Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?
Currently, mobile devices capable of accessing and surfing the internet can be purchased for under $50, making smartphones ubiquitous in our society. Data collected by Statista shows that the percentage of mobile website traffic in the US has increased from 26% in early 2015 to 48% in early 2021, with the trend continuing to increase. This shows that more and more people choose to surf the web via their mobile devices, accessing websites and making online transactions from their smartphones or tablets. With this in mind, one has to ask, is your website mobile friendly?
What does a mobile friendly website entail?
The definition of “mobile friendly” might vary depending on who you ask. Some marketing agencies will say that mobile friendly is just the first step in having a website that provides a good user experience on mobile devices. They might mention other steps like “mobile-optimized” and “mobile responsive” which further improve the website’s mobile users’ experience, but for the sake of simplicity we will use the term “mobile friendly” as a concept that includes all of the above and refers to the overall experience that your website’s visitors receive when using a mobile device.
Single Column Design
A mobile friendly website needs to be displayed as a single column when viewed on a mobile device. If your website was not designed with a mobile first approach, you will need to make sure that your content is displayed in a logical order. If not properly optimized, images and text can be displayed in the wrong order.
Simple Navigation
Ensure that navigation throughout your website is easy and intuitive when using it on mobile devices. Menus need to be expandable and collapsible, reducing clutter as much as possible. Call to action elements, such as buttons or contact forms need to be optimized so that they are the appropriate size and appear in the correct position when used on a mobile device.
Loading Speed
The amount of time it takes for your website to load on a mobile device is critical. When not on a WiFi network, internet speeds on mobile devices can be significantly slower than on desktops or laptops. Because of this, it may take longer to load heavy content such as non-optimized images or videos that you might have on your site. If you want to avoid losing website traffic due to inadequate site loading speed, make sure your website loads in 2-3 seconds when used on a mobile device.
If you would like to test your website to learn if it is mobile friendly you can do so via a free test from Google through this link.
If you need assistance with optimizing your website to be mobile friendly, or you need any other website help, please contact us for a free consultation.
