Did you back the wrong horse by implementing a mobile dental website in the last two years?
Why choosing a separate mobile website over responsive design was probably the wrong choice for your practice.
Back at the end of 2011, a new technique called responsive design was introduced to the world of website development. This facilitated full optimisation for all types of viewing devices without the need for a separate mobile website.
Progressive web design companies, Dental Media included, quickly adopted this new technique as it brought significant advantages for clients including ease of maintenance, consistent information and much lower cost of ownership versus building and managing two separate sites.
The development skills needed to use this technique are quite advanced but the steep learning curve was well worthwhile and early in 2012, we started to offer the new technique for clients – the first dental web design company to do this. Today, all of our websites are offered with responsive design.
With over 40% (av.) of all website visitors now coming to sites from mobile devices, it’s easy to understand why web “savvy” businesses want a responsive website design as their core online marketing tool.
Google loves “responsive” too!
More recently Google publicly came out in support of the responsive design technique and it is now considered to be the best way to build a modern website. Whilst a separate mobile site has some limited uses, many now consider them to be defunct. What’s more, Google has also started to promote sites which are correctly optimised for mobile above those which aren’t, in the mobile search index. Because mobile sites are notoriously difficult to optimise correctly, many are ill-configured and at risk of being demoted in this latest purge by Google – in fact many of the dental versions we have seen are already being outranked by responsively designed competitor sites.
Did your practice go mobile instead of responsive?
Relatively few design companies actually pushed “responsive” from day one; either because they couldn’t do it or perhaps because they liked the idea of maximising their maintenance income from their clients for two separate sites. As such, many dentists missed out on the responsive design option and opted for the separate mobile site which their designer sold instead. Arguably, these website owners are now quite significantly disadvantaged versus those who selected the responsive design approach; even more-so now that Google has put its cards firmly on the table.
So if you were sold a mobile website by your design company in the last couple of years, particularly when the responsive technique was available, then you might feel justifiably miffed. Unfortunately you are already behind the curve both from a website usability perspective and potentially out-of-step with the latest Google advice.
Is my mobile site really that bad an idea?
Let’s be clear, a mobile site is better than no mobile optimisation at all and you are at least trying to assist your users who are looking for your services on hand-held devices. However, if you look in Google Webmaster Tools (GWMT), there is a reporting section available which will likely show that your mobile site is actually not performing very well and consequently subject to the ranking demotion Google recently announced. It may be possible to address this, but you will need to go back to your web developer to see if they will help you.
What’s the alternative?
Whilst you might want hold out with your mobile site for a little longer, the only real way forward is with a full responsive design which meets all of Google’s requirements and which will work better for your users too.
Summary
Separate mobile website for dental practices are now becoming defunct as responsive design becomes the clear winner for mobile/tablet optimisation. Unfortunately many dentists purchased mobile sites within the last couple of years which has now been shown to be a questionable decision. Whilst a mobile site is better than nothing, they are now easily outperformed by responsive design, both for users and in Google.
If you are thinking of updating your website and would like advice about the latest techniques to use, please call the Dental Media web team on 01332 672548 for a fully transparent, no-obligation discussion. Don’t be caught out by making the wrong choice about outdated technology when better solutions are available.