Here’s something that many businesses believe: they have an awesome website. Here is the truth: most small businesses are still not ready to boost their business online. Here’s the culprit: they still do not have a mobile-friendly website that has good design.
While Google has already made it clear that websites that are optimized for mobile are going to be ranked better than those who don’t, many businesses are still stuck in the old web design that they have been using from the previous decade. What they don’t realize is that they are actually losing money by refusing to do the necessary upgrade. This is because there are more users that are using their mobile phones to browse online rather than on desktop, and that no mobile user would want to constantly pinch, zoom, or squint in order to make the transaction that they want. If your web design is too painful to use, then your customers will simply move on and go to a business website that actually works on their device.
The obvious solution to this is to make a website that is both optimized for desktop and mobile users. Achieving good web design and creating a mobile-friendly website is not rocket science – for most parts, it is all about employing the best practices that will allow your website visitors to find the information that they need quickly and allow them to make the actions that they need to do.
Goal: make a mobile-friendly website with awesome design and content. image source
What’s Bad and What’s Good?
Most of the time, learning how to make a mobile-friendly website is all about working out what works for other users. However, there is no greater teacher than a mistake, which preferably is done by others. Here are some things that you need to avoid doing when designing your website.
Unresponsive Mobile Design
In an attempt to make websites work for mobile, many website owners make the mistake of leaving most of their design code as is, with the hopes that their website will automatically resize when their users use a smaller screen. However, it doesn’t work this way: if your website is specifically designed for desktop, then it will stay that way when you switch devices. What users will see is a design that doesn’t scale, which will make it hard for them to navigate. All graphics will have a bad layout and your readers will have to squint to read the text.
How will you be able to fix this? Creating a responsive design is pure CSS and HTML – all you need to do is to create rules in your CSS code to make your entire site adjust its style and respond to your user’s screen.
Check out how an unresponsive design looks like vs its updated version. image source
This design is responsive. image source
Overloading Information
Content will always be king, but having too much content right off the bat is bad for your metrics. When you overload your customers with too many images, copy, and buttons, you run the risk of making your website visitor miss the entire point of why your website is helpful for them. It doesn’t matter if you have the best product – if a potential customer visits your site and can’t find the information that he needs, he’ll quickly tap the Back button.
This is an example of too much. image source
How do you avoid this? Great design makes use of focus – think of the most important information that you want to impart your customers. If you are selling something, allow your customers to see your wares.
This website knows what it wants to sell. image source
Here’s another tip: if you have a lot to say and you want to say them fast, make use of visuals instead of putting too much text in your page.
Making Designs That Doesn’t Help Users
There are times when too much creativity can be detrimental to the user experience, and there’s a lot of designers out there that unknowingly compromise their website’s usability for the sake of being artistic. This year, be extra thoughtful on how your art converts to the screen and watch out if your design prevents your site from being efficient to your users. Test out your designs and use attention-grabbing ones sparingly. You do not want to create any kind of friction on your website, unless you are really preventing your user from clicking a button.
Everybody wants a cool website, but being a good designer means providing your users a great experience without throwing UX out of the window.
This is a funny page without having to bombard its viewer. image source
The Takeaway
Creating a mobile-friendly website that works for 2018 is all about focusing on what your users are using and what they truly want to experience once they go to your website. If you are not getting the numbers that you want from your website, take a look at your web design and find out how you can improve user UX.
