Millions of us now walk around with a tiny, but powerful, computer nestled in our pockets or bags ready and available, should we feel the need to watch something, buy something or connect with someone. For businesses, this provides a powerful opportunity.
Mobile devices are now driving 56 percent of traffic to top sites, with this figure only likely to grow in the future. As such, it is vitally important that your company’s mobile offering is up to scratch. Here are some tips that will help you deliver the kind of mobile friendly website that your customers expect.
Don’t create a separate mobile site
Although the obvious approach to take when attempting to attract mobile customers may be to create a bespoke mobile site, this may not actually be the most effective one. Many search engines, Google included, advocate businesses using a single website URL that adapts its display based on the device it’s being accessed on.
In most cases, this means creating a responsive website that adjusts automatically to the user’s screen size. Not only will this result in a better user experience, it will also mean less work for your web designers and result in web pages that index better across various search engines.
Give your users a choice
Although you may have spent hours and hours creating a beautiful mobile site, some users prefer to stick with experiences that they already know. If that’s the case, make sure you include an option for them to switch to the full, or desktop, version of your site.
Also, if you have a customer mail list, it might be a good idea to ask for their opinions of your mobile site and what, if anything, could be improved upon. A website is never finished, but rather adapts to changing trends and user needs. Make sure you take these into account throughout the design process.
Big is beautiful
Although smaller screens will constrain the layout of your website, you shouldn’t be afraid to go big and bold on your mobile site. In fact, this can be the best approach for certain web features. The smaller screen can make it difficult to see aspects of your website, so make sure your most important features stand out.
Web features like “subscribe here” and “add to basket” should, if anything, be larger and more pronounced on mobile sites to ensure they aren’t missed. Think carefully about your font size too, so users doesn’t have to zoom in constantly or lift their screens to within a few millimetres off their face.
Getting professional help
If you really want to ensure that your mobile website is the best it can be, but are worried that you don’t have the in-house design skills to achieve this, then investing in an external agency could prove helpful. Freelance web designers can create beautiful web pages that will look great across any device and are happy to follow the criteria you give them.
Furthermore, web hosting firms like www.wizzhosting.co.uk often come with easy to use website builders that include mobile friendly responsive templates. When choosing your hosting company, make sure mobile is a key part of their strategy.
Simplicity is key
On a laptop or desktop computer, many websites can cope easily with loads of stuff all going on at once. You may have self-scrolling news items, auto-play videos, social media buttons, chat boxes, and all manner of other features. On a smaller mobile screen, however, this can lead to a very unpleasant user experience.
If you want your site to work well on mobile devices, then it may need some simplifying first. If in doubt, make sure you test your web pages multiple times and across a variety of mobile browsers and operating systems.
Is your content displaying correctly?
The only truly successful way of keeping your website up to date with the latest trends is to ensure that you regularly update it with fresh content. This, however, poses its own problems when it comes to displaying this content on a mobile site.
Videos, in particular, can prove challenging, which is why businesses should ensure that their videos use a responsive embed code. If in doubt, use YouTube videos on your site to make sure that they display well on mobiles too.
Mobile devices are now so ubiquitous that it seems strange to think of a time, not that long ago, when we lived without them. For businesses in the modern world, this means that tailoring their website design to the small screen is hugely important.
