Alter-home. We’ve built one, no matter we like it or not. It is called the Internet. So is your website ready for this big-bang theory of virtual communication? Well, you can’t have any website, but responsive one easily adapted to mobile devices. We use them a lot, we love them even more. Moreover, you have only a few seconds to attract clients and convince them to stay a bit longer. Is mobile-first design a real website traffic healer?
Clients. Where are they?
First of all, let’s talk about how people search information. It is essential to understand the needs of your clients. According to StatCounter, the combined traffic from smartphones & tablets amounted 51.3% vs. 48.7% for desktop access. This number is increasing, but it is also clear information, that people want to have an access to your brand or products anytime and anywhere. Deal with it PCs!
This trend was seen also by Google, which is working on the mobile-first index. It means that websites with mobile-friendly version and great UX will be ranked higher in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Frankly speaking – content is and will be extremely important for visitors/clients, but the design makes a difference too. The conclusion is: your clients (and Google) will appreciate responsive layouts that let content to shine.
Not just a content playground
After 5 years of designing mobile apps and websites, we can say that design is something more than only a content playground. It means also expressing emotions, attracting attention, the beauty of simplicity, and animations, which show a deep understanding of design and give a sophisticated touch to any site. To get more information about how motion design can affect your app watch this talk presented by Miquido Head of Design at Mobiconf – an international mobile apps design & development conference.
A website is not a product itself. It is a continuous and demanding process. To give you a comparison, it looks like never ending project, with the main goal called: satisfaction of your clients. When thinking about your Internet footprint, implement several simple points which might be quite helpful in designing mobile-friendly website:
- identify your customers’ needs
- a website should display well on mobile devices, you can use also analytics to focus on most important models and operating systems
- use Responsive Web Design and remember about UI guidelines and patterns
- mobile-friendly design means easy navigation, painless search on your website and visible call to action
- make your site faster, loading should take only a second! To show it in numbers: 2% slower website means 2% fewer users, and 400 ms faster website gives you 9% more traffic!
- take care of User Experience – for mobile websites size matters, especially for buttons and fonts
- avoid pop – ups, make a visitor smile not angry
- use high – resolution images, people love Retina-display standards
- prototype, test, and iterate
- and last but not least- use motion-design bells and whistles to make your website alive!
You can be sure, that understanding just a hint of latest web and mobile design trends will be appreciated by users and Google algorithms. So what keeps you from trying?
