5 Overlooked Mobile-first Design Best Practices
We no longer need statistics to prove that mobile internet usage is growing. But if you like statistics, here is some –In 2017, 17.19 million people in Australia accessed the internet through mobile phones. In 2022, the projected figure is 19.27 million users. So, if your website is not optimised for mobile-first, you are potentially losing out millions of visitors.
The Computing Australia Group’s web development experts list 5 mobile-first website design best practices that get commonly overlooked. These practices will help you enhance user experience and ranking in SERPs.
Best Practices for Mobile-first Websites
1. Optimise Images
An optimised image can reduce the load time, improving both user experience and SERP ranking. The two main properties that impact file size are resolution and quality. Resolution or size of the image should be adjusted according to the column you are using to place it. Ensure that the image resolution is neither too large nor too small. If the quality setting is turned down, it will reduce the sharpness of your images. Ensure that you optimise the image size before uploading.
2. Optimise Forms
Nobody likes to fill in endless forms, especially on a mobile screen. You can try a few options to make filling forms a lesser burden on your site.
- Reduce the number of fields
Try to keep as fewer fields as possible. While that may not be possible always, you can use certain shortcuts. Use one field for full name instead of first name and last name. The zip code gives the location, so you don’t need to ask the state.
- Use Auto-suggest
This is helpful for selecting areas, products and more. For example, let’s say the customer needs to select Belmont. There should be an auto-suggest happening when Bel is typed into the field.
3. Link Addresses and Phone Numbers
All the best practices for mobile-first websites are about streamlining a visitor’s experience. You can take advantage of interactions on mobile like buying your product or contacting your business easier, giving your visitors a pleasant experience.
One easy way is to make your phone number a clickable link on your “contact us” page. Making your contact details clickable makes a big difference; it allows users to just click to make a call. Also, ensure other important details are interactive as well.
4. Remove Navbar
With limited viewing space on mobile, the navbar ends up consuming a lot of valuable space. A hamburger menu is a great way to use the menu and save some space for text, images, or other content. You need to ensure that the hamburger menu has good visibility and easily clickable.
5. Use Accordions for Long Content
Long columns of content can be confusing on a desktop. On a mobile screen, it makes it much worse. The best way to solve this by using collapsible sections called accordions. Using accordions can help to organise content more easily on a mobile-first site. It makes navigating on a mobile screen much easier. The user can easily scan the content and go straight to the section they want.
These are the 5 best mobile-first website practices that are often overlooked. Fixing these can help increase conversion rates and avoid bad user experience. These can require some technical skill, so we recommend getting professional help. Contact us today or email at sales@computingaustralia.group for help on implementing a mobile-first website. Our web development experts can assure you with a mobile-first website that mirrors all the best practices that benefit your business ranking and performance.
Jargon Buster
NavBar – An area on a webpage that includes navigation components like links, buttons, etc. for getting to other pages of the website.
Optimising – Any process that modifies how a campaign is delivering, enhancing its performance. This includes improving any metric such as CTR, CPC, Page Load Speed, Conversion Rate etc.
Hamburger menu – A button with 3 lines, shaped like a hamburger. Clicking on it shows the expanded menu.
by The Computing Australia Group