The Importance of Mobile Optimisation for Your Website

Let's talk about mobile optimisation for your website. If you've got a website for your business, it's essential that it works well on mobile devices. Why, you ask? Because most people these days are browsing the web on their mobiles rather than their desktop computers or laptops. In fact, well over half of website traffic comes from mobile devices these days. So, if your website isn't mobile-friendly, you're missing out on a massive chunk of potential customers.

How Does Your Website Look on a Mobile Device?

In this day and age a website is necessary for any business. However, simply having a desktop version alone of your website is not enough.

With the majority of users accessing the web via their mobile devices, it is important that businesses ensure their websites are optimised for mobile phones. In this article, we will discuss the importance of mobile optimisation for your website and the benefits it can bring to your business.

What is Optimising for Mobile?

Mobile optimisation refers to the process of making a website easy to access and use on mobile devices. This involves designing a website with a mobile-first approach, meaning that the website is designed to be viewed on a smaller screen space and with touch-based navigation in mind. Mobile optimisation also involves ensuring that the websites load quickly and are easy to navigate on a mobile device.

Why is Mobile Optimisation Important?

Increased Mobile Usage

As mentioned earlier, the majority of internet users access the web via their mobile devices. In fact, according to Statista, as of 2021, mobile visitors accounted for 54.8% of global website traffic. This means that if you don't have a mobile-optimised site you risk losing a significant portion of your potential audience.

Better Mobile Users Experience

A mobile optimised site can improve the user experience for mobile users. A mobile site that is not optimised for mobile devices can be difficult to navigate and may not load properly on a mobile device. This can lead to frustration for the user and cause them to leave the website. By optimising your website for mobile devices, you can ensure that your users have a better experience on your site, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Improved SEO

Mobile optimisation can also improve your website's ranking on search engines. In 2015, Google announced that mobile-friendliness was a ranking factor in their google search algorithm. The result is that websites that are not optimised for mobile experience may not rank as high in search engine results pages (SERPs) as sites that are mobile-friendly. You can improve your website's SEO and potentially rank higher in search engine results by improving the optimisation on your website.

Google's Mobile First Index

As of March 2021, Google has started rolling out its Mobile First Index. This means that when Google indexes a site, it will prioritise the mobile site over the desktop version. Therefore, it is essential that websites are optimised for mobile devices if they want to appear in Google's search engine results pages (SERPs).

Competitive Advantage

Mobile optimisation can give you a competitive advantage over businesses that have not yet optimised their websites for mobile devices. By providing a better user experience on mobile devices, you can attract and retain more customers than your competitors. This can lead to increased sales and revenue for your business.

Increased Conversions

Mobile optimisation can also lead to increased conversions for your business. According to a study by Google, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile website they had trouble accessing and 40% will go to a competitor's site instead. This means that if your website is not optimised for mobile devices, you risk losing potential customers to your competitors. By optimising your website for mobiles, you can increase the likelihood of conversions and reduce the risk of losing potential customers.

How can you make sure your website is optimised for mobile devices?

Tips for Mobile Optimisation

Now that we've discussed the importance of mobile optimisation, let's take a look at some tips for optimising your website for mobiles:

Use a Responsive Design

First of all, make sure your website design is responsive. It should adjust itself to fit different devices and screen sizes so that it's easy to read and navigate on any device. This means that your website will look great on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer. A responsive design is important for mobile optimisation because it allows your website to adjust to different screen sizes without sacrificing usability or design.

Optimise Images

Large images can slow down your website's loading time, especially on mobiles with slower internet connections. Optimising images for mobile devices can help improve your website's loading time and overall user experience. This can be done by compressing images or using responsive images that adjust to different screen sizes.

Simplify Navigation

Next up, simplify your navigation. Mobile screens are small, with limited space you don't want to overwhelm users with too many options. Make sure the most important pages and links are easy to find and remove anything unnecessary. Simplifying navigation means removing unnecessary elements and focusing on the most important pages and links. This can help mobile users find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Use Clear Calls to Action (CTAs)

When it comes to calls to action or CTAs, you need to make them clear and easy to click on. After all, the goal of your website is to get visitors to take action, whether that's making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.

Make sure your CTAs are visible and prominent on the mobile version of your site. Call to actions (CTAs) are important for converting website visitors into customers. Clear CTAs are especially important for mobile users, as they can help guide users towards the next step in the conversion process. Make sure your CTAs are easily accessible and clearly visible on your mobile website.

Use Mobile-Friendly Forms

Make sure any forms on your website are mobile-friendly in other words they should be easy to fill out on a small screen. Forms are a common feature of many websites, but they can be difficult to use on mobiles. Ensure forms are mobile friendly and  are easy to fill out on a mobile device. Who wants to spend ages trying to type on a tiny keyboard or zooming in and out to find the right field? Make sure they are as simple as possible. This can help improve the user experience for mobile users and increase the likelihood of form completions.

Speed Up Your Website

Speed is another crucial factor for a mobile-friendly website. It is important for both desktop and mobile users that the site loads and responds quickly. However, mobile users are often on slower internet connections than desktop users, (possibly browsing from a coffee shop or dealing with a less-than-great mobile signal) which means that website speed is even more important for mobile optimisation. Streamline your website and get rid of all that unnecessary clunky coding and oversized images. Speed up your website by optimising images, minifying code, and using a content delivery network (CDN).

Test Your Website on Mobile Devices

Finally, make sure you test your website on a variety of mobiles to make sure it looks and functions properly on all of them. You don't want to lose potential customers because your website doesn't work properly on their phones or tablet. This can help identify any issues or bugs that need to be addressed for optimal mobile optimisation. 

In summary, mobile optimisation is essential if you want your business to succeed online. It can improve the user experience, boost your SEO, increase conversions, and give you a competitive edge. So, take the time to make sure your website is mobile-friendly and you'll reap the benefits.

The Added Benefit of Optimising for the Mobile Experience

When it comes to building websites, an intuitive responsive site is a vital part of any marketing strategy. Mobile and desktop users have different expectations and needs but everyone wants an easy-to-navigate site, responsive designs and speedy load times.

Simplicity for Mobile Design

• Mobile sites need to be simpler and more concise than their desktop counterparts, so use this opportunity to streamline your website content for a better user experience. By looking at your site on smaller screens you can determine what needs to be added, removed or combined to create a better flow and more impactful design.
• Streamlining your coding for a mobile site will help with loading landing pages, turning page speed and overall user experience. 
• Mobile optimisation is also important for SEO as Google will give preference to websites that are optimised for mobile.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mobile optimisation is crucial for any business with a website. With mobile traffic on the increase, businesses must ensure that their websites are optimised for mobiles to reach their potential audience. Mobile optimisation can improve the user experience, improve SEO, give a competitive advantage, increase conversions, and much more. By following the tips outlined in this article, businesses can ensure that their website is optimised for mobile devices and is providing the best possible experience for mobile users.

Responsive Web Design Creating A Mobile Friendly Site

Here at PS Website Design, we are specialists in creating responsive websites with mobile optimisation in mind. By designing, developing and testing websites with mobile optimisation at the heart of our process, we make sure that our clients' websites are providing a great user experience for mobile users. Get in touch to find out more about how we can help you create the perfect mobile-optimised website. If you want to know more about mobile responsive design and creating a mobile-optimised website contact us at https://www.pswebsitedesign.com.