Quick question: are you reading this blog post on a computer, or on your phone?
Chances are, your answer was on a phone. Did you know more than 63% of Google searches are made on a mobile device. As mobile devices continue to gain momentum in consumers daily lives, it is important that your website is mobile-friendly to stay connected to your customers. And if that stat hasn’t already convinced you, then this should: according to the US Census, in 2021 smartphones were present in 84% of households, compared to the 78% of households owning a computer. Keep reading to learn how you can make sure your website is targeting to that 84%!
But wait – what makes a website mobile-friendly?
Just because you have a website, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s mobile-friendly. A website is mobile-friendly when:
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It takes less than three seconds to load the website (not-so-fun fact: according to Google, 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than 3 seconds to load)
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The content is dynamically-sized for mobile applications (users don’t have to zoom in & out just to read or navigate through your site)
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Your links and navigation are easily accessible (links are easy to click/navigate to different pages)
Don’t know if your site is mobile-friendly? Plug your website’s URL into Google’s Mobile-Friendly test here.
Here’s four ways to optimize your mobile site:
1. Increase your response time
Remember that three second stat? This is what we’re talking about: make sure your site takes less than three seconds to load any given page. Ways to do this include:
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Scale image sizes down: High resolution images look great, but don’t help to keep you in that three second window. Keep image sizes to a maximum of 40KB where possible; you can also use tools, plug-ins, and photo software to compress or edit image sizes, like Imagnifyis or Affinity Photo.
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Reduce redirects: A website redirect leads a visitor from one requested page to another. While this can lead to a good user experience, the more redirects you use, the slower your site will be.
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Enable Browser Caching: When you visit a website, your browser takes pieces of the page and stores them on your system’s hard drive, called caching. Performance research shows caching can instantly reduce website loading time while also reducing server load!
2. Create Calls to Action (CTA)
Have you ever visited a website that left you thinking, “Ok, now what?” Having content on your mobile site is great, but often times it’s not enough to increase your conversion rate. Make things easier for your consumers to ‘seal the deal’ by providing direct links to what you want them to do – like “Add to Cart,” “Buy Now,” or “Subscribe.” These links should tell the consumer that they are performing an action, and then take them directly to where they should be going (Harvard Business Review says the less clicks they have to take, the better). Make sure the CTA button stands out (like giving it a different color), or your consumer might miss it.
3. Make Sure Your Site is Easy to Navigate
One of the worst things you can do to your website is make it hard for the user to use. Just like providing a map, your menu navigation should be simple and to the point. Some things you should avoid when setting up your menu navigation include:
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Generic or vague labels: if your menu labels aren’t specific enough, your user may be clicking on multiple labels to find what they want – or clicking the back button to go to a competitor site. Make sure your labels are clear and concise: instead of using words like ‘Products’ or ‘Services,’ opt for more specific keywords.
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Offering too many options: alternative to generic labels, if you offer too many options you can cause confusion because the user isn’t able to find what they’re looking for.
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Buttons vs. Text Links: Buttons usually take longer to load in mobile applications, which can cause the user to lose interest. Choose to provide text links instead, which offer faster loading times and are more efficient.
4. Add a Search Bar
Let’s face it – sometimes we’re just lazy. With search functions increasing in popularity, having a search bar is now the new norm for most business websites. In addition to creating super-fast search results for your customer, search engines can also boost conversions and strengthen SEO – which can lead to even more traffic to your mobile site.
Just remember: if you elect not having a search bar on your website, you risk people potentially leaving your site for a search engine instead . . . which can result in them going to a competitor.
At the end of the day, creating a website that is optimized across all devices is going to result in a better user experience for your customers – which will bring you better business! By increasing your response time, providing call to actions, and by making your site easy to navigate, you can easily make your business successful – after all, it’s only a few clicks away!