If your restaurant website is not optimized for mobile devices, you are missing out on a large portion of potential customers. It’s a fact: our web department actively tracks usage statistics for over 50 restaurant websites and has seen the trends emerge over the past two years. For the average pizza parlor website, about 25-30% of their website traffic comes from Internet-connected mobile devices, with some sites seeing a higher share and others seeing a slightly lower share (although the smallest percentage we’ve seen seen is a little less than 20%, which is still significant). Websites that aren’t designed with these new devices in mind don’t work properly on them and quickly frustrate visitors and divert them to your competition’s sites, costing you potential sales.

There are many reasons why a website might not work properly on a mobile device, but these three are probably the most important:

First, the simple fact that there are already so many different devices on the market and more are coming out every day. iPhone, Android, Blackberry, tablets of all kinds, hybrid phones/tablets, etc. They are available in different sizes and resolutions.

Second, not all technologies are equally supported. The perfect example of this is the issue of Flash (a popular web technology used on websites for animation) not being supported by any Apple mobile device. If your website is made entirely in Flash, it just doesn’t show up on any iDevice, period!

The third is the fact that interacting with a website with a mouse is different than using your fingers. Common website elements like dropdown menus become extremely difficult to use when you can’t hover your mouse to activate the effect.

The solution?

Websites can be optimized for the mobile experience in a number of ways. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution and depends on the complexity and sophistication of the website being optimized. However, the end result is the same: a site that simply works for both desktop and mobile, allowing visitors to access your website content without making it complicated to use and navigate.

There are a few ways to create an enhanced mobile experience for your customers depending on their budget level and website functionality:

Mobile specific site – refers to creating a secondary site that mirrors the content of your current website but is optimized for mobile devices. A special code is placed on your existing website that detects what type of device your visitor is using (desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) and then displays the version of the site that is adapted to this device. This is a good strategy, it certainly works, however, you may run into issues with duplicate content that could affect your search engine rankings. Also, updating the site takes more time, as all the versions have to be updated separately, which turns a quick job into a tedious one.

responsive site – this type of site is the type that adapts to any device (hence, ‘responsive’ in the name). It’s more complicated to set up initially, as your designer will have to create the various skins for each device’s resolution, but it provides the most flexibility in terms of being future-proof and easy to maintain. If you’re building a site from scratch, this is the best way to ensure you don’t lose traffic.

Do not forget that we are talking about a large part of your traffic that will surely grow in the coming years. Already, 54% of the major 18-24 demographic uses smartphones and that number rises to a staggering 62% of the 25-34 demographic (Smartphone Usage Statistics 2012).

Contact your web development partner today and get to work on a mobile-optimized website to increase your traffic and sales.