The sale of smartphones overtook that of conventional mobile phones for the first time last year and recent studies show that more than 8% of all web searches are conducted from mobile devices. More importantly, more than 70% of all mobile users ditch their attempts of viewing a website from their mobile devices if it fails to load properly in the first five seconds. Shockingly, more than 50% of all mobile device users admitted to not visiting a website if the first attempt to do so was buggy and unappealing. Such alarming figures have prompted many companies to make their online presence more mobile friendly and experts predict that 2013 will be the year when companies make the dash to become more mobile-friendly.
If you don’t ensure that your websites are mobile compatible; as the number suggest, you could be losing a large chunk of potential customers. Contrary to popular belief, creating a mobile-friendly website is not achieved by making a miniature version of your website and making your website more mobile-friendly is not overly complicated. Here are a few ways in which you can make your websites more compatible with mobile platforms.
Eliminate large media components
One of the easiest ways to ensure that your website loads easily and quickly on mobile browsers is by removing Flash components altogether. Rich media web components created with Flash are not supported by iOS devices and they do not work well with other mobile operating systems too. You can choose to remove Flash components altogether or decide to replace some with HTML 5 components. Also, instead of using Flash based video you can use simple images that resize automatically to fit any mobile device screen.
Keep the website simple
To make your website mobile-compatible, make sure to display only the most important information or content on the home page. Keep the home page as simple as possible by including only the most relevant information with a clear navigation process. Your mobile website should not have all the information that your desktop website has as mobile screens are small and all the information will get crammed-up making the mobile website look confusing and unattractive. For users who want to see more information, you could include a link in the mobile site that takes them to the desktop version of the website where they can see all the information. Make sure that essential information like contact details and maps are available on the mobile site.
Cater to all mobile platforms
IOS devices are not the only ones in the market so your mobile website should be compatible with most if not all the mobile operating systems out there. Android, Windows 8, Symbian, Blackberry, etc. are some of the mobile platforms that should work seamlessly with your mobile sites. Make sure that your mobile-friendly website also works perfectly with all screen sizes, with all components resizing themselves automatically. This year, many Linux and Unix-based, free mobile operating systems will be released, which are guaranteed to become popular among mobile users. So it is advisable to make your mobile website compatible with these new platforms too.