Building a website, regardless of what user base you have in mind, requires a lot of attention, perseverance, and often a considerable learning curve. If you have never built a site from the ground up before, there is a surprising amount that goes into it.
Over half of all internet traffic in 2019 is mobile traffic, and if you want to build a website that this new majority approves of, then keep the below 5 mobile web design tips in mind.
Make sure your site is responsive
While you certainly want to take the needs and demands of mobile users seriously, laptop and desktop traffic still constitute a large share of total internet traffic. Creating multiple sites for multiple users can get expensive (and tedious).
Instead, create a responsive site (using things like plugins and HTML) that changes its display based on the origin of the traffic. That way you capture as much, and as varied web traffic as possible.
Think big
That is to say, think of how much more difficult it is to navigate the web on a phone screen using your fingertips as opposed to a 20-inch desktop screen and a mouse. You want to make sure your font sizes and buttons are big enough that mobile users aren’t constantly zooming in to read and click on things.
Having page elements that are too hard to read and interact with is a surefire way to up your bounce and damage your SEO.
Make your content short and to the point
This is really the rule of thumb regardless of traffic source, but it is especially important when it comes to mobile traffic. A mobile-optimized site will have content that is easy to read both in terms of the size and colour of the font, and how to the point it is.
People want to be able to find accurate, useful information quickly, especially when browsing the internet on such a small screen.
Make sure your images are optimized for mobile
The mobile web is much slower than the traditional web. Mobile networks have much
more limited bandwidth and significantly higher latency compared to WiFi and broadband.
If you have a large number of heavy media elements on your desktop site, there is a wide range of plugins available with most site builders (or if you know the relevant HTML, better) that tailor the media displayed to different users.
Make it especially simple to find your contact information
Your contact information should be front and centre regardless of the site in question, but especially so for mobile sites, where space is limited. You want your customers to be able to find this information without having to exert any effort. This is one of the best ways to enhance user experience.
As time goes on, building a mobile-optimized website will become not just a suggestion, but imperative for e-business success. Take a look around you at any given time and note how many people you see glued to their phones. Anyone with a phone connected to the internet is a potential customer, and to compete for this business, you need a site tailored to their unique needs.
