Let’s take a look at everything you need to keep in mind about mobile website design. There’s no secret that the Internet is by far the most powerful tool that business owners can use to further their careers. But, since over 70% of online traffic is from mobile device users, it’s imperative that you take mobile device formatting into consideration.
Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got all the information you need to know.
1. Simplicity Is Key
As you may expect, keeping your sight free of clutter and visual distraction can go a long way toward improving the experience your audience has on your site. This means that your mobile website design should only incorporate the information required for your users to take their intended action.
For instance, your regular site design may have much more content and nuances. But, these could be visually overwhelming on such smaller screens or complicate the ease your users have been fighting with looking for.
So, it’s best to keep things as simple as possible when formatting for mobile.
2. Make Contact Info Easy to Find
Oftentimes, one of the first things users look for on a website is the company’s contact information. But, it can be frustrating for users if they have to scroll and scroll in order to find it.
To help circumvent this issue, it’s best to place your contact information at the top of your site’s pages. You could even place it in a tab at the top of the screen that scrolls when the user does. This will ensure that they always have quick access to it.
Regardless of how you implement it, this information should always be easy for users to find without interfering with their experience.
3. Test Extensively
A scenario you want to avoid at all costs is one where you put in the work to design your mobile website but then still experience the consequences of having one that’s poorly designed.
Most of the time, situations like these arise as a result of business owners not thoroughly testing their mobile websites. This means that you should navigate through your entire site on multiple different devices and even utilize different types of connections to do so.
For example, you may assume that your site runs fine since you’re able to load everything seamlessly while connected to your Wi-Fi network. But, if your network is particularly fast, the average user may not have the same experience.
This is especially true for those who rely on cellular data to connect to the Internet. Although it may be tedious, it’s imperative that you test your site in every relevant scenario that you can think of.
4. Focus on Loading Speed
Given that the average person now has a shorter attention span than a goldfish does, it should come as no surprise that sites with slow loading speeds drive users away.
In fact, all it takes is a few seconds of extra time to cause users to navigate away from your site. Unfortunately, this affects a metric known as your site’s bounce rate, which Google uses to define the quality of your site’s content.
If a large number of people are backing out of your site shortly after they arrive there, google may assume that your site’s content is poor or irrelevant, which could affect your ranking on search engine results.
To help facilitate faster loading speeds, you can incorporate the following practices:
- Minimize your use of Java
- Use images and video only when necessary and compress these files appropriately
- Removing media-intensive files form your mobile site design (such as dynamic backgrounds)
This will give you the greatest chance of keeping users on your page when they arrive there.
5. Make Your Site Ergonomic
Unfortunately, achieving stellar mobile site design isn’t as simple as converting your regular website to a mobile format. More often than not, this will result in links, buttons, etc. being placed in inconvenient locations for touchscreen users.
So, you’ll need to design your site with this information in mind.
To help you get started, consider how your average user would use their hands while navigating through your website. You’ll want to place things like checkout buttons, contact links, and other important information on the right side of the screen since the majority of your users will be right-handed.
You’ll also want to ensure that buttons are placed far enough away from each other so that users don’t press the wrong one with their fingers. A cluttered interface could easily lead to a poor experience.
6. Never Neglect Formatting
So, your site runs efficiently on mobile devices and you’ve taken care of other nuances like button size. Your site should still be properly formatted in order to get the best experience, though.
This means that you should avoid making your users scroll horizontally, constantly resize the page in order to see your content better, etc. Ideally, your default mobile formatting should accommodate all of the needs that your audience has.
So, consider how your site’s text, images, and other elements are distributed when building your mobile design.
Optimizing Your Mobile Website Design Can Seem Difficult
But it doesn’t have to be.
With the above information about mobile website design in mind, you’ll be well on your way toward ensuring that you take the necessary steps for your business.
Want to learn more about how we can help? Feel free to get in touch with us today to see what we can do.
