You’ve probably gathered by now that your website needs to be all about your mobile audience these days. In fact, not having a mobile friendly website could be killing your conversions, and negatively affecting your search ranking.
But guess what? Google did a bit of research and found 40% of websites failed the mobile test! And there’s more – it’s about to get even tougher!
Just as we thought Google was having a little rest, they drop the bombshell! Google search is about to become mobile-first, according to a recent announcement by Google’s Gary Illyes in Las Vegas.
Google Makes Mobile Announcement:
What does this mean? Well, Google currently uses a single index for search across desktop and mobile. But now they are going to create a separate mobile index, which will become the primary index used for search.
No date has been given, but it’s likely to be rolled out over the coming months. So, this really is your final warning to ensure your website is mobile-friendly!
There are different ways of achieving this but most website design services recommend using RWD – or Responsive Web Design. And it’s clear that RWD sites will benefit most from this new, separate index.
Awesome Mobile Designs
The experts have long advised against creating a second, mobile website for your business, and now that’s official. Websites with a separate mobile site will suffer the most through this change.
However, the great thing is this: if you choose the right developer, affordable web design can still feature some pretty awesome mobile website design ideas.
We’ll look at them in a bit more depth but, it’s all about RWD, UX (User Experience), AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and, of course, speed.
Opt For Professional Design:
Globally, there are more than 2.6 billion smartphone users, so it’s easy to see why your website needs to feature some pretty hot moves! Things like horizontal scrolling have got to go. Now you could have a bash at doing this yourself, or you could opt for professional web design on the Sunshine Coast. I know what I’d recommend!
Okay, so, RWD. Google loves RWD. I love RWD! Why wouldn’t you? Done right, it’s fast, it’s easy, it’s responsive, and it requires little work by the user. Remember, mobile users have a shorter attention span than desktop users, so you need to grab their attention fast.
One way of achieving that is to have your website open immediately, and for the landing page to be eye-catching and easy to use. Use the smartphone itself as a guide, and incorporate touch screen features into your website design.
Touch Screen Options:
To facilitate the touch screen option, and make the site easy to navigate, choose large fonts and large buttons. Clicking on pictures to get information is a nice touch. And don’t forget a quick chat button so the user can get help quickly. Calls-to-Action should be clear and concise, and located on mobile landing pages.
Think carefully about exactly what you want the user to do. Do you want them to shop? Then make it easy for them to start. Sliders are good for this: design the site so the screen changes or ‘slides’ every few seconds to reveal more products.
Of course, that incorporates movement, and movement is great for holding the user’s attention. But don’t overdo it with animations or gimmicks – one because it’s really annoying, but also because you really don’t want to use up the entire battery life of the mobile!
All about Speed:
Now, one thing you really need to get right in your mobile website is your images. Remember, the user wants amazing, high quality images, but they also want speed, and getting the balance right can be tricky. So choose a design that keeps file sizes down but quality high.
Colour is another basic but crucial factor to get right. One of the most effective ideas for mobile websites is using a monochrome theme, with key information in colour. This not only looks totally on-trend, but also helps the user navigate, which is more likely to score a conversion for you!
Try and avoid using every colour under the sun – it’s well and truly done and is likely to drive away your visitor. In fact, apply the KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid – principle to the whole design. The user doesn’t want to pinch and zoom any more than totally necessary.
This is particularly relevant if your site requires the user to fill in any information. It’s best to keep that to a minimum, and definitely don’t hit them straight up with that because, trust me, they will leave.
Google Statistics Spot On:
Google suggests that 61% of visitors will leave a website if it is too hard to navigate. The flip side is that 67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site, so it really is worth getting the design perfect.
More Google research reveals that a massive 85% of your new customers will have checked you out on their mobile device first. Further, 92% of respondents surveyed said they made a purchase within a day of researching on their phone.
So, what else does this tell us? That your mobile website not only needs to be perfectly designed and programmed, but also fully optimized for local search.
