It’s 2019, and while the desktop version of your website is awesome, it’s time to go mobile.
It’s expected that there’ll be 2.7 billion smartphone users by the end of this year, and users are now spending 69% of their media time on their mobile device. With stats like these, there’s no time to waste. Your customers are browsing and buying products on their mobile devices, your competitors are optimizing their websites for the mobile experience – and now it’s time you did the same.
Fortunately, this doesn’t mean you need to make massive changes. In fact, optimizing for the mobile experience is fairly simple when you’ve got a no nonsense guide to show you exactly what you need to do. Let’s take a look!
Enhance the UX
The user experience will be key to the success of your website. Research has shown that mobile users are generally super impatient, which means that poor user experience will be disastrous to your lead generation goals.
Essentially, the way the mobile version of your website looks and feels will be different from your desktop version. This means that you need to make certain changes so that the user experience isn’t ruined.
For example, you’ll need to make your buttons larger and create a good amount of space between them. If they’re too close together, it will be too easy for the user to tap the wrong one by mistake.
It’s a good idea to make your fonts larger too so that your site visitors don’t have to zoom-in.
Eliminate any unnecessary information from your website and reduce the number of images you use. Switch off autocorrect for forms, too.
Keep Menus Short
Menus on your mobile website should be short and sweet. Mobile users do not want to be scrolling through an endless list of options before they find what they actually want.
It’s a good idea to restrict menu items to three at the most. If you need more, simply add a “More” button at the end which opens up a new drop-down menu for the least important options.
If you’re not even sure what your most and least important options are, check your analytics to see what content and pages users are interacting with the most.
Have Mobile Friendly Content
Mobile users behave differently to desktop users. While long form content can produce more leads than short form on desktop, you should generally go for shorter copy on the mobile version of your website.
Mobile users are in more of a hurry and like to browse ‘on the go.’ Make sure to adapt your content to their needs by making it shorter, more concise and more direct.
This also goes for your headlines too. A headline like “10 Reasons Insomniacs Find It Hard To Sleep at Night’ will be too long for mobile screens. Shorten all your headlines while still keeping them compelling. For example, we could change that aforementioned headline to “Why Insomniacs Find It Hard To Sleep.”
In short, your content needs to be super duper easy to read.
And because mobile users are in such a hurry, it’s really important that you design your website in such a way that they have fast access to the most important content that matters to them.
Use a Responsive Framework
A responsive framework will make your life – and your site visitors’ life – so much easier. A responsive framework, such as Bootstrap, automatically adjusts everything on your website – from your images to the text – according to the device that’s being used.
Without a responsive framework, you risk the mobile version of your website looking messy and near-impossible to use. With a responsive framework, the mobile version of your site looks beautiful.
Use Your Logo To Improve Navigation
Logo’s matter. A logo strengthens your brand, makes you memorable and it helps to build trust with your audience.
On the mobile version of your website, your logo should act as a link that boosts navigation by directing users straight back to your homepage. This is important because users need to be able to get back to your homepage without any hassle. If they get lost, they might just bail out.
So turn your website logo into a clickable element that always directs people back to your homepage.
You’ll also want to nail the position of your logo. Typically, logos are centered on mobile first websites, while a menu icon is placed in the top-left corner. Generally speaking, it’s a really smart idea to stick to this layout.
Don’t have a logo yet? Hatchful is a great tool that allows brands to create their own professional logo in a matter of minutes.
Perform A/BT Tests
When you make the transition from the desktop version of your website to the mobile version of your website, you’ll want to keep track of the changes you make to see if they’re actually working. For example, are the headlines you’ve adapted for mobile having a positive effect on conversions?
Here are some of the things you should test:
- Your Headlines – Your headlines are now shorter. But are they still compelling? Experiment – add numbers, power words etc and see what works best.
- Your Body Copy – As mentioned earlier, your body copy should be shorter and more direct on your mobile website. But how much shorter? Is your copy still engaging enough so that people reach your call to action.
- Call to Action – This one is absolutely crucial. Test everything from the position of your CTA to the color to the text itself.
- Navigation Links – Too many links can look cluttered on the mobile version of your website. Because navigation links are key for getting users from one page to another (and, indeed, to the end of your sales funnel), you should test the number of links as well as their position.
- Font Size – Your font should be larger than it is on desktop, but how much bigger should it be? Experiment with typefaces and font sizes.
Conclusion
Because the success of the mobile version of your website will have a direct impact on the overall success of your brand in 2019, it’s important that you nail yours. Use the tips in this article to strengthen your position in the market. Once you start delivering an awesome mobile experience, it will be so much easier to turn leads into loyal customers.
About the Author
Michelle Deery is a freelance content marketing specialist that works with Heroic Search. She covers the good and bad of eCommerce and online marketing. Her content helps boost businesses’ bottom line. Connect wtih her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
