Did you know that over half of internet traffic today comes from mobile phones? More and more people are surfing the web on their smartphones and yet, not all websites are optimized for mobile use. The sad truth is, people in the internet age have short attention spans. If a website takes too long to load, is unresponsive, or provides a very unattractive look on mobile, they will be quick to move on to something else. And this is where you can lose a LOT of traffic. So how do you know if your website is mobile friendly? Let’s find out!

 

Is My Website Mobile-Friendly?

The first step to finding out whether your website is mobile-friendly is…to load it up from your phone! If there are any problems, they should become obvious right away. Is your font too small to read from your phone? Is your page taking too long to load? These are all signs that your website isn’t mobile-friendly.

 

If things are looking good to you, it might still be worth checking out whether your website is really optimized for mobile use with Google’s own mobile website checker. This is a free and easy to use service that lets you know how well your website is doing for its mobile users.

 

The Importance Of Being Mobile Friendly

The first reason to make sure your website is mobile friendly is to increase your traffic. Considering how much of the Internet will find your website by searching the web on their phones, it would be silly to disappoint them with a site that is poorly designed for mobile use. Simply put, people risk opening your website only to close the window a couple of seconds later, when it turns out too difficult to navigate from their phone.

And did you know that being mobile friendly could improve your SEO? Google’s algorithm remains an ever-elusive mystery to web developers everywhere, but most agree that optimizing your website for mobile use is one of the best things you can do to rank higher on search results. In other words, a well-developed, fast-charging mobile version of your website can become one of your greatest assets in driving new traffic to your blog.

 

Internet traffic coming from phones is growing constantly. So optimizing your website for mobile users now is one of the best steps you can take to increase your website’s chances to do well in the future. Now is the time to think long term—think mobile!

 

How To Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Depending on what you are using to create your website, the solutions which you can use can vary. If you had a web designer make your website, it might be a good time to call them up again and ask them to optimize your website for mobile use. If you are creating your own website with WordPress, your best bet will be to switch to a theme that is mobile-friendly. Whether you have a lot of money to spend on your website or are looking to improve it on a budget, there’s a ton of resources out there to make your site more mobile friendly!

 

A Mobile Responsive Design Checklist

Once you’ve looked into making your website more website friendly, let’s go through this checklist to make sure you’ve done everything you could. Check every item off the list and you’re good to go with your site!

To be mobile friendly, you will need to:

  • have text that is large enough to read on a small screen
  • have pages that charge fast enough from a mobile phone
  • use special mobile touches like swiping and sliding to access different features of the website
  • use large buttons for things such as menus

 

Mobile friendly websites are the future. In the long run, those websites that can provide the best mobile experience are those that are the most likely to grow and increase their traffic. Let’s be real: a website takes time and energy to create and maintain. So why spend your resources on something that only half of the web is able to navigate with ease? Invest in a mobile responsive design now, and you’ll be well on your way to growing your web presence with a real, longterm vision!