• Paul
• On April 4, 2019

Back in 2016, mobile phone internet use overtook web browsing on computers – and that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Nowadays we don’t only use our phones to contact people in the traditional way, but also to use multiple messenger apps, promote ourselves on social media and search online. Any website should be mobile-ready, although sometimes this is sadly not the case. Your mobile-ready website should be serving your business efficiently, and it should also fulfill a number of purposes.

Marketing opportunities

Your mobile-ready website should not only have good functionality, but it should also be a marketing platform. When visitors locate your website, they should find it easy to get a sense of who you are a business and also be able to share your company’s site with easy. In order to do this, you should have:

• An FAQ section: It’s inevitable that visitors who come to your website might have some questions about what your business has to offer and how to access it. Before getting a copywriter to write an FAQ section, you may want to sit down with your team and discuss what questions visitors may want to be answered and how to do so concisely. If you already have an FAQ section, ensure that it is completely readable and functioning correctly on your mobile-optimized website.
• Social media buttons: If you don’t already have social media profiles, it is advisable that you sort these out as soon as possible. Social media not only engage visitors on a much more personal basis, but it can also act as a form of customer support, with visitors being able to ask questions and show their support live on the page. Having a row of social media buttons that can clearly be seen on your mobile-ready website will ensure that they can click through at ease.
• Shareable media: If your company sells a specific product, you want visitors to be able to share this with their friends and colleagues. You should ideally have a number of sharing options, whether that’s for social media or a link that can be copied to their clipboard.

If none of these features are visible on your mobile-compatible website, you will not be marketing yourself efficiently.

Easy-to-read pages

The modern generations are said to be more impatient than ever when it comes to cell phone technology. Therefore, your website pages should be easy to digest and read. It’s also advised that your menus are short but sweet: too many items can be distracting and confusing. This is also a good excise in editing your online content and keeping the most valuable at the forefront of your site.

Optimized content

Your website will be ideally appearing on a number of devices: cell phones, tablets, desktop computers. While many people access content via apps, your content should still be highly-ranking in search engines. All the content on your website should be search engine optimized (SEO) meaning that keywords that are related to your content are used naturally throughout. A number of ways to ensure that your content is search engine optimized include:

• Link-building with related, reliable websites. Google Panda has clamped down on the use of out-of-date or untrustworthy websites as click-through links on web pages.
• Reduce the number of pop-up ads: It’s said that websites with too many pop-up ads will also be penalized under Google’s algorithms. Not only this, but they are incredibly distracting and off-putting – particularly on a small screen.

In terms of your marketing strategy, don’t be too demanding. If you want visitors to subscribe to your website, it should be purely optional. Being too instant, particularly in the checkout.

Fast loading times

A sluggish website is frustrating on a desktop internet browser, let alone on a mobile one. An impatient new generation of mobile users doesn’t want to be stuck waiting for their website to load, only to find out it wasn’t compatible for cell phone usage in the first place. If your business’s website is slow to load on a cell phone then users will go searching for an alternative provider – probably your competitors. In fact, it’s been found that 40% of cell phone users will leave your page if it takes more than three seconds to start loading.

If you suspect that your website might be slow to load on smaller devices, then it’s advised you remedy this as soon as possible.

Understanding the data

It’s hard to state just how valuable statistics are to a company, particularly when they come from a website. Having someone who can look at who your core audience is and what demographic is using your website in order to tailor its design and functionality. Larger quantities of data, in industries such as healthcare and banking, for example, may take more processing, in which case you may need an understanding of how to interpret and process data from your website. Studying a masters in statistics online would help you gain a greater understanding of the facts and figures.

A compatible app

Mobile apps are said to be one of the biggest-growing tech industries, with a projection of 57% through to 2020. It’s said that on top of obvious industries such as social media and gaming, government bodies are also keen to involve mobile apps as part of their wider strategy. Millennials are the biggest users of apps, and they’re also incredibly fussy about how they look and feel. When creating an app to match your brand and website, ensure that it not only looks good but feels easy to use.

Depending on what industry you work in, the success of your mobile-ready website could come down to a few simple tweaks, or a number of complex features. Large businesses will need a mobile-ready website that can withstand a large number of users accessing it, whereas a small business may just need a simple website that functions effectively. When it comes to the basics, a mobile-ready website should run smoothly, be easy to navigate and easy to read – otherwise the consequence could be a loss in visitors and customers.