The short answer is a resounding “Yes!”
You need a mobile-friendly website because a greater and greater percentage of web traffic is mobile traffic. According to StatCounter Global Stats, 14 percent of all web traffic now comes from smartphones such as iPhones and Androids. That’s about 20 times as much mobile traffic as there was back in 2008 when we first began developing websites for churches.
If the present trend contiques, you can expect that by the end of 2013, over 20% of all web traffic will be mobile traffic: People looking at your website on their smartphones.
At this point, you may object: “But the graph above shows that over 85% of traffic is still desktop traffic. I don’t need to worry too much about being mobile-friendly yet.”
To this, I offer a number of responses:
First, mobile traffic is only one facet of the increasing diversity of web traffic. The web is now a multi-device environment. In addition to smartphones, people are also using tablet devices such as iPads, Amazon Kindle Fires, and the like. Some people are even using the web on television screens.
Second, mobile traffic is steadily increasing relative to desktop traffic. Over the course of three years, this has been a steady trend except for a plateau in the second half of 2011. There is no good reason to believe that mobile traffic will not continue to increase over the course of 2013 and on into the future.
Finally, remember that nearly 50 percent of North American adults have smartphones now (source: Our Mobile Planet). You may not use your smartphone to surf the web as much as your computer. But the potential is there. And chances are good that you would surf the web on your smartphone more often if more websites were mobile-friendly.
As mentioned above, the web is now a multi-device environment. How is your church website doing in this changing environment? Is your website helping you communicate effectively and efficiently with your members and visitors?
We’re helping churches such as Emmanuel Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Wilmington, DE and Christian blogs such the Aquila Report adapt to the multi-device web. And we can help your church, non-profit, or publication do the same.
Featured image by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash.
