Businesses that aim to boost their website traffic as well as generate new leads should have a mobile-first website. Sites that have a mobile-first design rank better in search engine results and are most likely to be found by potential customers. As a matter of fact, more than 51% of smartphone users have spotted a product, service or new company as they were searching on their smartphone.
Since a large percentage of online traffic comes from mobile sources, it just makes sense to take mobile devices into consideration when designing and prototyping websites. In the past, website owners and web designers did not pay much attention to mobile design but things have changed.
There are 40,000 searches per second on Google, which are about 3.5 billion searches per day. In general, users rely on Google to find the answers to their questions, many times a week. They want solutions to their problems and they like to get them fast. Needless to say, there is no room for mistakes like sloppy designs, messy content or broken websites.
A mobile-first design will make sure that users will be able to find the information they need on the site using any device.
How does a great mobile design look like?
- Web owners should give priority to the actions they want users to take with the front and center as the most important. They should see to it that the first CTA that users see is consistent with their company’s primary marketing goal. Businesses that are building an email list should ensure that their landing page that collects emails has no other links for users to click and also remove the navigation from the page. The only action on the page for users to take should be the subscribe form.
- They should reorganize menus, keeping them as simple as possible in order for mobile users to immediately reach their most relevant and useful content.
- They should not make users scroll endlessly. There has to be clear navigation and visible buttons that will let users easily jump from one topic to another. Anchor links, “back to the top” buttons and sticky navigation are effective ways to let users navigate across their site fast.
- They should not include intrusive promotions. This is a surefire way to annoy users and make them leave their website for good. They should add pop-ups and advertisements occasionally and see to it that they are easy to dismiss.
Mobile SEO relies on clean, consistent mobile design that enables users to smoothly navigate their website. A mobile first design will boost engagement and conversions on their website, which will lead to higher mobile search rankings.