If you are planning to launch a website, there’s one thing to keep in mind – it should be mobile responsive.
Why? Because over 94.6% of people use smartphones to browse the web.
When your website doesn’t work well on mobile devices, you’ll lose potential customers.
Remember this – your website design is the first impression of your business, and if it’s not good, visitors will leave your site.
So, to help you out, we have prepared this guide. Today, we’ll discuss mobile responsive website design and its importance. In addition, we’ll also show you how to create a mobile responsive web design.
What is Mobile Responsive Web Design?
A mobile-friendly website is one that’s been adjusted to display well on smartphones and tablets. With more people using mobile devices, having a site that works well for them is important for any business.
Many mobile users get frustrated when they visit websites that aren’t optimized for their devices. They might have to zoom in to read text or struggle to navigate. As a result, they often leave these sites without taking any action.
A mobile responsive web design will make sure that your site looks good and works well on all screen sizes.
Example:
A good example of mobile responsive website design is Amazon. It can easily load on any device, be it a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
Why is Mobile Responsive Web Design Important for Businesses?
Smartphones have become essential for everyday life, and many people use them to shop online or find information.
If your business website isn’t easy to use on mobile devices, you could be missing out on customers. Here are some reasons why you need a mobile responsive web design:
1. Provides a better user experience
Users want a smooth experience across different platforms. For instance, a shopper might start browsing on their laptop and then switch to their phone. Responsive web design provides a good experience on all devices.
2. More reach and visibility
Optimizing a website for mobile users increases its appeal to tablet and smartphone users. Research shows that 74% of visitors to mobile-friendly sites are likely to return, and 67% are more inclined to make a purchase. Conversely, if users can’t find what they need on a mobile site, 61% are likely to switch to a competitor’s site and not return.
3. High conversion rate
Responsive design can significantly improve conversion rates. While 64% of online retail traffic comes from mobile devices, mobile conversion rates are typically lower than desktop rates. Factors such as poor product visibility, difficult navigation, and challenging browsing can hinder conversion rates on mobile. However, responsive web design can increase visitor-to-buyer conversion rates.
4. Boosts SEO
Responsive web design helps to improve SEO. Google considers website speed as an important factor in its ranking algorithm. Responsive sites generally load faster compared to mobile-specific designs. Moreover, when your site loads perfectly, it helps to reduce bounce rates, thereby improving your site ranking.
5. Cost-effective
Responsive web design offers a cost-effective solution by creating a single design that adapts to various screen sizes. This saves both initial and long-term costs, as updates and adjustments are easier to manage.
6. Better analytics
Having better analytics is essential for understanding consumer behavior across all touchpoints. With adaptive web design, tracking and analyzing data across different web properties can be challenging. However, with a single responsive website, setting up analytics becomes easier, leading to more meaningful insights.
7. Easier to develop and maintain
Maintaining and developing a single responsive website is more efficient than managing multiple versions. This holds true for both development and marketing teams. Responsive design also future-proofs websites against emerging screen sizes.
How to Create a Mobile Responsive Web Design?
Here are some tips and techniques for creating a mobile responsive web design:
1. Go with a mobile responsive theme
The first and foremost step in creating a mobile-friendly web design is selecting a suitable theme. The theme or template you choose will greatly impact the mobile responsiveness of your site. Platforms like Wix or WordPress offer various themes and templates.
Alternatively, you can also choose AI website builder tools like Hocoos to save time. It can help you create any type of mobile responsive website from scratch without any coding needs.
2. Keep the navigation menu simple and short
Complicated navigation may discourage users from visiting your website on desktop and mobile devices because they have smaller screens; mobile users, in particular, like websites with simple navigation menus.
Overly numerous pages and subpages might cause confusion and make it difficult for mobile visitors to locate the material they’re looking for. Furthermore, users may find it challenging to precisely tap on the desired link with their fingers if there are an overwhelming number of subpages. It’s best to keep the navigation menu simple and brief for the best user experience.
3. Remove unwanted content
Once you’ve chosen an attractive and mobile-responsive theme for your website, your work isn’t quite finished yet. Now, you need to work on the content.
· Simplify your content: Focus on making your homepage clear and goal-oriented. Don’t add too many elements in the beginning.
· Minimize text: Don’t overburden visitors with lengthy text sections on your web pages. When creating material, remember to keep it interesting and succinct in order to draw readers in.
· Highlight essential elements: Give priority to underlining text and important items on the mobile version of your web pages. Maintain simplicity and concentrate on providing your visitors with the most pertinent information.
4. Improve loading speed
Ensuring your website loads quickly is vital for a positive user experience and improved search engine performance. Slow-loading pages can frustrate users and hinder your site’s visibility.
You can easily check your website’s load time using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights. If you discover it’s loading slowly, here are some tips to speed it up:
· Compress images using free online tools to reduce file sizes.
· Enable browser caching to store website data locally.
· Minify CSS and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters and spaces.
5. Adjust button size and placement
You most certainly have a call-to-action (CTA) button on every page of your website. Its purpose is to direct viewers to other pages or ask them to complete a form. Though a well-designed button can greatly increase income and lead generation, you also need to think about how the button will look on desktop and mobile devices.
Sadly, not everything that appears great on a desktop computer will always look excellent on a mobile device. On mobile devices, positioning a button incorrectly can cause your webpage to look strange.
Additionally, using a small button can frustrate users, as it becomes challenging for them to click on it. For mobile responsive web design, it’s advisable to use medium-sized buttons that are easily accessible and clickable on mobile devices.
6. Optimize CSS and images
The user experience and SEO rankings of your website may suffer from poor loading times caused by large picture files and heavy CSS. Therefore, it is crucial to compress photos in order to lower their size. This reduces load times while preserving image quality.
Similarly, hosting videos on third-party platforms instead of directly on your website can improve load times. Videos are typically heavy and slow to load, so embedding them from a host reduces the virtual weight on your website.
7. Make sure the font is large and readable
For mobile responsive web design, keep the font large and readable. Beyond aesthetics, the font choice significantly impacts user interaction and engagement.
While fonts may appear readable on desktops, this may not hold true for mobile devices. Therefore, it’s important to ensure font sizes are suitable for mobile viewing. If fonts are difficult to read, users might leave the website.
8. Optimize forms
If mobile form optimization is lacking, filling them out can be difficult. Frequently, it results in annoyance and insufficient submissions. When developing forms for mobile responsive web design, keep the following recommended practices in mind:
· Limit the number of required fields on your forms
· Employ options for auto-fill and input masks
· Provide clear error messages and validation feedback
Remember, for each field you include in a form, ask yourself if it’s truly necessary. In many cases, capturing just an email and first name is sufficient to fulfill the intended purpose.
9. Don’t use pop-ups
Avoid using pop-ups for your mobile responsive web design, as they can detract from the user experience. While pop-ups can be effective on desktop sites, they are not well-suited for mobile devices due to limited screen space.
If you must use a pop-up on your mobile site, make sure that the close and action buttons are prominently displayed and easy to tap on a mobile browser. Top of Form
10. Test regularly
Regular testing is necessary to make sure your site remains mobile-friendly. Google offers a free tool to assess the mobile-friendliness of any URL. Simply input your website’s URL to see how it performs on mobile devices.
Don’t forget to set reminders for regular testing, depending on how frequently you update your website. Testing once a month is generally sufficient for most websites.
Conclusion:
By now, you should understand the importance of having a mobile responsive web design and how to create one for your business. If your website isn’t already optimized for mobile, it might be time to consider responsive web design. You can either go for a custom-coded website or use AI website builder tools to save time. No matter which option you choose, make sure the design offers a better user experience.
