Gone are the days when smartphones were an exciting new technology that cost the sky. Times have changed, and what was once a novel gadget has become a regular part of our lives. Today, it's challenging for anyone to spend an entire day without their smartphone. People check their phones at frequent intervals, be it at home, the office, or restaurants and theatres.
Indeed, individuals today don't need to bank upon computers to browse the Internet or go through desired content, thanks to smartphones that have allowed us to access the world wide web from anywhere at any time. According to a report, around 57% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. Thus, if you are into a business and want to expand it digitally, you capitalize on this traffic.
No matter what business you run, what its capital is or where you are located, your website must be able to accommodate mobile users to run a business successfully. A mobile-friendly website gives users instant access to data from any part of the world at any time. In today's competitive era, when businesses are looking for creative ways to connect with their audience, a mobile-friendly website can help you to improve user experience easily and effectively. With it, your potential clients can contact you instantly. Mobile-ready websites also play a vital role in Search Engine Optimization. Google likes mobile-friendly content and thus, ranks such websites higher on search engine result pages.
So, have you optimized your website for mobile devices?
If not, this article will guide you on how to make your website mobile-friendly. Here are some tips you can consider to make your website mobile-friendly.
- Design Responsive Website
When users use various devices to access the Internet, consider investing in responsive website design to build a site that functions well on both mobile and computer platforms. A responsive design uses the same information on all devices. Still, it optimizes its appearance according to the display type and size. The web page is displayed and arranged according to the device screen with a responsive design. So, if you are looking for an effective way to make your website mobile-friendly without hampering its content, consider investing in a responsive design. Moreover, a responsive design helps you with your search engine ranking, enhancing your website's visibility.
- Simplify Website Menus
While designing your website, always keep in mind that mobile screens are much smaller than desktop or laptop screens. So, while inserting menus to your website, you want to be cautious. Too many options on your website can complicate things on mobile screens. With extensive and lots of options, visitors have to scroll up and down to find all the navigation options. So, while designing, ensure that options are concise and fit on every screen.
- Get Rid of Text-Blocking Ads and Pop-ups
Pop-ups and ads in the middle of a webpage are disturbing from both users' and owners' points of view. These ads block the content of a webpage and hamper navigation. These advertisements become extra annoying when they appear on mobile screens. Mobile visitors are unlikely to minimize the pop-up and would instead find another website. Thus, to retain these visitors and create a positive user experience, do not allow such destructive ads to block your webpage content. If you cannot avoid them entirely, make sure to disable them for mobile users.
- Keep Forms as Short as Possible
Forms on your website are great for gathering information about visitors. However, before incorporating them on your website, always keep mobile users in mind. Long-form is not a practical approach to collect information about visitors accessing your website from mobile devices. To make these users share their information, keep your forms short. Before incorporating them, evaluate each line in the form. For example, if you want your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, don't ask for the phone number or address. Similarly, if a user purchases something from your website, just get their shipping and billing information.
- Make Website Speed a Priority
Gone are the days when Internet users used to wait for minutes to load a website. However, with the advancement of technology, users no longer rely on dial-up connections for web searches. In today's Wi-Fi era, Internet speeds are faster than ever. According to a report, the average loading speed of most of the websites on mobile devices is over 5 seconds. In such a scenario, if your website takes too long to load, your visitors won’t wait around. Remember, even a one-second difference in webpage loading time can increase your website's bounce rate. So, to reap the benefits of a mobile-friendly website, improve its loading speed.
- Display Your CTAs
To create an effective mobile-friendly web design, ensure that the call-to-action buttons are clearly displayed. It plays a critical role in conversion. However, it is noteworthy that more than one CTA on a webpage can be overwhelming for mobile users. So, while incorporating a CTA on your webpage, think about its goal or purpose. Whether you are trying to maximize your download, subscribers, or social media presence, stick to the primary goal of the landing page and incorporate a CTA accordingly. A relevant and to-the-point CTA button improves your conversion and provides you with an edge over competitors. Your users must not find it difficult to identify these buttons, and thus, these must be easy to spot.
- Size Matters
Exploring a website from a computer is much easier than navigating from a mobile device. In a computer, one has the facility of a keypad and a mouse, which they don't have with a mobile phone. Thus, to make browsing easy for your mobile visitors, consider the elements like the size of the buttons, white space, fonts, and so on. Ensure that the buttons you incorporate on your website are large enough to be tapped with a thumb or fingers. Also, there should be a significant amount of white space between buttons or links. Buttons without proper space look messy and increase the chances of an accidental click on the wrong links. Apart from the size of the controls, focus on the suitable font sizes of the text for better readability. Reading texts with smaller ones on a smaller screen can be difficult. Thus, ensure the use of fonts of at least 14px for a better reading experience.
There are several other tips to optimize your website for mobile users. The steps mentioned above are common ones that you can apply for better user experience and conversion. With the increasing number of mobile users, a mobile-friendly web design has become necessary. So, apart from the mentioned tips, you can keep testing and tweaking your web designing ideas wherever needed. Also, try to keep your web design simple. Clean and minimalist designs make it easy for users to find the information they are looking for. To know more about a functional yet mobile-friendly web design, connect with Copper & Vine today.
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Resources:
https://ourcodeworld.com/articles/read/902/all-the-responsive-web-design-statistics-you-need-to-know
https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/building-websites/website-load-time-statistics/
https://backlinko.com/page-speed-stats
https://www.hostgator.com/blog/how-make-website-mobile-friendly/#5_Keep_Your_Web_Design_Simple
https://www.quicksprout.com/mobile-friendly-website-guide/
https://seopressor.com/blog/how-to-make-my-website-mobile-friendly/
