Building a website is no small feat. It’s a complex project that requires thoughtful planning, skilled execution, and, of course, time. Whether you’re starting from scratch or making simple upgrades, don’t forget about mobile optimization.
This is crucial for your business because mobile users are currently dominating the web. According to Kinsta, 55% of worldwide online traffic happens from a mobile device and those numbers are only going to go up.
It’s clear that everybody is accessing the internet from their phones and tablets. That being said, if your site isn’t user-friendly for these mobile devices, you’re missing out on a HUGE portion of potential traffic.
Today’s consumers want a fast, easy experience. It’s time to make sure your website is mobile optimized and not miss out on opportunities.
What is Mobile Optimization?
So we know that people are using their phones to engage with brands and find solutions to their problems. The question still remains though, ‘what exactly is mobile optimization and how do you implement it to your website?’
In its simplest form, mobile optimization is adjusting your website to be just equally functional when visited from a mobile device as it is from a desktop. You want every feature of your website to function just as effectively and be just as engaging across every device.
This can sound a little intimidating and admittedly it will be a process. Below we’ve included some tangible aspects of mobile optimization that you can start implementing today. By focusing on these key elements as you build your website, your users will have a better experience and you’ll start to see more conversions.
Foundations of Mobile Optimization
Ensure Buttons are Easy to Tap
When you think about what the difference is between users on a desktop versus a mobile device you have to think about what they’re physically experiencing. In this case, they’re pushing buttons on the screen rather than using a mouse. Go back through your content and make sure links and buttons are a good size.
Properly Size Media
A small phone screen is not a bright big laptop screen. When you include media(pictures and videos) make sure everything is high quality and properly formatted. You want to find or create media that maximizes detail – ensuring no quality is lost between different sizes of screens.
Avoid Long Paragraphs
Keep things simple. When people are on their phones they’re typically on the go. This means they don’t want to commit a lot of time and attention to one piece of content. Keep things short, easy to read, and valuable.
Page Speed
We are in an era of the world where people are constantly in a hurry. If your pages take too long to load, people aren’t going to hesitate to leave your site and find a faster one. There’s a lot of technical steps as part of improving page speed. You can dive into the details read more here.
Simplify Forms and Menus
The smoothness and ease of clicking on dropdown menus or filling out a form online should be the same across all platforms. Yes, that’s sounding repetitive. But really that’s what this whole thing is about! Making things easy for users.
Responsive Web Design
Design your website to automatically adjust and function across all sizes of screens, from desktops to smartphones. A responsible web design will adjust pictures, copy, and all other features to be easily adjustable.
Does Every Business Need to Optimize for Mobile?
Optimizing your website for mobile device users isn’t a future necessity; it should be a current priority.
No matter what business you’re in, you need to be consistently testing, checking, and updating your website to be mobile friendly. With the majority of online traffic happening on mobile devices, you’re going to want to make your website as accessible to that audience as possible.
Other benefits of mobile optimization:
- Improved User Experience (UX): When your site isn’t mobile friendly, people will notice. Make sure your website is easy to navigate, read, and interact with. A seamless experience leaves a positive impression with your visitors and increases the likelihood that they’ll return to your site in the future.
- Appeals to Google Crawlers: Google scans your website to ensure it functions as advertised. It checks that all links lead to the correct place, pages load quickly, and you use relevant and well ranked keywords.
- Increase Traffic: Since the majority of web traffic is coming from users on mobile devices, appealing to those users opens the door to a larger audience. When you appeal to google crawlers and mobile users, organic traffic will increase.
- Competitive Advantage: Taking the extra time to mobile optimize puts you ahead of your competition. Your visitor will notice the consistently positive experience with your brand across platforms and credit you as professional. As they continue to return more value from you, you’ll continue to build trust over your competitors.
Be Specific About Your Target Personas Experience
We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to stay focused on your target audience. The more specific you can tailor your website (mobile and desktop) to their preferences, needs, and desires the more conversions you’ll see.
If this stuff is still a little intimidating, don’t be afraid to reach out. Mintun Media is all about handling this kind of stuff and optimizing your website. While you stay focused on the big picture of your business, we’ll take care of everything online(seriously, we basically do it all.)
Click the link below to schedule a free consultation and we can talk all about how to optimize your website.