Having a mobile responsive design is essential. Why? Because today more than half of the world’s website traffic comes from mobile devices. Not only that but two-thirds of internet users are using mobile devices to make their purchases. With the increase in the number of mobile users, it has become essential for site owners to have a mobile responsive design. That is the reason why most businesses look to hire an experienced WordPress web design company that can help them build a highly attractive and responsive website design for their business.
If you are planning to create a responsive mobile webiste design then you must be wondering how to build a mobile website? Or how to make your website mobile-friendly? If you are scrolling the internet to find the answer for the same then you have landed on the right article as we are going to highlight every small detail about why businesses need to have a mobile-friendly website? How to build a mobile website? And some of the common mistakes to avoid while building a mobile website for your business.
Table Of Content:
- An overview of Mobile Responsive Design
- What is a Mobile Responsive Design?
- Why is it important to improve mobile responsiveness?
- How to build a mobile website?
- 6 important factors to consider while making a mobile-friendly website
- Conclusion
An Overview Of Mobile Responsive Design
Smartphone users are continuously growing and most of the users around the world have already started to browse websites from their mobile devices. If your business doesn’t have a mobile responsive design then you might be losing a lot of potential customers to your competitor. Earlier smartphones used to be a new exciting technology but now it has become an essential part of everyday life.
Today mobile devices have become one of the basic sources for internet browsing. Whether a shopper wishes to purchase a product or a user wants to search for any solution, the first option they have in their hands is a mobile device. Earlier having a mobile-optimized website used to be a feature but now it has become important for site owners to have a mobile-friendly website.
According to Statista, more than 52.6% of the website traffic comes from mobile devices and the number is continuously growing. And another report by Statista states that the global retail conversion rate for mobile phones is 1.82. By now you might be aware of the importance of having a mobile-friendly website.
Most of the site owners have already started to optimize their websites for mobile devices. If you already have an existing website then you can either make the website mobile friendly or create a new custom-coded website for your business with the help of an experienced WordPress web design company.
So If you are reading this article then you might be aware of the importance of having a mobile. But if you’re looking to know how you can make your website mobile-friendly then make sure you stick to the last point. As we are going to highlight very small details about how site owners can make their website mobile-friendly.
What is a Mobile Responsive?
A mobile-friendly website is a site that is optimized by performing various activities so that the elements in the website are clearly visible on handheld devices. With the increase in the mobile user having a mobile-friendly website is as essential as having a website for your business.
Today many mobile users complain that they came across websites where they need to squint to read the text or zoom in and zoom out the text as the words are not clearly visible. These types of websites are frustrating and most of the users prefer to abandon websites that are not optimized for mobile devices.
Having a responsive website design allows you to grab more visitor’s attention as they are easily adaptable to all types of screens. There are various tools like Google Mobile friendly test, GMmetrix, and more that allow you to check whether your website is optimized for mobile devices or not.
If you wonder why is it important for businesses to have a mobile responsive design then make sure you go through the below paragraph.
Why is it important to improve mobile responsiveness?
Today when users are looking more toward mobile devices it has become essential for websites and businesses to have a mobile website. Without a mobile responsive design, you tend to lose millions of traffic and potential customers. Mainly If you are into an e-commerce business or service-based business then it is important to make your website mobile-friendly because users most of the ecommerce websites and service-based websites are browsed from mobile devices.
You might be offering various educational content and problem-solving content with the goal to spread awareness about your brand and product. So, if any of your potential customers have any problem or wish to look for a product to buy then they go to the nearest desktop instead they prefer to search from their mobile devices i.e. from their smartphones.
If your website is not optimized for mobile devices then you are earning half of the amount that you can earn by having a fully optimized mobile device. That’s the reason why there is a huge buzz about how businesses can create a mobile-friendly website. Mobile devices are encouraging shoppers to make the search and final purchase either from the mobile browser or from mobile apps. That’s why it has become important for businesses to have mobile responsive design.
How to build a mobile website?
In 2016 when mobile and tablet users surpassed the total number of desktop users it became a concern for websites that are not optimized for mobile devices. Since then the mobile users and the traffic from mobile devices are continuously growing and the number is expected to reach in billion. So it has become important to identify how they can build a mobile website for their business.
Let’s take a look at three different steps that can lead to creating a mobile website for your business:
1. Select the right web design approach for your website
There are multiple solutions that you can use to create a mobile website but first, you need to determine how you are going to design your website. If you are already familiar with the web design world, you must have heard of responsive design and adaptive design. When creating a mobile website for your business you get to choose one among the two different approaches depending on your need, benefits, cost, and more. So let’s start with greeting a brief idea about the two different web design approaches.
Responsive Website Design
An RWD or responsive website design doesn’t have a fixed layout for specific devices. Instead, it uses an adaptable layout depending on the device users are using and the size of the screen. Using responsive design the web pages of your website will appear the same on all devices. Whenever the user types your website address in the URL the elements of your website will be visible to them no matter whether they are using a desktop or mobile or tablet or any other type of screen. If you are having responsive website design then the elements and content inside your website will automatically adapt to the screen size.
Adaptive web design
An adaptive web design is less preferred by the website because it uses a distinct layout for different devices either for desktop or mobile devices or tablets. That means when users type the address of your website they are served with the page that meets the needs of the device. Depending on the device you deliver different experiences to the user. For example, a few of the websites may choose to create three different websites for different devices. Even though you might be using the same elements and design on the website you will deliver a different experience to the user depending on the device.
Today when it comes to user experience no website and business want to compromise because they are aware of the importance of traffic and user experience. While you have both options to choose from, the cost and performance will vary depending on the approach you are selecting for your mobile design. That is the reason why most of the businesses around prefer to go with responsive website design than adaptive web design.
2. Choose a Website Builder or CMS for Website Design Company
Once you are clear about the web design approach you are going to sketch for your website, another important part is selecting the platforms that you will use to create your website. Well in this step also get multiple options to select for building your website, you can either select a website builder or a CMS, or a website design agency.
No matter which option you pick for your website the performance, cost, and ROI will vary depending on the type of platform you pick to build your mobile website. So let’s take a look at each one of them individually:
Website Builder
A website builder platform comes with various features that allow the user to create and run a fully functional website for all types of screens. Using a website builder you can create a feature-rich and responsive website for your business. It allows the user to select a theme and template that match the business niche and help the user to customize the front end of the website using various features like drag and drop, background color, adding various elements, and more.
WordPress, Wix, and more are some of the popular website builders that come with both free and paid subscriptions. While WordPress is a free website builder platform Wix is considered to be a paid website builder platform. Both platforms allow users to make their websites responsive to different screen sizes. Not only that but there are various plugins and apps that you can use to make your web design mobile-friendly.
While you have full control over your website design there are some limitations if you are using a website builder for creating your mobile website. Mainly if you are using CMS like WordPress, Wix, and more your website may come across various limitations in designing and other functionalities. That’s why we have got another option for your website (Check Below)
If you are looking to know more about the cost involved in building a website using WordPress then make sure to check our blog on WordPress website design cost Guide: WordPress cost to build a website
Website Design Agency
While website builders have various limitations you always have an option to hire a reliable and experienced WordPress web design company that can help you to create an attractive, user-friendly, and most importantly a responsive website for your business. The main advantage of hiring a website design agency for your website is that they will help you create a research-based website that meets your expectation and delivers the message your business wishes to deliver to the audience.
Apart from that you get access to the expertise and experience the web design company and its developers can bring to create a highly responsive and lucrative website design for your business. Well, the costs of a website builder and a website design agency can differ, the charges to hire a web design agency are slightly higher than the website builder cost. But the value they can bring to your business can never be compared to the website builder.
As mentioned earlier you get access to their expertise, apart from the research and strategy they create for your website can help you to drive instant traffic and sales. So make sure you partner with an established website design company that can help you to build a highly lucrative and fully responsive website within your budget. The cost of the website design is very much dependent on the type of website you are creating and most importantly the size of your website that’s why it’s recommended to know about your requirements and needs.
If you are looking to know more about eth website design cost then make sure to check our detailed guide on 2020 Website design pricing Guide: How much does Website design cost. Using the website design pricing guide you can identify the price you need to pay to build an attractive website for your business.
3. Design Your Mobile website
Once you successfully determine the platform you are going to select for building your website. Next, you can plan to create the structure of your website and get started with the designing part. No matter whether you are creating a blogging website or a fully-fledged ecommerce website you need to ensure that the website loads and displays all the elements on all devices. Once you create your design next you need to test the website for mobile responsiveness.
On the other hand, if you have planned to partner with a website design agency then you don’t have to worry about the design, mobile responsiveness, and testing. Because a reliable and experienced WordPress web design company ensures that the website they are delivering is highly responsive, fully functioning, and operates without any flaws.
Once you start creating your website then here are a few things that you can consider as the best practices:
- Vertical Scrolling
- Optimized loading speed
- Finger compatibility
- Remove Extra Graphics
- Minimal form requirement
- Modern Code
4. Organize the content
When you start creating your website you need to ensure that the content is easily accessible by the mobile user. Undoubtedly the mobile devices have all the potential to display any type of images and videos but if you expect it to work the same as desktop and tablets then you should reconsider your thinking. The content you offer should be accessible by the small screen. Remember small devices can display the element but can not process heavy content. Keeping that in mind we have got two different solutions for your website
Mobile-first
If you are into the designing world then you must have heard of mobile-first. It is considered one of the recently launched movements in the designing world. By opting for mobile-first you first design the website for mobile devices first then expand it to other devices like desktops and tablets. That means that the content you are going to create is for mobile devices which can lose on the desktop as well. This approach is very helpful for the business who find most of the traffic coming from mobile devices.
Mobile Second
From the name you can easily determine that this approach is used by the business and companies who already have the existing website. Organizing the content for the existing website can be a difficult process but it’s not impossible. SO before you start the princess we would recommend identifying the total element in your desktop website that you want to show on the mobile devices.
You can gather the element information based on what you want to show to your mobile site visitors. It will help you to determine what should go and things that are generally ignored by the mobile site visitors. Next, you can map the content depending on the visual flow of your site. If you are someone who doesn’t have much idea about the technical part then we recommend taking help from an experienced person.
Instead of doing it on your own, we would recommend hiring a reliable and experienced website design company that can help you to make your existing website mobile-friendly without harming the data and the current design of your website.
Well, there are other factors that you should consider while creating a mobile-friendly website. If you are looking to know about those factors then keep reading the article.
6 Important factors to consider while making a mobile-friendly website
By now you might be aware of the steps that can help you to create an attractive mobile website for your business. Next, we are going to fight some of the important factors that you should consider before creating a mobile-friendly website for your business.
1. Select a Mobile Responsive Theme or Template
The first and most important factor that we would like to highlight is selecting a mobile-friendly theme for your website. The theme and template you select for your website will play a major role in determining whether the website you are building is going to be mobile-friendly or not. Whether you are using WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace you need to ensure that the theme or template you are selecting is optimized for mobile responsiveness.
WordPress is a free plugin but Squarespace and Wix both are paid, website builders. All of them offer mobile responsive templates and themes but when it comes to watertight mobile responsiveness Squarespace is considered to be but better than the others. If you’re arguing WordPress as your website builder then pay close attention to the features offered by various themes.
WordPress is a widely used CMS and website builder that comes with thousands of pre-built themes, some of them perform well and are fully responsive, whereas there are themes that claim to be mobile responsive but later the user comes across various mobile responsiveness issues. So make sure you check the reputation of the theme and the theme provider. There are also popular and reliable theme provider platforms like Envato, Themeforest, and more that can help you to select
Or you have another option that is getting a custom-built website design for your website. Yes, by hiring a reliable and experienced WordPress web design company you can get a custom-coded responsive website design not only for mobile devices but for all types of screens.
2. Clear unwanted content
After selecting an attractive and mobile responsive theme or template for your website you may think you are done but in reality, finding the right and responsive theme is just a part of the step that you should take to create a mobile-friendly website. Next in the list, we recommend clearing the unwanted content by looking at the automated mobile view of your website:
- Try to make your homepage goal specific in the mobile version. Highlighting your goal is not a bad idea but adding too many elements in the mobile version can confuse the user. Now you might be wondering if highlighting the goal can lower your reputation. Well in reality in the desktop version there are chances that it would seem a bit pushy but when it comes to the mobile version these types of activities help the user to take action quickly.
- Avoid adding too many large texts to your web pages. In the desktop version, it may enlighten users and help you to deliver your brand and business message. But when it comes to mobile devices having too many large chunks of text can make your page look annoying. Simple and sweet grab visitors’ attention.
- Start highlighting essential elements and text in the mobile version of your web pages. Today most of the users that are browsing the internet through mobile devices prefer to get curated and exact information from the web page. So we recommend you to display the same don’t add too many
If you are looking to create an engaging website copy then make sure to check our blog on How To Plan Website Copy For An Engaging Design? (7 Proven Tips To Consider In 2021)
3. Use the simple and short navigation menu
If your website is having complex navigation then not only your mobile user but also desktop user will abandon your website and may never return back on it. The mobile user has limited screen space so they always look to access the website that offers a simple and short navigation menu. If your website is having too many pages and subpages then it can confuse the mobile user as it will make it difficult for them to land on the right web page.
Not only that but having too many sub-pages in the mobile version of your website will make it difficult for the fingers to tap on the right link. So it’s always recommended to use a simple and short navigation menu mainly for the mobile version of your website. If you need further assistance related to a mobile-friendly website then you can always reach out to our highly experienced website design professionals.
If you are looking to improve your website navigation then make sure to check our blog on Website Navigation Guide: Improve Your Website Navigation Using Proven Tips In 2021
4. Optimize the image and CSS of your website
When it comes to creating a mobile-friendly website another important factor that we recommend considering is optimize your website image and making your CSS as light as possible. Most of the time large image files either fail to load or increase the web page load time the same goes with the CSS.
Remember the element you add to your website carries a virtual website your website you put in the slower your website speed will get. These elements generally include the video, images, and custom design or function with bloated code. So each time the website gets clicked the code needs to load and having a bulky CSS code may increase the website load time.
Google is also very much concerned when it comes to image and CSS that is the reason why optimized load time is one of the important technical SEO factors. So let’s take a look at what you can do:
- When you upload the image make sure you compress it using various online tools. Or if you are using WordPress then you can also make use of plugins to compress the image.
- Make use of a host for your videos. Compared to images, the video contains heavyweight and takes time to load. So instead of uploading it on your website directly, you can upload the video on the third part then embed it on your website. By doing this you are keeping the virtual weight of your video on the third-party website.
5. Change the button size and place it right
Every web page on the website has a CTA button either to drive the user to another web page or to make them fill the form. So it’s common to expect that your website may also have a button that is actually good for a website in terms of lead generation, revenue, and more. But do know that a good and attractive button that looks great on the desktop can destroy your web page’s appearance when it comes to mobile devices.
Yes, you read it right if you place your button in the wrong place then it can impact your web page appearance on the mobile device. Using a small button on your web page can also frustrate users as it will become difficult for them to click on the button. So it’s recommended to use medium-size buttons that are easily accessible and clickable.
6. Highlight Contact Information
We often hear that users are complaining about not finding the content information on the website. Well, it happens because the site owner does not highlight the contact information in the right place. It is not because they don’t want to but most of the time while optimizing their website and web pages for mobile devices they don’t pay attention to the contact information part.
Mobile customers may look to get in touch with you so make sure your website doesn’t need lots of scrolling and navigation to get your contact information. Now site owners are smart and from the content and product placement, you can easily analyze when your potential customer will need you. You can either create a button or an anchor text that can redirect the user to the contact us page. Apart from that, you can also place your phone name and email address that a user can click and easily contact your support team.
7. Use a large and readable font
When it comes to making your website mobile-friendly then it’s essential for websites and businesses to pay close attention to the fonts on the website and web page. Apart from design, the font you use in your website plays a crucial role in encouraging users to interact with your web pages and perform the desired action.
In the desktop view, your font might be readable but it’s not important the same will be the case with mobile devices. That’s why it’s important for websites to check the font size on mobile devices as well. If the font readability is not good then the user may leave your website and may never return back. So make sure the user doesn’t have to zoom in and zoom out the front because these types of activities create a bad impression about your website and there are high chances that your potential customers may shift to your competitor’s website.
If you don’t want yourself to get involved in the technical activities then we recommend you hire a reliable and experienced WordPress web design company that can help you to create a mobile responsive design for your business.
Conclusion
By now you should be familiar with the importance of having a mobile-friendly website and how you can create a mobile website for your business. In today’s technology-driven world it’s hard to predict which device can offer you more traffic. Yes, there are various analytical tools that can help you to identify the device that is offering more traffic to your website. But it’s always recommended to have a mobile responsive design for your business website. If you are looking to create a custom-coded highly responsive website for your business then you can always reach out to our highly experienced website design company.