What makes a great website? Some common answers would be a visually appealing design, a seamless and hassle-free user experience, and a simple yet distinctive domain name or business name. (if you don’t have one yet, hop on to our business name generator this instant!)
But there’s one thing you shouldn’t forget when creating your website. And that is to make your site mobile-friendly.
In this article, we’ll explore why a mobile-friendly site is essential, and what steps you need to take to design one.
Ready? Let’s begin!
Why Is A Mobile-Friendly Site Important?
Mobile browsing has become more widespread over the years. According to Statista, mobile devices have generated 58% of global website traffic. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly site, you risk being inaccessible by many users and therefore lose potential sales.
A mobile-friendly site will also significantly impact your search rankings.
In 2018, Google announced its Mobile First Indexing. This means they will rank your site based on your mobile site, not your desktop site. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly site, your site will be ranked lower and less visible.
Tips For Designing A Mobile-Friendly Site
Now that you know why a mobile-friendly site is essential, it’s time to start creating it. Here are some tips to help you design a beautiful mobile site. Let’s get into it!
Use a responsive layout.
Your first and most crucial step is ensuring that your site is usable and will look good regardless of your device. The best way to do this is to use a responsive layout.
A responsive web design means your site will automatically adapt to the screen size it’s viewed on. It will adjust whether you view it on a desktop or a mobile phone and whether you are in portrait or landscape mode.
For example, a two-column layout on the desktop will adjust to show only one column on mobile. Your images will also scale to fit the screen, whether by automatically resizing the image to be smaller or by cropping it only to show the middle part of the image.
A responsive layout can be done manually by code or by choosing a responsive template using a CMS.
Think with your thumbs.
Let’s do a quick experiment. Try holding your phone and going through a site. Do you find that you mainly use your thumbs for this?
If yes, you are like 75% of people in the world. If you want to optimize your site for mobile fully, it’s best to consider this data and design with it in mind.
Keep all essential elements in a place where your thumbs can easily reach. This is usually the center of the screen. Avoid placing the CTA or essential links in the corners or other hard-to-reach areas. Ensure your buttons are big enough to be tapped and adequately spaced to avoid accidental clicks.
Since people are scrolling, avoid making them pinch the screen or use both hands to navigate your site. Your user’s convenience should always be the priority!
Prioritize UX
User experience (UX) is the overall quality of experience a user has when visiting a site. Great UX means the site is easy to navigate and understand while still visually appealing.
With limited space and functionalities, UX is even more crucial for mobile sites. It’s best to remove unnecessary elements that confuse or overwhelm a user. Instead, focus on simplifying the experience so the user can find what they need in just a few clicks.
One way to do this is to use icons that are easily recognizable to users. This means that the magnifying glass means search, the three lines mean menu, the headset means contact center or customer support, etc. Place them in familiar locations so that it’s more intuitive for the user (For example, the menu is always on the left side).
Simplify the process as well. Lessen the options on mobile, sort items into categories, provide search filters, or use drop-down menus to make it easier for your users. Aside from being easier, it also will take less visual space.
Simplify your visual design.
While everyone wants their site to be visually appealing, focusing on clean, simple designs that are easier on the eyes is better.
Avoid fancy animations, intricate fonts, and complex visual effects. Use no more than three colors and more muted color palettes if possible. This is more restful to the eyes than vibrant, bold colors.
Ensure you also have a good contrast between your background and main content. Try to use as much white space as you can. This makes your visual content pop more while making it easier to read.
Compress your images
Make your images and site as light as possible by compressing your image assets. However, ensure the quality is not lost when you compress it. You don’t want blurry or pixelated images.
You can do this through various editing software, online compressing tools, or plug-ins. Optimized images make the website load faster, which is crucial for any site.
Keep your text short.
No one wants to read a huge chunk of text. It’s even more of a chore on mobile, especially since it’s difficult to read on a small screen. Long paragraphs can also make your site look cluttered and overwhelming.
The key is to keep it short and sweet.
Use short and snappy headlines that don’t go over six words. Keep your paragraphs short by only having two to three sentences in it. Try adding a TL;DR summary at the end that your users can easily scan and read.
You can also use other tools to break up your text. These include images, bullets, numbers, highlightings, or styling (bold, underline, italics). You might also want to consider converting your text to video ai instead, since studies have found that websites with videos see an increase in traffic.
Your typography matters
Speaking of text, it’s not only the content that matters but also how it visually looks.
The typography you used should be something aligned with your branding. However, this doesn’t mean using the same fancy calligraphy font you use for your logo design. It’s best to focus on readability and comprehension first rather than on keeping “on-brand.”
Choose a font that is easy to read and understand. Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, and Helvetica are universally used mobile fonts. Check them out and see if they would fit your brand image.
Focus on the loading speed.
Did you know that 47% of people will leave a site if it takes more than 2 seconds to load?
Loading speed is critical for any site. Thankfully, there are various methods you can use for faster loading speed. Some examples are using AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), enabling browser caching, running website speed tests, compressing images and CSS files, simplifying your web design, or finding a different hosting plan.
Avoid pop-ups
Big and intrusive pop-ups are a no-no when it comes to mobile. Aside from disrupting your customer’s flow when visiting your site, it’s also hard to click with the limited space—Have you ever encountered a pop-up that you can’t close because the X button is so tiny? Frustrating, right? Try to avoid that at all costs.
Optimize your forms
Forms are crucial in getting leads and sales. Make sure it’s optimized for mobile.
How? Keep your forms short. Ask for the name and email address. Don’t make your user fill out tons of information.
Another tip is to avoid autocorrect as it adds hassle to users. Ensure the space on the forms is large enough for your users to click and type quickly.
Create Your Mobile Site Today!
In our mobile-first era, a mobile site is no longer optional but necessary.
However, just because you can view a site on mobile doesn’t mean it’s mobile-friendly! A fully optimized mobile site is created with mobile users in mind. It’s seamless, accessible, easy to use, and visually appealing.
Are you ready to start designing? We have web designers ready to help you here at DesignCrowd. And if you’re looking for branding assets to add to your site, we also have an AI logo generatorand video maker waiting for you.
We hope the tips above have helped you. Until next time!
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Written by DesignCrowd on Tuesday, September 26, 2023
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.