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Between Facebook’s emphasis on mobile in Mark Zuckerberg’s first address since the lackluster IPO debut, and the excitement around the iPhone 5, it’s easy to see why businesses need to place so much emphasis on their mobile presence. Facebook already recognizes that users are more engaged and spend greater amounts of time on the service when using a mobile device than when using a desktop, and several other businesses may have similar experiences with their websites.

Take the restaurant industry, for example. When you do a search for the next place to have dinner, are you searching from your desk? Certainly, people still search this way, but the data is mounting that more and more folks are searching for their next culinary adventure while they are out on the town, likely when they’re already in route.

The return on investment becomes obvious rather quickly.

Are you prepared to deliver a mobile experience to your user base? Most mobile searchers become frustrated with having to enlarge the content of a site specifically designed for desktop. No matter how many new iPhones come out, they are still designed to fit in your pocket or purse. A screen that size can’t possibly reflect the same design settings that your enormous desktop monitor or even your relatively small laptop monitor can.

Is It Worth Your Time to Update Your Site Design Now?

The wonderful thing about stats and analytics programs today is that you can make decisions supported by data rather than just making a wild guess. Take a look at your web stats. What are your mobile numbers now? What percentage of your users is on mobile devices of some kind?

Next, take a look at your users’ behavior through the past year. Are you seeing an increase in mobile percentages? (Hint: most likely, you are. Even for industry sites that aren’t accessed as heavily by mobile devices, user behavior is shifting across the board.)

Even with increases, you may be in a field of business that is not showing rapid signs of growth on the mobile front, so you may have a little longer that you can get away without having an optimized site.

But, if you’re noticing big spikes in user behavior towards mobile devices, then you need to make the move quickly. One statistic you need to pay close attention to is the amount of time on site for mobile users. If they are getting to your site and finding it difficult to navigate, then they are going to head back to the search engine to look for another business.

Do your homework and see if it’s time to make your content more mobile-friendly. Now may be your chance to gain an edge over your market.