How to Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly: A Guide for Business Owners

You can make your website mobile-friendly, and this short article will show you how. Having a mobile-friendly website is no longer optional—it’s essential. This is important because optimizing your website for mobile users can significantly impact your website’s conversion rate, and improve your company’s bottom line.

This article provides simple steps to ensure your website is truly mobile-friendly, helping you improve user experience and drive conversions.

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• 76% of All Top Websites Are Mobile-Friendly – What This Means for Your Business

As of April 2018, 76.17% of the world’s top websites are mobile-friendly, according to Canonicalized. However, this primarily applies to major websites. For small businesses, the mobile optimization gap remains significant, with many older sites not yet optimized for mobile devices. So, how can you ensure your site stays competitive?

1. Use a Responsive Theme or Framework

In 2024, using a responsive design is an absolute must for mobile optimization. A responsive layout allows a website to scale itself according to the device viewing it, seamlessly adapting to different screen sizes. This makes navigation easy on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Responsive web design is also crucial for SEO. Google ranks mobile-friendly sites higher, meaning incorporating a responsive layout can improve your website’s visibility in search results.

2. Design for Users that Are All Thumbs

Did you know that 75% of smartphone users tap the screen with their thumbs? This statistic is vital for designing mobile websites. Place essential elements and clickable buttons in the middle of the screen where they are easiest to reach. Buttons should be large enough for thumbs to tap, and you should leave enough space between them to avoid accidental clicks. Frustrating users by making them tap the same button multiple times will drive them away.

3. Improve Page Load Speed

Page speed is critical for mobile users who are often in a hurry. 40% of online users will abandon a website that takes longer than three seconds to load. Pages that take only one or two seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 9%, but pages that take five seconds to load have an average bounce rate of 38%. Ideally, your website should load in less than three seconds.

Tools to Test Page Speed:

• Google PageSpeed Insights: Free tool that evaluates your page speed for both mobile and desktop.
• GTMetrix: Offers detailed analysis and recommendations for improving your page speed.
• Pingdom Tools: Another free tool for testing and identifying page speed issues.

To improve your site’s load speed, consider optimizing images, compressing files, and combining external scripts and stylesheets. A good web hosting provider also significantly impacts speed, so you may want to reevaluate your web hosting options if your site is still slow.

4. Avoid Complex Navigation

Mobile users need straightforward navigation. Overly complex menus and image-heavy designs don’t work well on smaller screens.

if you’re doing this yourself, you can simplify your navigation by listing your most important pages first and avoid layouts requiring users to scroll horizontally. Instead, implement a “Hamburger Menu” (those familiar three bars) to keep things tidy.

5. Use Mobile Menus and Search Functions

Traditional desktop menus won’t work for mobile. Mobile-friendly menus hide all items in a widget and only display them when tapped.

For an even better user experience, include a search function to help users quickly find what they need.

6. Make Your CTAs Stand Out

Mobile users often want quick information to take immediate action, whether making reservations, ordering food, or booking services.

You can also ensure your Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons are easy to find and tap on small screens. Buttons should be proportionally bigger, spaced further apart, and designed for quick visibility.

7. Keep Forms Short

Long forms are frustrating on mobile devices. Ask for only the essential information, and keep your forms as short as possible. Filling out a form on a smartphone is harder than on a desktop, so evaluate whether every field is necessary.

8. Reduce Content and Simplify Design

Mobile users don’t have the patience to scroll through large blocks of content. Simplify your pages by focusing on vital information like contact details, product descriptions, and services. Use shorter paragraphs and bullet points where possible.

Moreover, avoid confusing designs with too many elements, especially pop-ups and splash screens that distract users. Keep everything clean and optimize images for mobile to reduce load times.

9. Limit Fonts and Use Standard Fonts

Fonts can significantly impact your site’s loading time. Stick to one or two fonts, preferably from Google Fonts or Adobe TypeKit. Avoid using custom fonts that increase the page load time, and opt for a sans-serif font for readability.

10. Provide Visual Cues

Mobile navigation can be tricky, so give users visual feedback to guide them. Buttons should change colour when tapped or clicked, giving users confirmation that the action is being performed.

11. Eliminate Pop-Ups

Pop-ups are annoying on mobile devices and can slow down your site. Instead, use banners or widgets for special offers or prompt users to take action in more subtle ways. Pop-ups often block essential information and frustrate mobile users.

12. Optimize for Mobile SEO

For effective mobile optimization, you need to optimize your site for mobile SEO. This includes local SEO, so if people are googling for a service near them, your website should appear on top. Ensure that your keywords and metadata are optimized for mobile search.

13. Test and Retest on Mobile

Lastly, always test your website on mobile devices. Many business owners haven’t even checked their sites on a smartphone. Testing helps ensure all elements, including forms, links, and calls-to-action, function as intended.

We Are Available to Help

At EnspireFX Websites, we specialize in creating mobile-friendly, responsive websites that meet the needs of today’s mobile users. Our web design plans come with fully optimized mobile designs to help you stay competitive in today’s digital landscape.

Whether you need to update your existing website or want a complete redesign, we’re here to help. Contact us today and let’s discuss how we can help you create a mobile-friendly website that drives traffic and conversions.