Top Five Tips for Building a Mobile Website

If you are getting frustrated with people not using your site how you would like, then this article is designed to help you best optimise your site for ease of navigation and use for your consumers while they are on their mobile devices. People will often say that they don’t want to attract mobile visitors because customers ‘on the run’ are not going to purchase goods via their mobile device. The truth is while some people might not choose to complete a transaction ‘on the go’ people are using their mobile devices to research as well. On top of this, people who use their mobile devices to search your website aren’t necessarily out and about, but rather they’re sitting at home, and they choose to continue to use their mobile devices.

New research (Google & Nielsen 2013) shows that mobile searching is done 68% of the time from home. Coupled with mobile searching whilst people are at work, and that figure rises to 77%. You can imagine if your website isn’t mobile friendly, how can you expect to influence your customer to search your site, let alone buy?! Google has recognised this importance (SMX East 2014) and is looking to add this into its algorithm. What can we do to boost the user experience on your mobile site? We need to look towards the innovators and large online stores to see the best way to optimise.

These large online stores have spent a lot of time and money making their online shopfront slick, and it appears that the findings from a recent Whitepaper produced by Google (2014) correlate with what we can find in these sites. Google have collaborated with AnswerLab to better understand what exactly helps to create a brilliant multi-device user-friendly site.

It may seem blindingly obvious, but if you want to create a mobile-friendly website, you need to go back to basics. The most important concept to keep in mind is remembering your customer’s main objectives. Do this, and you’re more likely to create a mobile friendly site which customers are happy to use. The advantage in implementing the principles we’re about to discuss (Google 2014) is that they will work in collaboration with your Google strategies and tactics.

Tip One: You don’t want your Homepage and Site Navigation to be cluttered, so keep this page clean and easy to navigate.

Tip Two: Ensure your customers can easily find what they’re looking for. You Site Search must direct your customers to the information/product/service they want.

Tip Three: When people are parting with their hard earned cash to purchase something from you, it is essential your customers feel like they are the ones in control of the transaction. Make this process as simple as possible, and your conversions will turn into a steady flow.

Tip Four: It does admittedly feel as though every business and person under the sun these days wants your personal details. If you can count the number of times you have given out your email address, you’re doing an extraordinary job. While this information is necessary in order to successfully complete a transaction, you need to reassure your customer you’re not about to pass their details around your inner circles, or use them beyond the transaction.

A recent article (Wilson 2014) states that you should allow people to browse your website anonymously. Have you ever been on a site, which you haven’t previously signed up to so that it recognises you, but you have still wanted to purchase something? You will have more than likely been given the chance to purchase your item and complete the transaction as a ‘Guest’. It leads the customer to feel as though they are dictating the terms of the sale, not you.

Tip Five: Your mobile customer can very well have different needs and desires in comparison to your customer at home, or even in-store. If you keep this mind when designing and developing the overall look of your site (think ease of use and logical design layout) your customers’ satisfaction when using your site will soar.

Stepping away from how your website should look and the features which should be incorporated, have you spent time thinking about what having a mobile friendly website means? An article (Google 2012) poses some interesting points, such as are your competitors’ mobile friendly? If not, then you have an opportunity to get ahead of your competition. If they do, you risk unintentionally sending business their way. Your website is also a sign of our digital age, and if your website isn’t cross-device compatible, you’re sending a message to the world that you’re struggling to keep up. People are all about connectivity, but equally important is the speed of that connectivity. If your website is compatible across different mobile devices, your website will work accordingly to that device. Judgements about your business are formed in mere seconds based on something as seemingly innocent as your website design, and whether it is mobile friendly can severely impact on this judgement process.

Discussed a short while ago in a paper (Jensen 2014) if you have your Google Analytics set up, you’re able to access data which refers to traffic and conversions directly from your customers’ mobile devices. You can even tell what type of mobile devices your customers are using. You’ll find this new information will take your understanding of your customers’ practices and habits to a whole new level. What you decide to do with this intelligence can take you down endless potential marketing and advertising opportunities. Taking advantage of having a mobile friendly website will enable you to stay competitive, up-to-date, and make certain of customer satisfaction. So get mobile optimised with SponsoredLinX today. Call us now on 1300 859 600.

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