Here are six things to consider in making your website mobile-friendly:
1. Design with your customers in mind
When people visit your website from a mobile device such as a Smartphone or a tablet, what do they see? The browsing experience and visual structure should be clear and simple on any device. Think about how users navigate through your site on a small device. Call to action buttons need to be clearly marked, big enough to see, and easy to click on with the tip of a finger. Don’t forget to position them at regular intervals to ensure your visitor doesn’t have to scroll too much around your site especially if you want them to buy.
2. Don’t waste customers’ time
Don’t keep them waiting. How long does it take your site to load? Just think of how many times you have left a webpage because of a few minutes’ delay. Your customers will do the same. To find out what it will be like for your customers try viewing your website on a smartphone to see if it’s quick and responsive.
3. Be relevant
Your clients are usually in a hurry and visitors will leave your site if they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly. Mobile visitors are usually looking for specific information, such as business opening hours or directions to your business. So be sure to provide a balance between promoting your business and providing practical information. Your contact information should be clear and easy to find as soon as someone lands on a page from a mobile device. You could try providing links to phone numbers and driving directions so that users can launch their phone or maps apps directly from your mobile site.
4. Keep it simple
While Flash animation and high-resolution graphics might look great on a laptop, they can negatively impact a visitor’s user experience when they are browsing on the move. Some mobile devices (such as the iPhone) are not able to display Flash at all. Animation or large graphics can take forever to load on a slow mobile connection, during which time a potential customer may well leave your web page and they’ll be unlikely to come back.
Top tip: It’s also worth remembering that your customers are not just surfing the web and social media on their phones; they are also checking their email. However, many companies still use coloured backgrounds, Flash creative and other complex design elements in their emails that can be unreadable on a mobile device and defeats the purpose of sending the email. When you’re designing your next email newsletter or promotion, make sure to optimise your email for mobile (or keep the design clean and simple) so customers can read your emails easily on the go.
5. Be sure you’re up to date – and get noticed
When you are busy running your business, it is very easy to forget about your website once it’s up and running. Don’t make the same mistake. Not only will you turn customers away with out of date information, you will be missing out on raising your profile with prospective clients who might have been on the verge of buying from you. Updating your website and directory listings on sites such as Google is a simple way to improve your ranking on local search results. More visitors to your mobile-friendly website will lead to more sales.
6. Your Customers want it
More and more customers are using mobile devices each day, so having a mobile optimized website helps the decision making process. Around 80% of people change from one website to another if it is not mobile friendly. What does it mean for your business? The answer is simple: if you don’t have a mobile website your customers will replace you with your competitors who do and buy from them instead. It is as simple as that.
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