How to Get Your Website Ready for Mobile

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Are you still relying on a static web page to keep users on your site? If not, you’re probably missing out on millions of mobile searches each month. According to the Pew Research Center, smartphone and tablet use has tripled over the past five years. And while we spend almost all of our time on our devices, we still want to read our favorite articles, watch our favorite movies, and buy our favorite products. Web Design City analyzed millions of pages and how people interact search in mobile data. The best thing you can do to increase your online visibility is create content that is optimized for mobile viewing. This will not only increase the number of people that come to your site, but also bolster your search engine optimisation (SEO) scores.

Here are a few of the most important things to know to get started:

1.

Build a Messaging Environment

Like many companies, your website is all about the content you are trying to communicate to your audience. The content that grabs your attention on your mobile site must also be read. Providing a reading environment that doesn’t make the site ready for a mobile device is like building a sign with the wrong size letters and font. Your content must be viewable on a smartphone and tablet, so first build a messaging environment that is optimized for this. If it has to be smaller, have your site prepare itself from the start and tailor the content to be mobile-ready.

2.

Include Clean, Familiar Navigation

Your first step in building a mobile-readiness environment is making your site a simple read on a smaller screen. Your readers will want to make quick-swipes to move from one page to the next. Luckily, the design of your pages is not as important as the navigation used to move through them. It’s best to use interfaces from your website’s platform. For instance, Facebook’s “like” button, which resembles a cursor pointer, works on your mobile platform because it closely resembles a mouse on a desk computer. While it’s important to include large buttons that your audience understands and is comfortable with, get rid of extraneous buttons that your audience doesn’t understand or isn’t on your platforms.

3.

Include Basic Tools for Your Readers

Think of mobile for your readers as they do a desktop: continue scrolling to reach every article, read aloud with headphones, and turn your device to video when necessary. Build functions like video, call-to-action buttons, and responsive language to help make it more intuitive for readers to move from reading to watching or listening.

4.

Offer Multi-Screen Functionality

While many readers are flocking to mobile, people are still reading web pages and using social media simultaneously. People are not always as focused on the screen at once. Make sure you offer multi-screen functionality for your readers. For instance, when readers visit your site on a desktop, they use a version of the content that will work with their desktop. You should offer a similar option for mobile. Many authors have integrated links to read and watch their favorite blog posts on their smartphones. Not only does this make content more fun to read, but it also gives your followers a seamless experience and aligns with your media strategy.

5.

Optimize Links and Text for a Mobile User

Link structure is critical to mobile usability. Ensure that the image and headline for your article makes sense on your mobile platform. It’s also important to put your key word in the middle of the article. Most readers will want to click a link to read more. This will make the content more visible and will help you increase your search engine optimization (SEO) scores. Additionally, they should see specific phrases from your SEO strategy and not just a giant, block text. Always make sure that those headlines are relevant, useful, and legible for mobile viewing.

The Bottom Line

It’s important to ensure that your audience is able to view and engage with your content on a mobile platform. It’s also important to make sure that your content is readable and search engine optimized on a small screen. The more people that you have exposed to your content, the higher your traffic will grow and the better your SEO rankings will be.

Tenjit Sharma
Tenjit Dev Sharma is Senior Marketing Manager (Product) at BetterCommerce, Delivering enterprise scale commerce for D2C brands and mid-market retailers.

1 COMMENT

  1. It’s really interesting to learn about making a website mobile-friendly as it is crucial to building wider access for the audience. Now I understand how marketing is really about reaching out to offer an experience that people would want to keep going back to. This is probably why this strategy has evolved into creating multi-screen targeted advertising is such an effective and immersive way to draw people in.

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