Google didn't create the need for mobile design - but they are responding to it and they're telling you that you need to as well.
It really is time to take personal ownership of every touch-point that comes between your prospects and your business. The days of set-it-and-forget-it advertising are gone. If you yearn for the days when your ad was placed in the Yellow Pages and it looked like every other ad for the same business category and you sat back and answered the phone - then you might as well ride that dinosaur into the sunset...you're finished anyway.
I just saw an email from a competitor to his clients telling them that they need to be mobile friendly or else. He blamed Google for this issue. What's wrong with this picture?
I know I'm not pulling any punches here but it's not Google's fault. It's not even your web designers fault. IT'S YOUR FAULT!!!
If you didn't know today that you needed to be mobile friendly, where have you been? What do you use when you need to find a local business. Statistically, half of the time, you're using your smart phone! What, you haven't looked at your website analytics in the past year? No time like the present!
If your site comes up looking like a tiny thumbnail version of your site when you browse to it on your phone (like the picture here of my site), you need to fix it. By the way, my site is responsive; in case you're not viewing this on a phone. (it doesn't look like that picture when you browse to it, it reformats to fit the phone). Google says you have until April 21, 2015 to do that. If you haven't considered doing it before now, you might have to stand in line.
The lesson is simple. Quit waiting for Google to tell you what to do. You're a big boy! Fix your web site so that your clients can read it and heaven forbid actually call you if they feel the need. Search Engine Optimization aside, this isn't about showing up in Google. This is about showing up in front of your customers.
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