Is your Website Mobile Optimized?
In the United States, about half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Much of modern life is spent waiting, and people are able to browse the web while commuting in traffic, waiting in lobbies, or while bored in meetings. People have become entrenched in connectivity, which is why mobile optimized websites are crucial to business success in 2023 and beyond.
What Are Mobile Optimized Websites?
Your website may technically work on a mobile device, but that doesn’t mean it is optimized. A mobile-site that is not optimized may look very small. The relevant information you are trying communicate may fall off to the side of a smaller mobile screen, instead of displaying correctly as it does on a larger laptop or desktop monitor. Links will work but only after a user clumsily enlarges the page enough to touch it. It is better than the page not working at all, but you will experience an increased bounce rate. This means some people will see the site is not optimized and look elsewhere. It isn’t worth their trouble.
Conversely, mobile optimized websites cater to the user. They don’t rely on Adobe Flash (Apple and some devices don’t support it), and they have smaller images to increase loading speed. The website will look differently than your desktop site, but that’s a good thing. Visitors to your site will not be encumbered by formatting.
The amount of people using mobile devices is a huge call for optimization. It may be more important than your desktop site depending on your product or service. If your website is not optimized for mobile use, you are missing a huge business opportunity.
How to Optimize Your Website
First, you should find out how your current site looks on a mobile device. You can use a mobile device to do this, or you can use a desktop tool created by Google. If it isn’t already optimized, you will want to first make sure that your platform has an option for “responsive” or “optimized” sites. Responsive designs will reformat depending on screen size and are the epitome of mobile optimization. A professional marketing or website design company, like GMS, can help you with this.
Secondly, you need to consider mobile use when designing your website. Consider the difference in desktop versus mobile users. There isn’t as much room for superfluous elements, and these should be removed or relocated. You want your customer to have everything they want and need at their fingertips, and there isn’t room for much else. Despite this, you still want to have a sleek design and brand recognition. It requires some targeted forethought.
Mobile optimized websites are not optional for businesses to be successful in the 20th century. It is important to understand how your website functions on mobile devices and improve upon your users’ experiences. This is the difference between an effective web design and poor mobile optimization that potentially turns away half of your market. Don’t know where to start? Let GMS help.
