Google "Mobilegeddon" & the Fate of Your Practice

In case you haven't noticed, people are spending more time on their mobile phones than ever before. According to Pew Research,

"90% of American adults own a cell phone, 32% of American adults own an e-reader, & 42% of American adults own a tablet computer."

As a result of this technological culture shift, Google has decided to alter their search algorithms to reflect growing demand for mobile-friendly websites. This is the dawn of "Mobilegeddon."

"Responsive web design" is a phrase used to describe a website that is optimized for viewing on both desktop computer screens and mobile devices. The easier the site is to read and navigate without having to resize, scroll or pan in and out, the more likely Google will give it a favorable search ranking. To put it simply, responsive website design is important for search engine optimization! Here are 3 things you can do to survive "Mobilegeddon."

(1) Go to this link NOW to test your website:
If your website performs well, as mine did (because I chose a responsive design before building the site), you will get the GREEN message:



But, if your website does not perform well you will get a RED message:

(2) If you are RED look buy a responsive theme to build or redesign your website:
There are a few options. I chose a website theme after doing an extensive Google search of Wordpress themes using the keyword "Responsive". An important thing to remember is to not make the same mistake I did buying an html theme for a Wordpress site! Make sure you pick the right format for the job.

Here are a few cool sites:

• There are 36 Responsive themes here
• There are over 6,000 Responsive themes here

(3) Don't waste time learning how to program Wordpress: Outsource!
Our own John Sung Kim mentioned in his article on the Health Care Blog,

"...these websites are so popular that many website agencies simply take designs from Themeforest and charge for customization and website hosting."

I can personally attest that building a website isn't that hard, but honestly, it's not that easy either. I recommend hiring web developer to help you out rather than trying to do this all yourself. You don't need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get a good developer. Take a look at some of these sites as potential options:

• https://www.elance.com/
• http://www.guru.com/

At the end of the day, the point of this article isn't actually to scare you into immediately redesigning your entire practice website. But, it is meant to inform you that Google is making a strong push towards mobile-friendly websites, and we think that you should be aware of this change so that your site is in the best position to be found by new patients. Add this goal to your yearly strategic marketing plan and you will be on your way to having an optimized website.