What is a mobile responsive website and why is it important?

A mobile responsive website is one that responds or changes itself to fit the size of the screen your visitor is using, like a phone or a tablet. If a website isn’t responsive, bad things can happen on smaller screens like iPhones. Text may run off the screen, pictures won’t fit, links will be hard to identify and touch.

A good responsive website will look a little different from phone to tablet to desktop, but it will still look good and work for both the company and the visitor.

It’s vital that your golf course’s websites be one with a responsive design. If it isn’t, your website is costing you money in lost opportunities – possibly thousands of dollars each year.

Image is important

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Just like people judge the quality of a hotel room by the cleanliness of the lobby, people judge the quality of a golf course by their website.

Most customers have their first interaction with a golf course (or any business) online. So the website has to make a good first impression. If the website doesn’t look good – or just doesn’t work – on a mobile device, what does that say about the quality of the golf course?

In reality, the quality of the website has nothing to do with how perfectly manicured the golf course is. But website visitors don’t see it that way. They draw a direct connection and that’s all that matters.

It helps people find your website.

Google announced that it will give priority in search rankings to websites that offer mobile users a better experience. This is a big deal and a big opportunity to leave your competitors in the dust.

Google recognizes that most of their search engine traffic comes from people using their phones. Google wants to make the search results they present as useful as possible for their customers. So, they will give the priority in search results to golf courses with websites that are mobile responsive.

Having a mobile responsive website is important now. Soon it could be imperative, otherwise, your golf course website might not even show up in search results. That would be a disaster.

Responsive sites earn more money

If the primary goal of your website is to have the visitor complete a transaction like booking a tee time, then having a website that isn’t responsive is hurting your course’s ability to make money.

If the website doesn’t display properly on phones, if the buttons are too difficult to identify and use, if the website is hard to navigate with big fingers on a tiny screen… it’s harder for your visitor to get to the goal and become a customer.

Imagine somebody trying to book a foursome using their phone. The Google “golf courses in YOUR CITY” and they end up on your golf course’s website. If they don’t get a good impression of the course and if the booking process isn’t quick and easy, what do they do?

They tap the back button.

Then they go to the next website from their Google search.

That’s a missed opportunity.

A responsive website takes advantage of the more than 50% of website visitors who access the internet on mobile devices by making your golf course website better looking and easier to find what they came for.

Conclusion

Responsive golf course website design is important and golf courses that invest in their website have new customers and more revenue to gain.

The internet is a competition. Businesses win when they make their online experience fast, easy, and delightful for their visitors. Win your customers the first time and you may never have to compete for them again. Lose them on the first impression, and you may never get another chance.