As smartphones continue to become even more popular, the need for a website that is compatible with mobile phones increases as well. Now more than ever, your site needs mobile optimisation to tap into its full potential. The design of your mobile site also accounts for different screen sizes and load times. In the age of convenience, if your visitors are faced with problems when accessing your site from a mobile phone, they won’t feel inclined to stay.
There are three different designs to consider when comparing website designs; mobile optimised, mobile-friendly, and responsive.
Mobile Optimised
A mobile optimised site is by far the most advanced type of design that allows for easy access from mobile devices. Using this design, your site will reformat itself to adjust for the unique characteristics of different devices. This reformatting leads to better mobile web performance across all handheld devices and can help to engage a large mobile audience.
Mobile Friendly
Second to the mobile optimised site, the mobile-friendly website design still functions as it should on all devices, including mobile phones. To ensure that your site works well on desktop computers, mobile phones, and tablets, the mobile-friendly design is a suitable choice. For mobile users, navigating a mobile-friendly site should be simple, as the layout has been designed with their convenience in mind.
Responsive
A responsive design works well with all devices. This is a newer form of design that is meant to adjust to the needs of any device. By using a responsive design, your site will be equally accessible to all internet users regardless of the device or the browser that they use. Based on the screen size of the device accessing the site, the responsive design adjusts the site to match the screen’s dimensions. The flexibility of the responsive design makes it particularly attractive for web hosts. However, since it reformats automatically, it’s crucial to ensure that all aspects of the site are working properly.
Device Diversity
New devices are constantly changing, which further emphasises the need for a dynamic website that can be used by a wide range of devices. Many existing organisations and businesses, as well as the majority of new organisations and businesses, have implemented mobile-friendly websites. Making sure that your website functions properly across a variety of devices is critical to engaging your audience. Most of the internet’s traffic is coming from mobile devices, so having a mobile optimised website is extremely important. Restricting access to your website by ignoring its compatibility with mobile devices will severely impact the amount of mobile web traffic that you will receive.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation, also known as SEO, is a practice that increases the quality and quantity of your web traffic through organic search engine results. Having a mobile-friendly site actually benefits search engine optimisation, which could lead to increased traffic on your site. Google reviews website activity to decide on a ranking based on how people use your site, but this includes both desktop and mobile site activity. When mobile users reach your site, and it’s not mobile-friendly, they’ll often back out instantly, which directly leads to a lower rating from Google.
Building Credibility
Yet another edge of a mobile optimised website is that it helps to build credibility. This can happen with customers, clients, and even your entire industry. Through mobile optimisation, you can reach a larger number of customers at a quicker rate, which can assist in increasing customer satisfaction. Given that mobile web traffic is more common than desktop web traffic, having a mobile-friendly site helps to make your website look updated, modern, and relevant in your industry.
Mobile Improvements
Improving your website can be done in many ways. You can do it yourself, or outsource it to someone who specialises in web design. By improving your website, you make it easier for consumers to engage with your brand. Incorporating large buttons for a ‘call to action’, also known as a CTA, can help to reduce misclicks from mobile devices. Due to the smaller screens on mobile devices, misclicks are common, and large buttons can help to avoid this, making the process easier for your website’s users.
Why Mobile Optimisation?
If you operate a website, chances are the majority of your web traffic comes from a mobile device, either a smartphone or a tablet. To make your site easy to use, you should ensure that it is compatible across a variety of mobile devices, as well as desktops. As the popularity of smartphones continues to increase, the need for a mobile-friendly website is growing. By incorporating dynamic designs that adjust to fit the screen size of various devices, as well as large buttons, your website can be easily accessed by all mobile users.
