How to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly
So, you have a functioning website for online users using a desktop or other laptop device, but what about your mobile users?
People today are much more likely to view your website on a mobile device and therefore mobile-friendliness is key when thinking about your website.
Here are seven ways to ensure your website is mobile-friendly and that your audience gets the best experience on their device.
1. Ensure your website is responsive
It’s imperative your website is responsive if you want the best experience for your users on mobile and desktop.
This means that your website displays the same information on any device but that your website also responds to the device it’s being displayed on and optimizes its appearance to the specific platform.
Responsive design means your website is mobile-friendly without limiting the information your audience can access.
SEO ranking and Google also look at responsiveness as a key factor for websites.
2. Information should be easy to find
People often use mobile devices to look for something specific or to answer a certain question — the address of a nearby restaurant, or a customer service phone number. In these cases, they want to find the information they need as fast and as easily as possible.
Think about what information your mobile visitors are most likely to be looking for when they head to your website, and put that somewhere obvious and easy to find on the mobile homepage.
Also consider the FAQs people most often look for when they visit your website. It might not make sense to put all the answers front and center on your mobile homepage, but make sure they’re easy to find and navigate to on a mobile device.
3. Make speed a priority
The most frustrating thing for users is slow loading speed.
Google has found that any delay longer than 1 second will cause your users to bounce.
If your website loads slowly on a mobile device due to lengthy code or non-functioning code then your audience will not wait around for you to fix it.
With slow page speeds, you will lose your customers to other competitors.
However, there are a number of tactics that your business can employ for your website to make page speeds faster…
- Update your website
- Use accelerated mobile pages (AMP)
- Compress your images & CSS
- Check your web hosting plan
Google PageSpeed Insights is a great tool to measure performance and get relevant recommendations to improve the speed of your website.
It gives you a report for both desktop and mobile versions to help optimize the user experience on each. Any score above 90 is considered good.
4. Keep the design simple
Complicated websites with a lot of clutter are confusing on any screen, but they make it especially hard for visitors to navigate your site on a small screen.
Avoid clutter. Stick to a clean, minimalist design that makes it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.
And by having fewer files on each page that need to load, a simple design will contribute to faster load times.
Some things you can do…
- Using a large & readable font
- Don’t use flash
- Avoiding using too much text
- Keeping the color scheme aesthetic but ensure they don’t clash
- Using small images that are adaptable to the platform they are on and are not “heavy”
5. Regularly perform mobile testing
You also need to make sure that you perform regular testing on your website looking at every detail and page, ensuring they all work quickly and are functioning correctly.
This way you will know that your audience is always getting the best experience on your website and you are able to catch small issues at the source before they become bigger problems.
The faster you spot these issues, the faster you can fix them and go back to giving your users the best possible experience on your website.
6. Space out links
Website links can be a great way for your company to show information or reference other sources on your website.
Hyperlinks to other web pages are a great way to give your audience the opportunity to learn more information about your business or related field.
However, there are some important tips to remember when using links…
- Ensure your links aren’t too close together on your website, this is help people avoid clicking on the wrong one
- Link to pages that are also mobile-friendly
7. Allow for a way for your audience to switch to Desktop View
This blog is primarily about users who view most websites on mobile devices, however, some may want to use the desktop version due to the bigger screen and being able to see more at once.
Therefore, it’s important to give your audience a way to do this in case they would prefer this.
You want your audience to be able to interact in a way that they feel most comfortable with, and the best way to do this is to give them a few options on how to view your website.
Conclusion
Mobile friendliness and responsiveness for your website are vital for the success of not only your website but also for your business.
By using the tips above you can ensure the best experience for your audience.
If you’re looking for a company that can help you design a website that is responsive on all devices, reach out to SALVé today.
