What Does It Mean To Make Your Site Mobile Friendly?

Mobile devices have become standard fixtures in everyday life.

The use of smartphones and other mobile devices has risen dramatically over the last decade. So much so that mobile Internet usage surpassed computer Internet usage for the first time in 2016.

What does that mean for your website?

Basically, it means that you need to ensure it can be viewed correctly on a mobile device. You need to make it ‘mobile friendly’.

Let’s take a closer look at what it means, why you need it and how you can do it.

What ‘Mobile Friendly’ Means

Ensuring that your website is mobile friendly means having web content that works on smaller mobile screens. Traditional non-mobile websites are built for PC or laptop sized screens, meaning that when they are used on small screen they do not scale down properly. This makes information hard to see and find, and website buttons and links hard to use.

Having a ‘mobile capable’ website allows your regular site to be viewed in smaller format. But a truly mobile friendly website offers a pared back site with easier navigation. 

Why You Need It

People use their mobile devices to access the web, do business, shop, and communicate with each other from anywhere at any time.

If your business is not easily accessible for this large scale, 24/7 market – you are missing out on a lot of potential enquiries and sales.

User-friendly and responsive website design is an absolute must. A site that is not optimised for mobile usage is going to be more difficult and slower for the people trying to navigate it. This means they may leave your website and go somewhere else, which could end up with you losing customers and income. 

Research has found that 80% of people would leave a website that doesn’t display well on their mobile device, and 57% would not recommend a business that has a poorly designed website for mobile.

How To Make It Happen

Many modern themes and platforms already offer different versions of your site, depending on the method people are using to view it. Most will have a desktop version and a ‘mobile friendly’ version.

However, if you have an older style website, you will want to consider upgrading so that you can service all of your customers, regardless of how they access your site.

This is what a ‘mobile friendly’ design does:

• Keeps size in mind –Using the Internet on a mobile device only gives people a few inches of screen to work with. It is not the same as having a full sized computer screen controlled by cursor and mouse. Click-through buttons and navigation options need to be big enough to be selected with a finger and spaced far enough apart.
• Simplified menus –The need for a simplified menu is also related to the smaller size of a mobile device. Some website menus might contain 20 or more page options. On a small mobile screen, people might have to zoom or constantly scroll down to read everything. A mobile-friendly menu will be brief and no longer than one mobile page length.
• Has a search bar –Many website users are looking for a particular thing, so will utilise the search bar on a website. This helps them to quickly locate the thing they want to see the most. It also reduces the need to rely on a bigger menu structure.
• Has no pop-ups –Pop ups are not favoured by website users at the best of times, as they can annoy people who are just trying to read a page. On mobile, it can be even worse, as the smaller screen size makes them more difficult to close down.
• Makes it fast –Website users aren’t going to wait around for a slow website to load properly. Research shows that over 50% of people will simply leave a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load. The best way to ensure a fast loading time is by using a simplified design with no large imagery or unnecessary elements.

Looking to upgrade your site so that it is mobile friendly? Creative Web Designs offers quality and affordable website design for small businesses. Contact us today if you would like a new user friendly and mobile friendly site for your business.