Yesterday, I discovered that, although my website looked quite lovely on my laptop computer, on my cell phone it looked like a deranged monkey had put it together. Some of my images appeared off-center, while some were teeny-tiny, while others were huge and looked like they were going to attack unsuspecting web-goers. The text was wonky with huge spaces in between the words. “How could I have not noticed this?” I asked myself. “And why is the so-called mobile view so different from the web view?”

I did a little research this morning and the problem, it seemed, was the template I had been using was old, old, old. Ancient in techno-years. My website needed an update.

“Why update?” some of you might be asking. “Does it really matter?”

While it might be true that readers have the option of switching from mobile view to web view, why should they have to? It’s my responsibility to make sure my website is in tip-top shape for all my readers, regardless of how they choose to view it. And since most readers who are a bit (ahem) younger than I am do most of their web-browsing on a mobile device, wouldn’t it be a good idea to make my site as mobile friendly as possible?

The answer is absolutely!

So, despite the fact that I am currently suffering from an acute case of plague/upper respiratory infection, I embarked upon a mission to revamp my website. Now, for those who might be frantically trying to view your blog or website on the nearest mobile device, don’t panic yet!

There are a couple of quick things I should mention before I continue:

• My WordPress blog (this one that you are viewing right now) was A-okay.
• The messed-up looking mobile website is actually with Weebly
• If you use WordPress, your site is probably okay because I *think* they stay on top of things in terms of updates and technology. (But shouldn’t you check just to make certain?)

My point in writing this post is to remind everyone that you should regularly check your blog and/or website. Give it an update if necessary. Ages ago, I blogged about the necessity of creating a reader-friendly blog. (You can read that post HERE if you want.) When I wrote that post, I never considered the need to make sure your blog or website was user-friendly for all those cell phones, iPads, and tablets out there.

If your blog and/or website looks as spiffy on your mobile device as it does on your laptop, pat yourself on the back. If it does not, you might want to consider using a new template or making some other tweaks to your site.

In addition to checking your website for mobile compatibility, here are a few things to consider when doing your regular website/blog checkup:

• General readability – Are you using a good-size, readable font like 12pt Times or something similar?
• Symmetry – Does everything (text, images, columns) line up neatly, or do you have badges and blinkies tossed everywhere at random?
• Links and pages – Do all your links and pages work, or do you have broken links that lead to nowhere?
• Book links – Do your book sale links go directly to your product page on Amazon, or are you dropping the reader on Amazon’s front page and expecting them to search for your book?
• More stuff about links – Are your links streamlined, or are they the length of three sentences with all sorts of numbers and characters that are completely unnecessary?
• Social Media – Are there easy-to-find links so readers can find you and follow you on social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc)
• Author Bio – When’s the last time you updated your author bio? Is everything current? Have you won any major awards you would like your readers to know about?
• New Publications – Have you published anything new? If so, make sure readers who visit your blog or website can easily find out about it.

So, for those of you who are in need of a website or blog update, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a link in the comment section so I can see your new and improved website. Or, if you have a suggestion about website maintenance, please share.