Why Consider Mobile Friendly Website Design?

Is Your Website a Mobile Friendly?

Have you considered the fact that the majority of smartphone users are now exploring the Internet to buy and consider products and services?

The convenience of being able to search for information on the Internet from a mobile while in transit is a major drawcard.

If you intend to use the Internet to promote your business online you will now need to consider the use of a mobile website design to be user-friendly. If you already have a website and want to check how mobile-friendly it is, here is a quick Mobile Website Module Emulator to assess your site.

Why?

While the number of mobile users is increasing every year while the effectiveness of the yellow pages is decreasing. It makes sense to go where your customers are going in order to attract their attention and hold their interest to consider your services.

There is now a major shift to capture new emerging web traffic from smartphone users. Therefore regardless of where you are currently advertising your business if a website is involved, it needs to be responsive to the viewer’s device such as a desktop computer, tablet or mobile. Google is now shifting its focus to include a priority on the mobile search engine and assessing your website speed on mobile devices.

So What Makes A Website Mobile Friendly?

As the screens on mobiles are smaller, the content needs to be adaptive to the small screen to be quick to read and legible.

Content, therefore, needs to be formatted for simplicity and clarity with obvious headlines and short sharp readable text.

If there is too much going on visually the user will move away to another website that is more accessible for a mobile phone.

To outline some common problems of most websites for mobile users, the following notes provide further insights.

Do You Have Too Much Content On The Page?

If you have ever tried to view a complex website that not mobile-friendly using a smartphone you would have needed to zoom into the content to read anything.

The content format for mobile, therefore, needs to be structured for purpose and hierarchy of purpose and importance to get your message across quickly and clearly. Your message may be a proposition with a call to action such as a tap to call.

Navigation Links for Mobile Websites

The navigation for mobile websites needs to be easy to use to be able to access a main menu and content within 2 clicks. The navigation also needs to have enough height to be finger friendly to avoid clicking on incorrect links.

Content Visibility

As already mentioned, content needs to be easily readable without the need to zoom in or scroll from side to side. Websites that have been structured to be responsive for tablets and smartphones will automatically present the content in one column and single rows so that there is no horizontal scrolling.

Responsive Contact Forms

Mobile users don’t like to type too much if needed. Therefore any signup forms need to be simple to use with only a few fields.

Quick Download

As mobile users aren’t interested in waiting around as content downloads to view, a mobile-friendly website needs to be optimised for speed. If using videos for business content they need to have the autoplay turned off in order to allow the user to choose to avoid download wastage and time delays.

QR Codes

A Quick Response (QR) Code is a visual bar code graphic that can be scanned by a smartphone to enable a specific event such as calling a phone number or visiting a website page.

Using QR Codes is a quick way for you to connect offline advertising to online offers or for lead capture. If you want to use QR Codes in your advertising to direct people to a website page, the website will therefore need to be a responsive mobile-friendly design structure. Old website structures can be converted to be responsive or you can switch your content over to a new website system for modern functionality. Create your own QR code here.

Local Service APPs

There are Local Service APPs that help people find products and services in their current location based on the GPS function of their smartphone. If your business is listed on one of these local service APPs, your website will need to be optimised for content visibility, such as who, what, where and tap to call.

Tap To Call

One of the big benefits of using a smartphone-friendly website is to allow mobile users to click a phone number on the website to instantly call you with just a tap.