Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, touchscreen technology has been growing in leaps and bounds. Industry experts predict that touchscreen technology will grow from $16 billion in 2012 to $31.9 billion by 2018. This fall, Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system will enable touchscreen technology in tablets, notebooks and even desktop computers.

How will touchscreen technology affect your small business website? If your website is touchscreen friendly, web users should have no problem maneuvering and navigating through your website. However, if your website is out of touch (no pun intended), then you’ll have a difficult time keeping your visitors on your website. Here are a few helpful tips on how to make your website more touchscreen friendly:

• Provide sufficient room for users' fingers. The average width a person's finger is 11mm. Make sure you use at least 11mm square with 2mm of padding surrounding it the area. 11mm is approximately 40 px and 2mm is around 10 px. Identify input types by utilizing HTML5 forms. When it comes to text inputs, make sure you identify the exact input type (when necessary). This will ultimately make your users' touch experience more user-friendly. 
• Configure the browser for the default touch behaviors that coincide with your website. When people enter your website from a touch screen device, they will expect to zoom and pan your website using touch. Make sure your browser is configured for the default touch behaviors (i.e. double-tap-zoom - only double-tap zooming is allowed).
• Never hide web content behind a hover. When you use a mouse, you can hover over content by pointing at it without actually clicking it. When you use an iPad or other tablet, it works completely different. When you point at content with your finger, it will hover and click onto an item. In this case, you'll have to make all behaviors tapable (clickable). 

Hopefully, the information above will help give you a general idea on how to make your website more touchscreen friendly. However, if you need help making your website more user-friendly, an experienced web developer can optimize your site for touch. As a result, you’ll experience more conversions.