The Importance of Making A Mobile Friendly Website

When you start a business and you begin creating the website, how do you picture your consumer viewing your site? Maybe in an office in front of multiple monitors? Or maybe at home scrolling through a PC? How about on a cell phone in an airport in a hurry to catch their flight?

It has been reported that as of January 2014, 90% of American adults own a cell phone and 63% of adult cell phone owners use their phones to access the Internet. Now how would your website look to these consumers as they open a mobile browser to view your site? As you are reading this, the iPhone 6 Announcement is sweeping the world with millions of pre-orders ringing in, and the news of the mobile loyal as they already begin camping in front of their provider’s locations to be the first to get their hands on the mobile gem. This trend of a mobile obsessed society is only going to escalate.

What Does It Mean To Be Mobile Friendly?

A mobile friendly site is a website specifically optimized in design to adjust to a smaller screen. This means that your site will be just as accessible on a mobile device as it would be on a computer. The biggest difference is that people using their mobile devices to access information are doing just that, just trying to access the specific information they are looking for. Meaning, content should be to the point and design should be simpler.

With that being said, anyone who has ever opened their browser on their mobile phone knows the frustration of a slow load time. Creating a fast load time for your mobile friendly site is probably the most crucial means to captivating your mobile audience. With the technical aspects of design aside, creating a mobile friendly website has also been proven to improve the SEO of your website. By creating a site with a site map for all mobile users will help Google Mobile identify your site.

Ready to better your site? Here are a few suggestions on how you can make a mobile friendly website.

1. Don’t Make Your Audience Search

When someone opts for mobile Internet access, they are accessing information with a purpose. This consumer is not your average “surf the net” type. This consumer needs very specific information and they need it now. So when creating the content for your site, make the content captivating, but to the point. They went to your site to gain the information they are looking for, so give it to them. In the case that maybe they can’t find the information they are looking for, make your contact information incredibly accessible. On your mobile friendly site, the phone number for your business or support team should be so accessible that it almost acts as a call to action. Build the right content with easy to view information, and make yourself available for any answers or needed solutions.

2. Consumer On The Run

A fast load time has never been so important. A mobile consumer is on-the-go trying to access information for a reason. So when a load time is lagging, the consumer will move on quickly to get the information they need as soon as possible. It’s crucial to not only design a site that is optimized to efficiently fit the smaller screen of a mobile device, but also that a quick load time makes the content easy to access for the busy consumer.

3. Design For The Viewer

When you are optimizing your website so that it will be considered mobile friendly, the design should enable the audience to access information just as easily as if it was computer access. All call to actions, menu tabs, and links should be big enough for the viewer to retrieve that information with just the tip of a finger.

Millions of people worldwide will be in awe of their newest iPhone generation, and as they enjoy mobile access more than ever, don’t be a site that disappoints. Take these tips, optimize a site to be cell (or smart) phone friendly, and captivate your mobile dependent consumer. For more information about how Cloud Sites can help your site, come talk to us as cloudsitesblog.liquidweb.com.