THE WORLD LEADS WITH MOBILE

There is no longer any doubt that we live in a mobile world. Data from Statista confirms we’ve already passed something of a tipping point, and there’s no going back. According to this research firm, just over 59% of global website traffic in the final quarter of 2022 was generated by smartphones. This figure first approached 50% in 2017, and in 2020 consistently moved past the halfway mark.

This trend is being driven by several factors – including sustained smartphone penetration across the globe, and is especially prevalent in emerging markets. Most countries in Africa, for example, are skipping desktop PCs entirely as the population snaps up smartphones as primary-use devices. Statista’s research shows in November 2022, almost 84% of Sudan’s web traffic was mobile generated, followed by Nigeria (84%), Libya (81%), Cameroon (80%), and South Africa (79%). The United States, in comparison, saw 52% of web traffic originating on smartphones.

This means one thing for businesses of any size, in any geography, and in any industry: they must have a web presence that targets mobile users first.

BUILD IT FOR THE SMALL SCREEN

Wanting to be mobile-friendly and actually being mobile-friendly are two entirely different things. As you’re scoping out your own project to either update your existing website or implement an entirely new one, keep the following best practices in mind to ensure smartphone users have a positive user experience when they visit:

1 – Simplify the navigation structure

Relatively small touchscreens offer up a lot less real estate than widescreens on a desktop. Finding things on a website is also very different when you’re swiping a touchscreen vs. wielding a mouse and keyboard. To ensure your website adapts to this constrained reality, ditch complex, multi-layer navigation and menus. Shrink menus down to a few key options and consider using hamburger menus instead of full-fledged navigation bars.

2 – Get rid of the clutter

White space is the mobile-first web developer’s best friend. Leave lots of it around copy blocks and links to make targetable elements easier to hit on a touchscreen. Use fewer links, if possible – particularly those that redirect users off-site.

3 – Strip copy down and prioritize

Mobile users have no patience for large walls of text, and usage data confirms they won’t scroll down to get it. Rewrite copy to be shorter and snappier and keep the most important content as close to the top of the page as possible.

4 – Streamline multimedia content

End-users consume content very differently on a smartphone. Since they’re on the go, they don’t have time to wait for bandwidth-intensive content to load. Reduce file sizes by shrinking photo resolutions and incorporate lazy loading to display photos only when necessary. Similarly, use more aggressive compression, smaller resolutions, and lower frame rates for videos – and be sure to turn auto-play off.

5 – Resize interface elements accordingly

One of the biggest complaints mobile users have when using non-mobile-optimized websites revolves around the sizes of fonts, buttons, and other visual and interactive elements on the page. Generally, they’re too small, or worse, they can’t be zoomed or otherwise resized on the fly. Make sure they’re easily visible at default device settings, and choose fonts, colors, and backgrounds that display cleanly. Think simple instead of fancy.

6 – Incorporate responsive design principles

Responsive design refers to a website’s ability to adjust content and layout as screen sizes and orientations are changed. A responsive website, for example, will automatically reshape copy and content blocks as windows and work areas are changed. Content on a non-responsive site, on the other hand, will remain static, and will force users to scroll around to access content. Bottom line: if it isn’t responsive, it’s not mobile-ready.

7 – Test across multiple device types

Not all smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices are created equally. Display sizes and behaviors may vary from device to device. Update quality assurance (QA) and testing protocols to test functionality across a reasonable cross section of devices expected in normal, day-to-day use. Use either physical devices, emulators, or a mixture of both, and focus on the most popular smartphones, tablets, and operating systems.

8 – Track performance

Use Google’s Analytics or its mobile-friendly web test, or similar tools like BrowserStack’s SpeedLab to monitor how the site performs, and use these metrics to inform future changes or updates to the site. Schedule regular review sessions to measure site performance over time and assign resources as appropriate to maintain performance. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

Whatever devices we use to navigate the web, engagement has become a critically important factor in ensuring a website fulfills its mission. And mobile users will not engage with a website that is frustrating to use.

Considering how crucial web presence has become to organizational revenue and branding, we’re long past the point where mobile-optimized websites were considered as separate, somewhat disconnected offshoots of the main organizational web presence. In 2023, all websites must be mobile-first websites, full stop. Make sure your website gives your on-the-go visitors ample reasons to stick around – and fewer reasons to tap elsewhere.

If you’re thinking about improving your website’s mobile performance, click here and let us know.

The post Building a mobile-friendly website? Do these 8 critical things first. first appeared on STEP Software.

Chances are that your business has already done a great job shifting into the digital space. You’ve probably got a decent website, reasonably active social accounts, and a pretty good range of ways for customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to contact you.

But it’s not enough. While you’ve been busy doing all the things necessary to build your brand, the world has changed around us.

The desktop PC is no longer the dominant piece of hardware –at home or in the office. We live in a mobile world now, We can work wherever there’s connectivity – meaning everywhere. The pandemic cemented the now-widely-accepted notion that we no longer need a desk, or a desktop computer, to get real work done. 

Smartphones, started out as an ancillary device for phone calls and text messages – and little else – have evolved into primary workhorses in their own right. They’re easily capable of handling complex workloads no matter where we may be. In fact, our mobile devices are more often than not our first and only gateway into the digital space. Recently released data from Techjury bears that out:

• In 2022, just over 60% of all web traffic was generated by smartphones, compared to just under 40% for desktops and tablets.
• In 2021, 55% of all page views originated on smartphones.
• That same year, over half of all video views were delivered to smartphones.
• On the average day, US adults last year spent over five-and-a-half hours using their smartphones.

For the hybrid workforce who spend a good chunk of their time working from home, smartphones are never more than an arm’s length away. As they move through the house or home office, or work from a local coffee shop as a change of scenery, smartphones are often their primary – and only – means of accessing websites and related online resources.

The same logic applies to in-office work: the smartphone has become a de facto secondary desktop device. Which means websites need to evolve.

GOOGLE’S SHIFT

In March 2021, Google changed its ranking methodology. Up until then, its crawlers – the software used to scan websites as input to the search giant’s ranking index – prioritized desktop websites instead of their mobile counterparts.

As mobile devices became more prevalent through much of the preceding decade, however, Google’s desktop-first approach was no longer sufficient. Sites that hadn’t been optimized for mobile use often failed to perform adequately when loaded on smartphones or tablets. Google’s ranking change reflected the reversal of fortunes between the desktop and mobile web and was meant to reward website owners for shifting their platforms to mobile-first best practices.

Websites that clung to desktop-first principles without adopting responsive web design principles were understandably punished by the change, as Google deliberately downranked them.

The net effect for organizations that failed to heed the change was significant: their sites, pages, and related content would now rank lower in Google search results than their mobile-optimized competitors. And clients, prospects, and other stakeholders would have a harder time finding them.

SO, WHAT’S A MOBILE-OPTIMIZED WEBSITE?

Websites that are built using responsive design principles are able to adapt to whatever device is being used to view them. Content flows naturally as browser windows are resized, and text and related elements resize naturally across all devices regardless of screen size or portability. 

Conventional, non-responsive sites, on the other hand, often “break” when viewed on different devices or browsers. End-users will be forced to deal with glitchy UI and UX, including tiny fonts, inconsistent line breaks, and buttons that are too small to use on a touchscreen.

Google’s updated crawlers recognize the traits of a responsive, mobile-optimized website, and reward the investment with a higher ranking in related search results. Conversely, non-mobile-optimized sites will be downranked – meaning they may never be found in the first place.

WHY NOT JUST BUILD A MOBILE APP?

With millions of apps on offer across both Apple’s and Google’s respective app stores, it’s reasonable to wonder if an organization’s digital presence is best served by an app instead of a mobile-optimized website.

While some use cases – like interactive games, complex financial transactions, or the need for offline access – may merit an app instead of a website, for the majority of organizations, with limited development resources, a mobile-optimized website offers up greater capability and a more efficient use of IT resources. Compared to apps, mobile-optimized websites are:

Instantaneously accessible. Apps require commitment from end-users. They must download and install them. And with limited real estate on most smartphones, many of them will end up gathering dust on an almost-never seen screen. (App Annie, for example, says the average person has 40 apps on their phone, but only uses 18 of them regularly.) A mobile website, however, requires no download or installation, and can be used immediately.

More compatible. Apps are platform-centric, and developers must maintain a specific app for each major platform – namely Apple’s iOS/iPadOS and Google’s Android. Mobile websites work natively on any device and any operating system.

Easier to maintain. Mobile websites are platform-agnostic across all devices and operating systems. Updates are centrally managed, without the need to distribute updates to client devices across multiple platforms.

Easier to find. App-based content doesn’t generally show up in a Google search, whereas content on a mobile-optimized website most likely will.

Easier to share. Sharing a URL is a much simpler process than sharing content from within an app. If you’re using your website for marketing purposes – and who isn’t? – then this form of discoverability is critical.

More cost effective. It is significantly easier on the budget to update just one platform – mobile web – instead of separate iOS apps, Android apps, and web. It’s also easier to staff up a larger, centralized development team instead of subdividing areas of expertise based on platform.

More secure. Patches, updates, and bug fixes can be built, tested, and deployed far more quickly and consistently across a single mobile-first web platform than an environment based on multiple apps – plus the original website.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Going the mobile-web route doesn’t mean you have to give up the ability to install apps on end-user devices. Many apps in the app store are little more than simple shells that point to a mobile web-based back end. This approach can give organizations the best of both worlds as they try to maximize their presence on client and stakeholder devices without busting the IT budget by building and supporting multiple apps.

We’ll be exploring mobile web development in greater detail in future blog articles. In the meantime, if you’re trying to figure out which approach makes the most sense for your organization – or simply want to talk about taking that first or next step, give us a call.

The post Your business needs a mobile-friendly website. Here’s why. first appeared on STEP Software.