The world is becoming more mobile by the day. Computers may never become obsolete, but they are becoming less of a necessity as mobile devices become more and more advanced. Walk down the street and take note of how many people have smart phones and tablets, compared to how many people have a laptop set up to browse the web. Because of this mobile shift, it is clear that any business with an online presence needs a mobile website more than ever before.
Designing a mobile website is the ideal way to push a company brand and ensure a positive user experience on a range of devices. With that said, here are four best practices that should be followed for best results.
Proper Redirects
Some websites that have been optimized for mobile use fail at executing a proper redirect. Some plugins that create mobile website theme will fail at executing this properly, resulting in an odd alignment of text and images, as well as poor navigation.
Installing a redirect script is easy, and should be included with any high quality mobile website installation. If done properly, the script will recognize the device, and execute a seamless redirect.
Layout Is More Important On Mobile
Many businesses will install a mobile version of a website and move along. This again fails to take into account the user experience. Many mobile users access the web on the go with the expectation of finding what they want quickly.
Because of this, it is important to make sure your navigation is easy to use and the most important and compelling content must be properly placed to ensure that visitors are able to use the site the way a business wants it to be used.
Implement Click to Call
One of the major problems that any business can run into with their mobile site is failing to implement click to call. This simple function works just as the name implies. The user can click their finger over the phone number to make a call without having to dial.
This goes back to making content and navigation easy to use and properly placed. Any company with a phone number of customer service of any kind must implement click to call.
Optimize For Speed
Speed is an important factor in web design, regardless of the device being used to access a site. A slow website can harm organic search rankings, and results in a poor user experience if the website code is so heavy that it cannot be loaded quickly.
The same rules for speeding up a desktop site also apply to speeding up a mobile website. Properly implemented redirects from a desktop to a mobile url, simplifying code and caching images all have a positive effect on speed.
Conclusion
There is more to mobile design than the four points covered above. However, as with any design project, the majority of all results come from a handful of steps. Designing a mobile website with a fast and clean design will do far more to improve a company’s brand than almost any unique feature that can be implemented.
