Make your Website Mobile-Friendly!
I was waiting on line at Dunkin Donuts early one morning, and as I stepped closer to the counter, I noticed every person in the store was on their smart phone. I thought about it for a second, and lost count of how often I check my phone. If you’re anything like me, or like 68% of the American population, you’ve probably also lost count of how many times a day you check your phone. Chances are, it's a lot more than you think.
Whether we’re responding to an email, texting, or on social media, being instantly connected anywhere is becoming part of our daily routines. Because we value speed and convenience of living life on our smartphones, we expect our mobile experiences to be easy and fast. Would you want to “pinch and zoom” to read the text on a website, or scroll side to side just to read one sentence? Probably not. And neither does your audience when they visit your website.
The truth is, a large portion of your audience is on mobile. Don’t believe me? Check out these stats:
- 96% of Americans have a smart phone
- 65% of adults check their phones 160 times per day
- Web traffic has increased over 222% over the last seven years
The reality is most of the people you’re trying to reach are on mobile. They are visiting your website, looking at your donation page, and getting to know you through their mobile phone. Regardless of whether or not they donate (that’s a whole other blog post), sign up, or take action, if you’re online, chances are the're getting to know you via their smart phone. Knowing this, you want to make sure you take a few steps to ensure their mobile experience with your organization is a good one.
Non-Mobile Formatted Website |
Mobile Formatted Website |
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1. Make it Quick |
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Keep your website page load times to around 4 seconds or less. No one is going to wait around for your website to load. |
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2. Keep it Short and Sweet |
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Try keeping your text broken up with line breaks, bullets, and bold/italics treatments. Make it visually appealing. Keep in mind, the people standing on a line at Dunkin Donuts are skimming your site, so avoid long, drawn out text paragraphs. Instead, make clear calls to action and replace text with impactful images. |
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3. Use Images |
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Use photos to strengthen your storytelling and even replace copy. Remove any popups, and replace them with impactful images that can be clicked. Include clear calls to action. |
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4. Limit Data Entry |
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It’s not fun to type a lot of information on a tiny screen- Try formatting your donation pages, and registration pages with autofill options. The fewer clicks, the better. |
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5. Forget Flash |
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It won’t load on smartphones or tablets. Use Youtube or Vimeo for video. They are usually already formatted for smartphones and tablets, and can add drama to your website. They’re also great alternatives to long paragraphs of text. Next time you want to add a few paragraphs to your Abous Us page, perhaps consider creating an About Us 2 - 3 minute video instead. |
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6. Don't Hover |
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Make your content accessible without relying on hover. |
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7. Simplify |
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| You don’t need a flashy site. Instead, focus on a clean, simple design that is free of clutter, helps focus your audience toward one or two clear calls to action, and communicates your story visually. Have you ever heard of the expression, ‘less is more’? A clean site is more likely to grab your audience’s attention and keep them on your site, than a site with too many RSS feeds or text boxes which can be overwhelming, especially on a small screen. |
I hope you find this post useful!
All my love,
Blondie
