Optimizing Your Website for Mobile: How to Ensure Your Site Looks Smart on the Go

More and more people are using their phones to surf the web than ever before, especially among younger generations, and we can only expect that trend to continue. Decades from now, it might even be the predominant method of web surfing. If your site is not designed to properly display on mobile devices, your visitors will have a hard time navigating it. They’ll be forced to squint heavily or put up with the hassle of constantly zooming in and out. As they try to click on links or pictures, they will struggle, and some content won’t even be viewable. The whole visit will be nothing but a bad memory - one they will likely decide to never repeat.

Smart webmasters know how frustrating this experience can be and will do everything in their power to prevent it. Instead of driving mobile visitors away, they reel them in in droves. A site designed to handle mobile devices doesn’t just function well on them - it looks like it’s in its natural environment. The biggest corporations and most well-known websites are already mastering this practice. It’s time for you to get with the times and jump on the bandwagon.

The Difficulties of Creating a Mobile-Friendly Website

Building a website that mobile users can easily navigate and interact with is much more complicated than most webmasters think. Many of them will think themselves successful when they see their website properly displayed on their phone, but it’s not so simple. Having your website look good on a single kind of phone is just one small victory in the big scheme of things. Mobile devices come in a wide range of sizes with different operating systems.

The Need for Algorithms

You can’t just design a site that looks good on one phone. Instead, you need a website that can adapt. Every mobile device is different. What looks good on your personal smartphone might not look good on your friend’s cell, and it will look very different on a larger mobile device like a tablet. Your website needs to be able to change depending on how it’s being viewed.

That’s how advanced websites work these days. They can simultaneously display their content properly on everything from desktops to smartphones. It works by detecting what kind of device is requesting to view the page and, then, sending them a custom format. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this, but one of the more affordable methods is through free website templates. They’re easy to manage but still give you the same power that a custom-programmed website would.

Taking Advantage of the Unique Features of Mobile Devices

Making your site look good on mobile devices is one big step in the right direction, but you can venture even further. Savvy webmasters are integrating every aspect of mobile devices into their websites. They use plugins that allow users to, for instance, dial a phone number listed on your site just by clicking on it. Including other features like gps and social sharing is a popular idea as well.

Mobile devices are fundamentally different than the computers of old. Web surfing started in one humble place many years ago: the desktop. At first, this only happened at work as most consumers couldn’t afford to have a personal desktop. As that changed and computers started coming into the home, the nature of searching and surfing began to change. Laptops were the next step forward, and now we are at the most recent innovation: mobile devices. They are fundamentally changing how we use the internet, and they aren’t going away any time soon. Just like the changes behind it, it’s not a mere fad. Adapting to this is essential for sites going forward.