The mobile web has been around for the better part of three decades. And in that time, it has grown from a sliver of internet traffic to the predominant way many people use the internet to have fun, learn, and shop.
In the last three months of 2023, for instance, three-quarters of retail website visits came from smartphones. And if that alone isn’t enough to convince you to optimize for a mobile-first audience, we honestly don’t know what will.
Today, mobile-first campaigns are the gold standard for the business marketing industry. Mobile-first simply means that instead of building your site with a desktop in mind and scaling down, you’re designing it with smaller screens in mind and scaling up.
However, making sure your website looks great on a small screen is only half the battle. You must make sure it functions well, too.
Here are 10 tips that will help you do both.
10 Tips for a Fantastic Mobile-First Site
#1: Put Your Current Site to the Test
Before you can get to where you’re going, you need to know where you are. Find out how “friendly” your mobile site is by performing a mobile-friendliness test. (HubSpot shares 10 of the best here.) Once you have an idea for how well (or disastrous) your mobile site is behaving, you’ll be better prepared to make the necessary improvements.
#2: Don’t Bury the Lede
Marketers typically abide by the three-second rule, which says you only have about three seconds to capture your audience’s attention. Thus, make sure you use those three seconds wisely. The first thing someone sees when they click on your site should be the most important thing you want to share.
#3: Use Larger Buttons
Fingers come in all different shapes and sizes; the buttons you use on your site should accommodate all of them. Google recommends a touch target size of 7-10 mm.
#4: Keep Content Short and Sweet
Most of your site visitors won’t spend hours on your mobile site — they’ll likely spend just a few minutes. They simply want information, and they want it in the simplest form possible. You can still create 3,000-word deep-dives for use as pillar content on your blog, but any content you expect a primarily mobile audience to access should be shorter and simpler.
#5: Make Good Use of White Space
When you only have a few inches of screen space to work with, you might be tempted to cram in as much content as possible. Don’t. No one wants to look at an overcrowded screen. By making good use of white space, you’re able to direct your audience’s eyes right where you want them to go and avoid unsightly digital clutter.
#6: Improve Load Times
Another reason to not jam-pack your site with extra “stuff” is that it can increase your page-load times. Not only will long load times turn your audience off, but they can also get you dinged in the Google rankings.
#7: Prioritize Video
You can’t deny the benefits of using video on your mobile site. Eighty percent of people prefer video over text, and they’ll retain about 95% of what they see. Videos also get 1,200% more social shares than text or images. Done right, you might even go viral!
#8: Pay Special Attention to the Checkout Page
Your business exists to make money, right? So why would you make it difficult for a customer to hand over their money? Make your checkout page as intuitive and simple to navigate as possible.
#9: Be Interactive
Interactive content is great for mobile sites because it keeps people busy without being unnecessarily difficult. Consider adding quizzes, games, calculators or other digital media to keep users on your site longer.
#10: Keep Email in Mind
Many businesses are so keen to make sure their site looks good on a small screen that they forget to give the same courtesy to the emails their site is sending out. Since 85% of people use their smartphones to read emails, those need to be optimized for mobile, as well.
Your Audience is On the Go. Is Your Business Website?
Now that most people use mobile devices to navigate the web and buy online, it’s more important than ever that your business website is up to mobile snuff. The days of designing for solely desktop viewers are long gone. Today’s shoppers want a mobile-first experience, and if you can’t give it to them, someone else will!
Do you need help “mobilizing” your site? Mischa Communication’s website development team is ready when you are. When can we start?