An increasingly large number of web users are accessing their favorite websites while they are on the go commuting back and forth to work on the trains and buses or while traveling by planes – all with the use of their mobile devices. Mobile users make up a huge lucrative market to appeal to, but to capitalize on that market you will need to master the different requirements and rules that apply to that market. What follows are 10 simple tips to optimize your website for the mobile device.
1. Limit Text Sizes
Since the screens of mobile devices are smaller, limit the text sizes of headers to just twice the body text size and keep the heading lines short so that they do not wrap to create several lines on the mobile device screen.
2. Reduce or Eliminate Special Effects
When special effects are installed on a webpage, they often do not add to the user experience and on a mobile device, they are just an annoyance.
3. Reduce or Eliminate the Use of Video
A great deal is made of multimedia on websites these days – interactive tools, audio, and video and also games. These are slow loading and may not play as required and so will not be a good experience for the mobile device user.
4. Create Easy Navigation
Eliminate the use of slow loading clickable images to drive your navigation. Using fewer plugins and images will allow for smoother navigation on mobile devices.
5. Optimize use of HTML
Be sure to only use the efficient and semantic HTML on your website, focusing on presentation in the CSS. Not only is CSS more robust, but it will not overwhelm the site with unwanted presentation data, thus resulting in a more enjoyable experience for the mobile user.
6. Optimize for the Slower Mobile Device Connections
Ensure that your site loads quickly, because mobile devices are already at a disadvantage in possibly not having the most updated technology, so if your site loads sluggishly, it may be difficult maintaining your mobile customers.
7. Optimize Image File sizes
Ensure that you reduce the file sizes of your images to enable them to load quickly on your webpages otherwise mobile users will only see the incomplete loaded images.
8. Reduce Webpage size
Regular sites are often designed with the need to toggle horizontally from left to right to be able to read everything on the screen. To facilitate mobile users, you can design the page with just one central column to avoid the annoyance of toggling.
9. Eliminate Webpage Scripts
Elaborate functionality and scripts that have only a limited compatibility with mobile device browsers.
10. Eliminate Website Advertising
If possible, eliminate website advertising because of the great amount of space it occupies on the mobile screen that is already quite small. The ads will take up a lot of the screen and will make navigation to search information difficult.
To increase its online visibility, a business must be mindful of the effect mobile devices can have on the business bottom line. The presence of mobile websites is widening and, in fact, they are the future wave that every business needs to ride regardless of the type of business or industry concerned.
Mobile website allows travelling customers and travelling clients with the means to become acquainted with business in the local areas. This will put the business that chooses to optimize its website for mobile traffic in a very competitive position over its competitors, and will make mobile customers more likely to seek out that business when in the local area.
These 10 simple tips to optimize your website for the mobile device are just a few of the ways to capture the mobile browsing traffic that is increasing at an explosive rate. You can view resources online and also the webpages on this site for more information on how your site can be better accessed for the on the go mobile users.
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