Creating a Mobile Friendly Website: How to Get Started

Creating a mobile friendly website has never been more important. It is not easy, there are many steps to getting it right.

More users are accessing the internet via mobile devices than ever before, so it is crucial that your website performs well on smartphones and tablets. This article will guide you through the steps to create a mobile friendly website, ensuring it is optimised for performance, usability and SEO.

Understanding Mobile-Friendliness

Before delving into the how-to, it‘s important to understand what makes a website mobile friendly. A mobile friendly website should:

• Load quickly on all devices, especially on mobile networks.
• Display text, images, and videos appropriately on smaller screens.
• Include easily clickable links and buttons with adequate spacing.
• Be navigable without the need for horizontal scrolling.

1. Choose a Responsive Design

Responsive design is the cornerstone of mobile-friendliness. What is responsive design? It is a design pattern that ensures that your website adjusts seamlessly to fit the screen of any device. A good design will not only work on any screen but will look as if it were designed for that screen size.

Most modern website builders and content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal offer responsive themes out of the box. When selecting a theme or template, always preview how it looks on various devices before deciding.

The days of building your own responsive CSS framework from scratch are probably over. If you’re a developer building something new, consider using a popular framework like Bootstrap or Tailwind. Your clients won’t be interested in how clever your framework is, they will only care if it breaks. A lot of very clever people have spent a great deal of time building these frameworks. Don’t try to re-invent the wheel, leverage their efforts.

2. Prioritise Speed

Never underestimate the importance of site speed. It is a critical factor for mobile users who often access websites on the go. To enhance mobile site speed:

• Compress images and optimise file sizes.
• Minimise the use of heavy scripts and plugins.
• Implement caching to speed up page load times.
• Choose a reliable web hosting service that ensures fast loading times.

3. Simplify Navigation

Mobile users prefer straightforward navigation. Complex menus will overflow on a small screen; stubby fingers make small links hard to hit. Opt for a simple, single-column layout with a hamburger menu to keep navigation clear and accessible.

Ensure that your most important content is easily reachable with minimal user interaction.

4. Optimise Content Layout

Content on a mobile website must be easy to read and interact with. To achieve this:

• Use large, legible fonts and contrasting colours for readability.
• Break up large blocks of text into smaller paragraphs with clear headings.
• Ensure that interactive elements like buttons and links are large enough to tap easily without zooming.

5. Test and Improve

After your website is live, you can regularly test its mobile performance. Sadly Google has retired its Mobile Friendly Test to see how well your site works on mobile devices – you now need to rely on the more technical Google Lighthouse.

Pay attention to user feedback and analytics to identify areas for improvement. Regular updates and tweaks can significantly enhance the mobile experience.

6. Consider Mobile SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) for mobile devices differs slightly from traditional SEO. The practices are the same, but the emphasis is more technical. Google’s mobile-first indexing bases rankings on the mobile version of content. To optimise for mobile SEO:

• Ensure fast load times and mobile usability.
• Use responsive design to avoid content duplication.
• Opt for mobile-specific keywords and local SEO strategies to reach your target audience effectively.

Good mobile SEO will stand your site in good stead for general search engine performance. If in doubt, as with so many things, consider mobile-first.

Conclusion

Creating a mobile friendly website is not just about making it look good on a smartphone or tablet. If you want to capture the attention of all those people staring numbly at their screens on the bus or train

It’s about providing a seamless, enjoyable experience that enhances user engagement and maximises conversions. Start with a responsive design, focus on speed and simplicity, and continuously test and optimise your website. With these steps, you’ll be well on your way to building a website that excels on mobile devices.