Websites that Travel Well: Why it Pays to Have a Mobile-Friendly Website

There are three reasons why you want your website to be easy-to-use on a mobile device. Two you probably already know. 1. Higher search ranking on Google.  Google favors mobile friendly websites in search engine results on phones and tablets. 2. Ever increasing numbers of people are using mobile for web search. Depending on your industry, visitors to your site using a mobile device can be up to 70%. So, the more useful your site is on a mobile device the move customers, potential clients, etc you will reach. Reason number 3? It’s Good Customer Service. Your customers will appreciate that they can now easily access your website on their phones. You will make their lives easier when using a smartphones while standing in line for the train or comparing prices at the store. Here are a few examples of website pages your site visitors will especially appreciate being mobile friendly.

HOME PAGE: The navigation we use for mobile phone use is called a “hamburger.”  This is a symbol (three horizontal lines in top corner) which is easier for big and even small fingers to use.  Also on the mobile version, the photo sizes down so that it doesn’t take forever to load and the type becomes larger so it is more readable on the small device.   Mobile Blossom Ridge Home Health & Hospice   CONTACT PAGE: On the same website for Blossom Ridge, special care was taken to make the contact page look very nice on the desktop. However aesthetics is not the primary driver on mobile devices. People just want to find the phone and/or address quickly and they want the phone and address to be clickable for calling or getting directions. Both were accomplished on the mobile version.

  MAP PAGE: On this example, the location page is easy to read on the desktop and on the mobile version it is sized down so the viewer doesn’t have to move side-to-side. On the mobile phone, visitors can click on the map and open their GPS application for directions. (Example 1000Broadway.com)

PRODUCT AVAILABILITY PAGES: This page uses a table formatting which can be particularly hard to view on a phone. The mobile version has a simplified layout to present to the visitor. The same information is used, but it is formatted for a better mobile experience.

INTERIOR PAGE WITH SIDEBAR CONTENT: If this site wasn’t mobile friendly the visitor wouldn’t see the sidebar content. Also, the visitor would need to scroll to the right to view the videos. With the mobile version all scrolling is one direction, the sidebar drops to the bottom and the videos appear below the text.   Scroll down to view the sidebar:  GALLERY: Photo or project galleries can be an effective way to sell your product or services. But if half of the visitors can’t use the gallery that is a problem. With this gallery the images downsize for the phone so they don’t chew up bandwidth and the images are easy to scroll through.   FORMS: Forms can be particularly frustrating on a phone. Consider offering a phone number if your organization can handle the inquiries. To take advantage of impulse purchases, donations or requests for information, it is crucial to make the purchase form easy to use. Here the form sizes correctly so that it is easy to add information and submit.   LANDING PAGES: If this page wasn’t mobile friendly, visitors using their phones would not see the quote on the right. Now the quote falls below the image when viewed on a phone. The buttons are large and easy to activate with a finger.   BLOGS: Many WordPress blog templates are responsive to the screen size now and work well on tablets and mobile phones. However, many old or amateur blog themes are not responsive. It can be a quick process to upgrade the version of WordPress and the theme. The sample below is an editorial blog and the mobile friendly theme makes it easy to scroll through the content.       The website samples above were developed in WordPress, ELF (CMS) content management system  or HTML5 using a responsive CSS. If you have questions or would like us to look at your website please contact us.


Posted by Barbara Irias