How to Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

It's crucial for businesses to have a mobile-friendly website in 2020. With more and more people turning to their mobile devices to visit websites and make purchases, it is vital to make sure your business's website is optimized to handle that.

If a business's website isn't mobile-friendly, that brand could be missing out on more than 50% of their potential customers. Almost 4.5 billion people are using the internet around the world in 2020, and a vast majority of them (3.9 billion) access it via their phone or tablet.

So, in this article, we'll be going over what it means to be mobile-friendly, why it's essential, and some of the things you can do to mobile-optimize your website.

What is "mobile-friendly"?

When you have a mobile-friendly website, it means that your website is developed, designed, and optimized for visitors on the different standard mobile devices. You can find out how mobile-friendly your website is by using Google's Mobile-Friendly test tool.

This test is very simple and takes less than a minute to complete. Just type in your website's URL and click "Test URL."

After analyzing your URL, the test tool will show you your results. From here, you'll see if your website is mobile-friendly and learn what usability errors are occurring on your site and how you can improve them.

Why is being mobile-friendly important?

As mentioned before, more and more consumers are turning to their mobile devices to browse the internet and shop online, meaning that mobile-friendly websites have many advantages over those who are not.

Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites, meaning you're business really can't afford not to be mobile-friendly if you want to rank and stay competitive. Google is actually responsible for about 95% of internet search traffic, so if your website is being pushed down the list, you'll miss out on crucial exposure and sales.

Check out this article for more information about Google's mobile-first indexing and how you can make sure your website ranks.

Having a mobile-friendly website also means you'll be able to offer a better user experience and have a higher chance of converting visitors into customers. For more information on why it's essential to have a mobile-friendly website, check out this article.

What can I do to mobile-optimize my website?

1: Make sure your website is easy to navigate

Non-mobile-friendly websites are often difficult to view, navigate, and use on mobile devices. Website visitors might find themselves having to zoom in to read certain content or endlessly scroll to find a link or button to click on. This kind of experience is frustrating to the user, often leading them to abandon the website and search for what they want somewhere else.

In order to prevent these unnecessary bounces from your website, you need to make sure it's easy to navigate. Try enlarging your text, buttons, and menu options. You'll want to make sure your buttons aren't too big, too small, or in the finger path of a user who is trying to get the page to scroll, otherwise, these things might lead to accidental clicks, which once again, leads to frustration.

2: Optimize your images

When using images on your website, make sure you include high-quality graphics and photos. Try not to use images that are low-resolution or ones that are too small. Maintain consistency by making sure your mobile website and the desktop version both have the same alt text for images. Alt text is the text used to describe an image.

Check out our guide for optimizing and serving scaled images.

#: Don't block CSS, Javascript, or Image Files

CSS and Javascript allow Google to view your website as a regular user would and index it for optimal search rankings. If your website is blocking the Googlebot's access, it may result in less visibility and lower rankings.

#: Avoid using Flash

Flash isn't supported by iOS or Android, so if you use it, it won't appear on mobile devices. This will lead users to see errors such as "Unplayable Content." These kinds of errors may confuse your viewer and lead to a poor user experience.

#: Use clear and concise language

When you're branding for mobile, you'll want to aim for less text, shorter subject lines, and larger CTA buttons (remember, not too large though). People are using their phones and other mobile devices more and more often to browse the internet, and in today's busy world, people are looking for clear, easy-to-digest content.

Take a look at your website, email marketing, and blogs. Where can you make things simpler without losing your message to the audience? Be strategic in what you simplify and when you write your content, make sure you create the same clear headings on both the mobile and desktop versions of your website.

#: Use common fonts

Common fonts are much easier to read on smaller devices, as they are web-safe and compatible with HTML/CSS. Many mobile devices like iOS and Android come with preinstalled web-safe fonts like Lato, Open Sans, or Roboto.

You'll also want to make sure you optimize the font size for mobile as well. Generally, 16px is the best font size for body copy on mobile. Remember, what may appear to be a good size on your desktop, might appear tiny on a phone. Small text on a small device is a strain on the eyes and will lead to a poor user experience.

You can control your font sizes on different screens with media queries. A good rule to follow is to avoid using highly decorative script fonts because they tend to be hard to read on small screens. You'll want to stick to a clean and simple serif font for a long body of text.

#: Make sure your website is responsive

A responsive website is one that easier for the site viewer to use. This means minimizing the amount of panning, zooming, and scrolling they have to do, thus reducing any confusion. You don't want website visitors to be confused when they land on your page, because a confused visitor never acts, and you will lose potential sales.

When you have a responsive website design, the experience is enjoyable for all of your visitors, no matter what device they're visiting your site from. Responsive design uses a grid system to divide pages into columns that are sized at 100% of the width of the browser. The grid size is flexible and fluid, and the content within the grid can adapt and rearrange itself to fit the user's screen size.

To make sure your website is responsive, you can either create it yourself using a responsive platform such as Squarespace or hire a professional developer to build your site. At AnoLogix build websites from the ground up and learn everything about your business and what you need to succeed so that we can develop a site that communicates your message, provides a pleasant user experience, and builds your brand awareness. If you need help bringing your website to mobile, reach out to us at AnoLogix to see what we can do for you!