Not everyone owns a laptop computer. When you design your website, you need to make sure it can respond to the type of device the visitor is using.
More and more people are using their mobile phones as web browsing devices. To make a website responsive, you need to get educated on best practices in design.
Take a look at these top 7 tips to make a website responsive.
1. Understand Your Visitors
In order to give your website visitors the best possible experience, you have to understand what they want. They’re visiting your website for specific purposes that may or may not align with what you intended.
Once you know what your customers want, you can begin to make their frequent tasks easier to find. These are the website features you want to keep at the forefront of your web design.
Guard against pushing publicity over valuable content. It does matter that you won that recent product award, but it should cost the customer precious minutes trying to find what they really need on your website.
2. Simplify Navigation
Think tiny screen when designing your responsive website. You’ll want a design that makes perfect sense for mobile devices of all sizes.
Not everyone will have the latest and greatest technology so you might not want to choose flashy plugins that require the latest browser. Keep your navigation simple and easily readable across devices.
Bigger is usually better. This makes it easier for visitors to tap the button they want instead of accidentally clicking away.
Simplifying navigation reduces your bounce rates creating better website metrics. A bounce happens when someone visits your website and immediately clicks away.
Even if it’s a mistake, a high bounce rate can kill your search engine ranking in Google.
3. Choose the Right Typography
Typography is more than just picking a stylish font. It’s the art of pairing a lettering style with the color scheme and overall theme of your website.
You’ll want to take your time choosing typography that’s easy to view on any browser. There are some fonts that won’t read across browsers.
Make sure you hire affordable web development services to help you customize your look. You don’t want to use the most common typography just so the website is readable on a mobile device.
You simply want professionals on your team that can make the typography translate easily with the least amount of fuss.
4. Use Minimalist Design
Clutter is the enemy of responsive web design. Many people think they need to tell the whole story on a web page.
What they offer, when, where, and how often, isn’t necessarily what your customers want to know. Even if you do want to boost your best skill sets there’s a way to be brief so you don’t lose the attention of your audience.
Cluttered web pages are also impossible to navigate on mobile devices. You’ll end up with frustrated visitors that don’t like spending time on your website.
Aim for high conversion rates by keeping users on your site as long as possible. Fast websites get results.
Why? Because fast, minimalist websites highlight calls to action without distraction.
Your visitors get a faster load time since there’s not a lot of media for web browsers to pull up when you launch your site. Pick the top three calls to action you want visitors to take and present these front and center.
5. Test Your Design
Once you’ve followed the steps to make a website responsive, you need to test your work. When you make a responsive website from scratch, there might be small elements missing that make it look strange on certain devices.
Use a service like Screenfly or MobileTest.me to see how your website fares on each of the most common mobile devices. You can also test how your site looks across various screen sizes.
This is helpful for websites that feature-rich media like videos or animations. Before you invest in these assets for your site, you need to make sure it won’t throw off your overall website user experience.
6. Optimize for Search Engines
The next factor to consider when you make a website responsive is whether or not it’s searchable. The process of making your website search engine friendly is called optimization.
It’s extremely important for customers to be able to find you when performing quick research from a device. They’ll want to discover your website for things like directions or your phone number.
Make sure you have an updated Google My Business listing with all your contact information and hours of operation listed. When your customers need a quick resource, your brand will be among the top options available.
7. Plan Your Design
Many business owners approach websites from a utilitarian perspective. They ‘add as they go’ creating a web design that’s largely disjointed.
It’s important to plan ahead from the start. Create a strategy for adding new information so it doesn’t throw off the flow of your site.
Remember, your website isn’t a company diary. It’s a tool customers need in order to do business with you faster and easier.
It can house important information like blog posts or press releases, but these are an afterthought. Make actionable items remain front and center.
Best Way to Make a Website Responsive
The best way to make a website responsive is to first make it mobile-friendly. Most of your visitors will come from a mobile phone. A secure website with easy navigation helps optimize the user experience.
Too much clutter or attempts to sell loses the interest of your audience over time. For more information and tips, visit our blog for updates.
