More small businesses put focus on a mobile-first strategy

The business aims to link homeowners with lawn care companies, but its software wasn't equipped to easily handle requests from mobile users, and 85 percent of visitors using those devices left without a transaction.

More than half of Google searches, which number in the trillions, take place on smartphones and tablets, and more than half the visits to websites that use Google analytic services come from mobile devices.

What's known as responsive design has made it easier for companies to fashion sites that work for smartphones, tablets and traditional computers, taking pictures, text and links and reconfiguring them for the particular type of screen.

At Greek Gear, which sells clothing, tote bags and other items with fraternity and sorority logos, half the online visitors use mobile devices, CEO Joe Tantillo says.

Tantillo expects that number to rise as each class of college students is more likely to shop with their phones.

"Because they're coming to us this way, it needs to be a priority," he says.

Manhattan-based Lighting New York began focusing on its mobile sites four years ago, and now gets as much as 40 percent of its online visits from mobile devices, says Aaron Covaleski, the company's director of online search marketing.