These days, it’s not enough to have a content rich website capable of loading in any web browser. The personal computer used to be the only device capable of browsing the Internet, but since the onslaught of smartphones, people now access web pages from their tablets, phones, and even their televisions.

If your website doesn’t work across multiple devices, your product or service may fail. In order to remain effective, you need to provide a quality browsing experience regardless of what device is being used.

Why Fix What Isn’t Broken?

You may be thinking you’ve already targeted your customer base. Perhaps you’ve been online a long time and continue to do well. You may be asking yourself, “Why fix what isn’t broken?” In an effort to substantiate the effectiveness of a multiple device strategy, Google compiled a list of already established websites that reported incredible traffic boosts after redesigning and offering a quality browsing experience via devices.

• The Huffington Post boosted mobile visitors 37% after their initial site redesign.
• Beyond the Rack saw their mobile conversion rate double after optimization.
• Plusnet saw their traffic grow 2x and their sales grow 10x.

Optimizing Your Site for the Multi-Screen User

According to Google’s whitepaper on the topic, mobile devices are the fastest growing device with “1.5 billion mobile subscribers globally, with an astonishing growth rate of 31%. In the U.S., smartphone adoption has passed 61%.”

So, how do you optimize your site for the multi-screen user and thus get a piece of the mobile market?

First, you’ll need to do some research. Take a look at your competitor’s multi-screen platforms. Load your competitor’s pages on tablets, PCs, and smartphones to determine the standard for your industry. If you see anything that could be improved, be sure to include that in your design down the road. By improving even just one feature, you’ll be setting yourself ahead of the competition.

Second, you’ll want to go ahead and adopt the right technology. You can streamline all of your pages, by using responsive design, which uses a simple HTML code across all your pages. If you wish your main site to remain more complicated in design, responsive design will not work for you. Responsive design provides a single URL for all content, with no redirects. It’s streamlined, but if you’ve put a lot of work into your main site, or the site that loads on a regular computer, you may not want to shuck that work in favor of a more streamlined look, simply because it loads faster on a smartphone.

Other technology options to consider:

·  Dynamic serving – this method detects the type of device the user is using and loads the correct page.

·  A separate mobile site – this method redirects users to a mobile-optimized website

People Expect Safety

No matter how you plan to optimize your website for multi-screen users, it’s important that devices remain as safe as traditional PC browsers. Remind your users that it’s important to have smartphone security to reduce their risk of downloading viruses and spyware. As with traditional PC users, anti-virus protection is necessary to navigate the dangers on the web.

Make Your Device Site Easy-to-Use

Finally, as a reminder, your customers are browsing your site with limited visibility, so streamline everything. Handheld devices have a much smaller screen than the typical PC. They expect your website to load on their screens, typically 7” or less, without any issues. Make sure the site is touch-friendly and doesn’t use pop-ups. By streamlining your device page, you’re ensuring your multi-screen customers are getting the best possible experience.