I just opened my phone’s mobile browser to book our anniversary trip through a popular vacation booking site, but I couldn’t click-to-call the phone number because it was an image. By simply converting an image to text, the site’s developer could’ve saved time for mobile visitors. While I wrote it down and clicked away to make a phone call to book my trip, 45% of mobile visitors click to another provider, according to a recent survey.
Monetate Q1 2013 Ecommerce Quarterly reports that the share of mobile browsing vs. desktop browsing has doubled since 2012. The gap is closing for online businesses that must meet visitors from these new platform with pleasant web system experiences. What if you don’t have the budget for a responsive website or an adaptive web system?
While responsive web design is a surefire way to equip your website with the most flexible solution for mobile browsing, you don’t have to act so fast if you’re on a tight budget or you’d rather save up for the next best thing in device-agnostic web development. Here are five ways to optimize your existing website for mobile traffic…
1. Make your website content easy to find, follow and act on. Content should be easy to get and easier to use. Cut the verbosity and get down to business whenever possible.
2. Convert forms to HTML5 to display the most appropriate keyboard. Have you ever tried to enter your email address without an @ symbol readily available to use?
3. Weigh the importance, placement and size of your menus. There’s nothing like fingering your way through menus or finding your way out of cumbersome submenus.
4. Avoid hover elements. While this may be the bee’s knees of desktop presentations, it’s destroying your chance to bond with an increasing number of mobile visitors.
5. While you shouldn’t use Flash, that doesn’t mean you have to lose animation. Convert Flash to Javascript or to CSS transitions for more mobile-friendly features.
As you optimize your existing website, the key is to test its presentability on a range of devices, including iPhones, iPads, Androids and any other handheld devices. The more you test, the more you can begin to prepare your existing website for this highly diverse group of mobile browsing devices, a group that’ll undoubtedly change by next year.
By addressing these five key areas of your existing website, you can improve visitor experiences on smartphones, tablets and even desktops without breaking the bank.
Whether you revamp your existing site or create a new responsive web system, I’m here to help you meet your share of the market with the best possible presentation.
Let’s make your site function better. Contact me or give me a call at (778) 882-9172.
