It is overly evident that mobile usage has been continuing to skyrocket. The fact is that more that 70% of the world’s entire population owns a smart phone, and more than half of them use their phones as a primary device to access the internet. If you own a blog it is highly likely that your work is consumed by the users on a smart phone. And the issue here is if your blog isn’t optimized for mobile phones you just lost half your viewership, due to the user being unable to interact. The statistics show they want to, as mobile accessible websites shows user engagement increase by up to 85%.
With most of the world following all the latest trends, a website that isn’t optimized for mobiles makes you seem out of touch and maybe not the most tech savvy blogger to follow. All of these things combined gives an excellent reason to make your website mobile friendly. Let us look at a few ways to optimize your website or blog for mobile.
Streamline your site
First things first, get rid of all the huge graphics and the overly complicated website navigation, with tiny “click me” buttons. Such a layout is next to impossible to navigate through and is likely to tick off your users. Large sized images takes ages to load on a phone and often won’t load at all. As a general rule you have about 3 seconds to capture and captivate the user’s attentions. Here is what you should look out for:
1. Simplify and simplify again: If you are going to add content, then break it up with proper formatting, such as bolded titles and plenty of breaks in a paragraph. The general rule is: if it can be skimmed easily, it stays. If not, continue breaking it down.
2. Avoid Java and Flash: iPhones don’t support Flash animations and a lot of other phones do not support Java; better to avoid them both.
3. Reduce File Sizes: As mentioned earlier, heavy graphics are a big risk in terms of CTR, make sure to reduce the file sizes.
4. Limit No. of Pages: Unlike desktops, smart phone website navigation happens through scrolling. That makes a single-page website far more ideal for mobile user, as they can simply scroll to find whatever they need.
5. Reduce Taps & Text Entry: Perhaps you want visitors to fill out a form. A survey will require a significant number of taps. Both of these things can be done, but it should be kept to a bare minimum. As user might have difficulty navigating through it.
6. Avoid Pop-Up Window: Switching from tab to tab on a mobile browser is more difficult than surfing on a laptop, and too many pop ups are infinitely annoying. If you absolutely must open a new tab, alert your users so they could navigate back to the original page.
7. Offer Users to Visit the Full Site: Make sure to include links on all pages that allows a user to open the full version of a website, should they choose to.
Team CometChat
