In today’s time, it is almost impossible to see anyone without a mobile phone. We always have our phones on us and use them to access anything. They are designed in such a way that you can almost use the mobile phone as a minicomputer. As such, many people now load websites on their mobiles than computers. That is why, if you have a website of your own, it is vital that you make sure that the website is mobile friendly. In this article, we are going to be teaching you how to make your website mobile friendly.
What is a mobile friendly website?
For a website to be mobile friendly it needs to be designed in such a way that the site can be viewed on a smaller screen such as that of mobile phones and tablets. As such, the texts are sharper, the page is scrollable, and every other element is easily accessible. The user needs to feel comfortable visiting your website from their phone and receive optimum service. On top of that, mobile friendly sites need to load quicker. This is because mobile users are connected to 3G or 4G networks more than home Wi-Fi.
How to make your website mobile friendly?
1.Make the Website Responsive
The first time you should look into making your website mobile friendly is by choosing a responsive design. Doing so will allow your site to respond to the type of device you have accessed the website on. As such, depending on the size of the screen the website will optimize its appearance. This means that regardless of which device your visitor uses, they will have easy access to all the information.
As directly recommended by Google, a responsive design is really good for SEO. Given the importance of responsive website themes, there are a plethora of website builders available online.
2.Prioritize the Website Speed
As we have mentioned above, mobile friendly websites need to load faster. Otherwise, there is a risk of losing visitors. Many website owners rely on various ways to improve the speed on mobile phones. One of the popular options is to use accelerated mobile pages (AMP). AMP frameworks are highly recommended by Google to speed up the loading time. Compressing your images and CSS is another option. As they take the longest to load and affect the quality of your website. Compressing them will allow the page to load much faster without compromising the user experience. Another way website owners speed up their website loading time is by upgrading the web hosting plan. You can choose one that will match your current website needs perfectly.
3.Opt for Simpler Designs
Complicated, cluttered design makes it hard for visitors to navigate their way through your website difficult. This gets especially harder for visitors on a small screen. To enhance user experience, it is best to stick to simpler designs. Reducing the number of images, pages, and categories is what you should opt for. Not only will this make the pages load faster but take up less space on the mobile screen. For example, some websites put their menu behind a hamburger button for the mobile version of their website. Doing so lets the visitor see other more important information first.
4.Make Finding Information Easier
Usually, when people look for information on their phones it is because they are in a rush. As such, they want to find the answer to their problems as soon as possible. To make your website more mobile friendly, you will need to make information easy to access. You can do this by redesigning the website in such a way that the information is what they see when they first visit your website. You can either create a separate section for that or have a part that answers all the frequently asked questions.
If you are unsure about what information your visitors are exactly looking for, then there is many analytic software available that will record mobile traffic for your website. You can use this to see how the visitors interact with your website.
5.Make Texts and Buttons Large Enough for Smaller Screens
One of the common problems mobile users’ faces is the small size of the buttons. Small buttons are annoying to deal with on their own. On a smaller screen, it is almost unbearable. To make your website mobile friendly make sure to make the buttons large enough to be selected by fingers.
The size of the texts should also be big enough for small screens. You should opt for a size that is at least 14px on the website. As for the fonts, it is best to stick to standard fonts as to not disrupt the loading speed. You always have the option to test the website out and see what looks best for your website.
6.Cut down Pop-up and Text Blocking Ads
Pop-up and text-blocking ads are irritating on both computers and mobile phones. To make your website mobile-friendly, cut down or completely ditch these ads. Most visitors are not going to take the time to look for the small cross at the corner of the ad. They will simply switch to another website free of ads. However, if you feel like the ad is important enough to be included, make sure that the X is big enough.
7.Use the Viewport Meta Tag
Viewport meta tag is used to control and monitor how your website looks on mobile phones. Including Viewport on your website will enable them to fit the width of your page according to the screen size. Just add viewport to your HTML and you are good to go.
Conclusion
You need to be adaptable to keep up with advancement in technology. Making your website mobile friendly is one of those things. Make sure to perform regular mobile testing for the best results.