Last year Google made it clear that more searches were taking place on mobile devices (smartphones) than on desktop computers or tablets. The trend is significant enough to the search giant that they’re actively penalizing websites that aren’t mobile-friendly in search results conducted on smartphones. That means if your website isn’t optimized and coded to respond to the mobile viewing platform, people searching for your services on their phone (over half of them, remember?) aren’t going to see you as prominently when they search.
With the shift moving so heavily toward the small screen, it means mobile design optimization is now priority #1 for business owners looking to get the most out of their website. To help you out, we’ve put together this list of 4 bedrock considerations for driving results with your mobile website.
Optimizing Your Website for Mobile
When optimizing your website for mobile devices, there are several crucial factors to consider. Here are four key things to keep in mind:
- Responsive Design: A responsive design is essential for ensuring that your website adapts and functions well across various screen sizes and orientations. It allows your content to automatically adjust, providing a seamless user experience on both smartphones and tablets. When optimizing for mobile, prioritize a clean and intuitive layout, legible fonts, and appropriately sized buttons and form fields. Test your website on different mobile devices to ensure consistent performance and usability.
- Page Load Speed: Mobile users expect quick and efficient browsing experiences. Slow-loading websites can frustrate visitors, leading to higher bounce rates and lower conversions. Optimize your website’s page load speed by minimizing file sizes, compressing images, leveraging browser caching, and utilizing content delivery networks (CDNs). Regularly monitor and analyze your site’s speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix, and address any performance issues promptly.
- Mobile-Friendly Navigation: Mobile users should be able to navigate your website effortlessly and find what they need without frustration. Simplify your site’s navigation by using a concise menu, intuitive icons, and collapsible sections. Implement a search bar prominently to enable quick product or content discovery. Additionally, ensure that links, buttons, and clickable elements have adequate spacing to prevent accidental clicks. Intuitive and user-friendly navigation helps users explore your website easily, increasing engagement and conversions.
- Clear Call-to-Actions (CTAs): A well-designed and prominently displayed call-to-action is crucial for driving conversions on mobile devices. Make your CTAs concise, visually appealing, and easy to tap. Ensure that they stand out from the rest of the content and clearly communicate the desired action. Use action-oriented language and consider incorporating urgency or incentives to encourage immediate engagement. By guiding mobile users towards specific actions, such as adding items to the cart or completing a purchase, you can increase conversion rates.
Bonus Tip: Cross-Device Consistency:
While focusing on mobile optimization, it’s important to maintain a consistent experience across different devices. Ensure that your website remains visually consistent in terms of branding, content, and functionality, regardless of whether users access it on a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. This consistency enhances your brand identity, promotes user trust, and allows for a seamless transition between devices.
Remember to regularly monitor and analyze user behavior and conversion rates on your mobile-optimized website. Collect user feedback, conduct usability testing, and make iterative improvements based on data and insights. By continuously optimizing your website for mobile devices, you can enhance the user experience, increase engagement, and drive higher conversions.
Make Your Website Responsive
In order to satisfy Google’s “mobile-friendly” requirement, you have 3 options. Either your website needs to be responsive, dynamic serving, or a separate mobile site altogether. It’s the responsive design that Google recommends as the best choice, and for good reason.
Responsive Design means you have only one website but it scales all of the content elements to fit whatever the screen size happens to be. You can see this if you resize your browser while looking at our site. See how the text and photos move around to best orient themselves to whatever size you make your browsing window? On smartphones, it is automatically scaled down to mobile size so you aren’t forced to side-scroll or pinch-zoom to read the content.
The responsive design option means you only have one URL instead of a separate mobile site like m.signal-interactive.com. That’s much easier to manage in terms of SEO and doesn’t confuse people as easily. Not to mention, the maintenance of one site is much more manageable than two. Finally, responsive sites have faster load times than dynamic serving domains or separate mobile sites.
People Want a Positive Viewing Experience
In today’s fast-paced digital world, users demand an enjoyable and hassle-free browsing experience. If your website fails to deliver, visitors will simply click away, and with them goes potential revenue. But fear not! By adhering to a few golden guidelines for optimal mobile web design, you can keep visitors engaged and ensure they stay for the long haul.
- Embrace Readability: When it comes to content, readability is key. Small, cramped fonts are a big no-no. Instead, opt for larger font sizes that are easy on the eyes. Aim for a minimum of 18px for body copy and 22px for headlines. By allowing your text to breathe and promoting legibility, you’ll keep visitors hooked and eager to explore further.
- Friendly Calls to Action: Don’t be shy about guiding your users towards action. Implement friendly and eye-catching Calls to Action (CTAs) in the form of big, fat buttons that are easy to click. These irresistible prompts will entice visitors to engage with your offerings, driving conversions and boosting your bottom line.
- Optimize Images: We all know a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean it should weigh down your website. Compress your high-quality images to a size under 1MB, ensuring they load swiftly without sacrificing visual appeal. By finding the perfect balance between image quality and file size, you’ll create a seamless browsing experience that keeps visitors captivated.
- Achieve Visual Harmony: A visually balanced website is a joy to explore. Strike a harmonious blend of text and imagery to create an engaging viewing experience. Avoid overwhelming visitors with walls of text or drowning them in a sea of images. Find the sweet spot where captivating visuals and informative content coexist, igniting curiosity and inviting further exploration.
Always prioritize the browsing experience of your users, as today’s internet-savvy web surfers have little patience for sites that make navigation a nightmare. By implementing these design principles, you’ll create a user-friendly and engaging website that keeps visitors coming back for more.
Remember, in the vast digital landscape, standing out from the crowd is crucial. So, seize the opportunity to optimize your mobile web design and provide a positive viewing experience that leaves a lasting impression. With each click, you’ll be one step closer to success.
Do yourself and your customers a favor.
Optimize your website for mobile traffic.
If your website is ready for an overhaul to responsive mobile optimization, then you’re ready to have a chat with one of our service reps here at Signal Interactive.
Don’t get left in the dust.
