This will be taking effect next month, and if your business’ website isn’t prepared, you could see a significant drop in website traffic.

And this isn’t just a big issue for SEO: more than half of all web users today are browsing websites on mobile devices. This means your overall user experience for your online customers matters now more than ever before.

If you aren’t sure if your website is up to the proper standards, here’s how to check for mobile-responsiveness.

First: Understanding Mobile-Friendly Design

Have you ever stumbled across a website on your phone or tablet that looks like a tiny version of what it looks like on desktop? Many websites that are not mobile-friendly require users to “zoom in” (as if you were expanding an image on your phone) in order to read information or make the buttons appear big enough to click on with a finger.

In contrast, websites that are mobile-friendly or responsive have a unique design that fits well on smaller devices. The text will appear at an appropriate size, the buttons are big enough to select, and the navigation menu is clear and easy to use without you having to search for it.

Using Google’s Test

One of the easiest tools available out there is the Mobile-Friendly Test provided by Google. Simply enter your website’s URL and the test will be completed within a minute or two.

Then you’ll see “a screenshot of how the page looks to Google on a mobile device, as well as a list of any mobile usability problems that it finds.”

If your results say that it has no loading issues and is mobile-friendly, you’re good to go!

Or Try it For Yourself

Another way to test for mobile-responsiveness is to visit the website on your own mobile device(s).

Try loading your website on your iPhone or Android device and see how it functions. Can you explore the website easily? Does it load quickly? Is the text legible?

You might even double-check by borrowing phones or tablets from friends or family to see how your website appears on different devices and browsers.

What to Do if Your Website Isn’t Responsive

Whether you had less-than-stellar results on Google’s mobile test or you saw for yourself that your website is indeed not mobile-friendly, no need to panic!

Instead, work on tackling the problem at the source. Start your free trial on liveBooks today! liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.