Marcus Richards
So, you’ve taken the plunge and opened a business. Congratulations! If you’re reading this, the chances are that you’re also operating your business online. You’ve found that having a mobile-friendly website is key to your success.
What’s So Important About Mobile-Friendliness?
Your website needs to be mobile-friendly to provide a seamless experience for your customers. The last thing you want is for your website to make shopping difficult for them or to discourage them from visiting their favorite online retailers
Whether it’s a simple blog or a complex ecommerce site, here’s how you can create a mobile-friendly website:
#1 Testing and Optimization
Start with your existing website and audit its mobile experience. What do real users see on their mobile devices? If you can’t answer this question, it’s time to start testing!
You could set up a virtual private server (VPS) and temporarily point your domain to it. Or, if you’re using WordPress, you can use a plugin such as WPtouch or Switchboard. These plugins will help you simulate what users see when they visit your website on mobile devices. Widely considered the gold standard of A/B testing, Visual Website Optimizer and Optimizely are great alternatives.
#2 Keep It Simple
Your mobile website should be easy to read and simple to navigate. Avoid cramming too much information onto your home screen. Instead, create a website that’s easy to scan and visually appealing.
#3 Use a Framework
There are loads of frameworks out there, but we particularly love Bootstrap, an open-source front-end framework for creating websites and applications. This relatively new framework is more responsive than other frameworks, especially on mobile devices. Bootstrap 3 is currently its latest version.
#4 Design Your Website to Look Good on Smartphones
Your website is a valuable tool that you can use to connect with new customers, keep in touch with current clients and ultimately, grow your business.
But what happens when visitors visit your website on mobile devices? Does your website maintain its clarity, functionality and overall effectiveness as a marketing tool?
Sadly, the answer is often no. As many as 40% of all mobile visitors will leave a site after one minute if they don’t find what they’re looking for quickly enough. While this doesn’t sound like much time, it’s enough time for them to abandon your website and go elsewhere to find what they need.
Updating your website to accommodate mobile users isn’t impossible, but it does take some work. You may need to rethink the size of photos or other features on your site to be easier to view on smartphones. You may consider hiring a web design firm to help you update your site.
#5 Make it easy for your clients to transact on smart devices
Integrating a mobile-friendly payment system to your site and business is a no-brainer.
With more and more people shopping and paying on their phones, you need to make sure that whatever solution you choose integrates with your brand and your current site.
- With your mobile-friendly payment option, such as https://paymentcloudinc.com/accept-payments/ach/, you can provide your customers with convenience by enabling the ability to checkout with the click of a button.
- Second, your mobile-friendly payment option can also reduce the number of steps in the process. You eliminate multiple clicks by adding mobile-friendly payment options and give your customers an easy-to-use and convenient experience.
Wrapping up
If your business wants to start taking mobile sales, but you don’t have the budget to develop a brand-new website, the above six steps will help you create a mobile-friendly website. They can be completed in one day by yourself, and the result will look great on both desktop and mobile.
