Must-Knows For Mobile: How To Optimize Your Site For Mobile

How did you get to this blog post? Did you click on a link from Twitter or Facebook? Did you Google “startup marketing agencies in Detroit”, and we popped up? More importantly; did you do all of this (or one of these things) from your cell phone? We’ll check the analytics to confirm later, but chances are you did. From checking our heart rate to ordering coffee, we do nearly everything from our smartphones. Side note: the author of this article dropped her phone in a river over the 4th of July and compared it to losing a limb. She’s dramatic, but it only emphasizes our point.

What’s our point? As a business, your website should be optimized for mobile. In this post, we are showing you how to do just that in a fun little listicle. Stay tuned.

1. Create Buyer Personas For Mobile

We really feel like we are beating a dead horse with this one, but buyer and audience personas are absolutely essential when it comes to optimizing your site for mobile. What is the demographic of your audience? 18-24-year-olds that don’t even own a laptop? 55-75-year-olds who still type using one finger? These are all important things to understand about your audience before designing a mobile site that is accessible and usable for them.

2. Be Concise With Mobile Content

From the navigation bar to the contact form; take a long, hard look at the content available on your site and decide what actually needs to be on the mobile version of your site. Let’s say you’re an e-commerce company selling clothing. Do you really need a navigation bar with 25+ options? Nah, probably not. This brings us back to your consumer base; think about who your audience is. Maybe this means you cut your navigation bar down to men, women, children, or clothing, shoes, accessories.

3. Order Of Information For Mobile

Think about a typical website on your desktop. Typically contact information, track order information, store locator, and so on are located in the footer of the site. Then think about the average mobile user; why would they need to access your site on mobile? Typically it’s because they are on-the-go, not near their computer, or want to show someone something on the spur of the moment. Think about the information they need at these times. Maybe they are trying to get your address to see how far of a drive you are, or they need to search for an item they remember looking at a few days ago. These elements of your site—search bar, contact info, store locator—should find their new home at the top of the mobile version of your site.

4. User Usability For Optimizing Mobile

According to Techopedia, usability assesses the level of difficulty involved in using a user interface. Although usability can only be quantified through indirect measures and is, therefore, a nonfunctional requirement, it is closely related to a product’s functionality. Layman’s terms: is your site easy to use? Is the font readable? Is your page speed up to par? Are your images high-quality? Can users easily share your content to social media directly from your mobile site? If you can check all of these boxes, you’re on the right track for usability.

5. Claps For Collapsing Screens

Just like the Roman empire, your website needs to collapse. But really, from desktop to tablet iPhone to iPhone 7 Plus; your site needs to suit all of these screen sizes (and window sizes). From the size of the text to switching from text to icons, to making sure images resize correctly; have your developer check, recheck, and then check again to make sure your site is optimized for every screen and browser. Also, try to avoid a lapse in the collapse.

6. Consider An App

So, you’ve ticked all the boxes for an accessible and usable mobile site, but, still, your users want more. They want to access their accounts, to get content tailored specifically for them, and receive exclusive offers for being a loyal customer. Well, maybe it’s about time you consider developing an app. Apps go beyond optimizing your website for mobile and allow you to create completely new features for your users. Apps are also an excellent tool for lead-gen, as most apps require user information to access to an app. Note: It seems like everyone wants to build an app just for the sake of it, but developing an app can be costly, especially if your target audience doesn’t even know how to download an app.

If you’re now realizing that you might need to take more steps to optimize your site for mobile, but don’t know where to begin; we at Marketing Supply Co. can audit your mobile site for you and suggest changes! From there, get your products or services sold with social advertising. Did we mention we’re pretty good at that too?