Hi it's Gareth here, I’ll start with a statement that will annoy some people and save others a fortune:
If your website doesn’t work on a phone, it doesn’t work at all.
Not “kind of.”
Not “mostly.”
Not “it looks fine if you pinch and zoom.”
At all.
Here’s why this matters…
Last week, I reviewed a website the owner was very proud of.
Custom design.
Nice photography.
Carefully chosen fonts.
Testimonials everywhere.
On desktop, it was lovely.
On a phone?
Text too small to read
Buttons too close together
Phone number not clickable
Important information buried halfway down the page
The site didn’t fail.
It just quietly did nothing.
Which is worse.
Now here’s the part most people miss…
This business owner wasn’t short on traffic.
Ads were running.
Google rankings were decent.
Social posts were consistent.
The problem wasn’t attention.
The problem was what happened after attention arrived.
People clicked.
They looked.
They hesitated.
They left.
No drama.
No warning.
No angry email saying, “Your site is terrible.”
Just silence.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Your customers don’t “browse” your website on their phone.
They judge it.
Fast. Brutally. Subconsciously.
On mobile, your site answers one question in under five seconds:
“Is this easy… or is this effort?”
If the answer is “effort,” they’re gone.
And please don’t blame short attention spans.
People will happily watch a 12-minute video, read long reviews, and scroll endlessly — if it feels effortless.
What they won’t do is:
Zoom in to read your headline
Hunt for your phone number
Decode what you actually do
Figure out what they’re supposed to click
That’s not marketing. That’s unpaid labour.
Here’s the reframe most business owners need:
Your website is not a brochure.
It’s not a brand statement.
It’s not a design project.
It’s a salesperson working the night shift on a six-inch screen.
If that salesperson:
Mumbles
Takes too long to get to the point
Makes it hard to ask questions
They don’t get trained. They get fired.
So let me give you something practical you can check today — no theory, no jargon.
Pull your website up on your phone and ask three questions:
Can I tell what you do in 3 seconds?
Not “sort of.” Not “if I scroll.”
Immediately.Is it obvious what to do next?
Call. Book. Get a quote.
One clear action — not five polite suggestions.Can I contact you with one thumb?
If your phone number isn’t clickable, you’re actively blocking business.
If any of these fail, traffic won’t save you.
More ads won’t save you.
A prettier logo definitely won’t save you.
Here’s the delicious irony…
Most businesses don’t need more marketing.
They need less friction.
Fix the mobile experience and you often see:
More calls with the same traffic
Better leads without more spend
Higher conversions without clever funnels
Not because you “optimized.”
Because you finally stopped making people work.
If this made you uncomfortable — good.
That’s usually where profit lives.
Gareth Owen
Recommended Reading
The Business Trap: Why Small Business Owners Stay Stuck — And How to Break Free
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