Nowadays, most customers use their smartphones when surfing the Internet on the go. If you are a business owner, then you must ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, or else you will be losing potential clients.
Google’s (News - Alert) recent algorithm has been designed to penalize the websites which are not mobile-friendly. Your site will fall in Google's ranking leading to an overall low SEO score.
Mobile devices are taking over the world, and you are bound to see a rise in your sales if you manage to make your website compatible with mobiles.
Here are a few tips on how to begin updating to your mobile-friendly website.
1. Don’t Opt for a Separate Mobile-Friendly Website
It makes no sense to make a website separately for smartphone users. They want the same access as computer users. You need to provide them with the same options and the same information that is available on your desktop website. Gone are the days when the mobile was viewed as a completely different technological arena. The lines are blurring, and you will have to use that to your advantage. Google tends to punish websites for having duplicate content which would present a barrier to creating a separate website for mobile and desktop. If you want to earn a good search ranking on Google, then you need to focus on making one website that is compatible with both.
2. Make the Website Suitable for Touch Screens
One of the primary differences between a smartphone and a desktop is that the former has a touch screen. Users tend to swipe and zoom over the screen when visiting your website from their phones. You will have to optimize your website to make it functional on touch screens. Do not forget to add touchscreen navigation when designing your website so that people find it easier to navigate through the different fields and menus.
3. Have a Responsive Template
Users want to be able to communicate with you through the screen. Having a responsive website design will make your site easily viewable on all devices. You will not have to put in effort separately in order to make it fit for other gadgets. A responsive design should have flexible layouts and images that will not present a difficulty to customers. The size and layout of the page will change according to the user's screen size and orientation.
4. Make Sure that You Use the Proper Font Size
On a smartphone, text appears much smaller than it appears on a computer screen. You should ensure that your website is legible if you want your visitors to hang around for a while. Incorporating a large font size will increase your readership because users will not have to spend their time zooming in. They will be able to adjust the font size easily.
Larger buttons are helpful on smartphone screens because they keep users from clicking buttons that they do not want to. Pressing the wrong button can be annoying for users because it redirects them to a page which holds no significance for them.
5. Only Use High-Resolution Images
Images have become a major element of the online world. A picture can convey more than words. People no longer have the time or patience to read through paragraphs of text. If you want your website to appeal to everyone, focus on making it catchy and vibrant. The best way to do that is by inserting hi-res images on your responsive websites. Users who have devices with high-definition screens will have an excellent experience because they will not have to settle for pixelated or blurry pictures.
6. Do Not Compromise Speed
One of the best ways to increase your website's popularity is to make it fast and efficient. If the website takes too much time to load, then chances are that the visitor will abandon the effort and shift to smoother websites. Your mobile-friendly site should be able to load quickly on phones, which is why you need to optimize the website. Compress the high-resolution images so that they do not take a lot of time during the loading process. You can also compress the site's HTML and CSS (News - Alert) if you want to increase its speed.
7. Use a Viewport Meta Tag
In order to build a multi-device website from scratch, you will need to use the viewport. This virtual area is used by the browser to control the scaling and sizing of the website. This code is essential, or else your website will not function well on smartphones. The viewport meta tag communicates with your browser and informs it that the page has to fit the dimensions of the screen.
You should also keep an option on the mobile version of your site that will allow users to see the desktop version on their smartphones if they so wish.
Don’t hesitate. Begin working on it now and reap the benefits. If you need professional help, we suggest you go for experts like netStride, if you are looking for the best professional web design and development.
