Almost everyone has their noses stuck in their mobile devices or tablets these days and rightfully so. With all the technological advancements and features that these gadgets have, it almost seems like you have an entire shop or office in the palm of your hand! You can check emails, write reports, edit photos, create short videos, broadcast live events, or go shopping via the different mobile apps that are available for download. There are billions of on-the-go mobile users all over the world today and the only way to tap this market is through mobile optimization. We have already discussed the need and importance of optimizing a website for mobile in a previous blog. Let’s focus on some mobile optimization tips now that can help us with the implementation part.

Understanding Mobile Users

Before diving into the nitty-gritty details of mobile SEO, it’s important to understand mobile users. It sounds a bit silly stating the obvious, but really, it’s an important detail that website developers often forget. Mobile users look for click-to-call phone numbers or a map to your store or office. They don’t need wordy posts about how awesome your staff is or how great your company is. They need videos, pictures, bigger icons, and buttons that automatically take them to pages that allow them to shop for items or sign up for newsletters. They also frown upon forms that need to be filled out so think of ways to make this process convenient for them. They can scroll and click, but typing is a different story. Navigating around the mobile site should be the least of their concerns. Next, you will read the basic tips that are needed for optimizing your website successfully on a mobile.

Few Tips for Mobile Optimization

Simplicity is key

If you think that putting animations will encourage more users to visit your mobile site, think again. Get rid of anything that causes the site take longer to load on screen. The user should not experience any difficulty when it comes to moving from the entry point to the purchase section. So eliminate site elements that are unnecessary or take too much time to load or perhaps delay the process for the user.

Your mobile site should direct customers to what they want easily. If your site is about clothes, make sure that the album showing the designs, size options, price, payment, and delivery options should be easy for the users to access. Streamline the layout of your mobile site since users don’t have the patience to click through several pages. Channel your inner Steve Jobs and create a mobile experience that’s convenient and intuitive.

Another reason why you should steer clear of animations is because flash or java is not supported by all mobile brands. You immediately lose potential sales from mobile users of certain brands just because they are unable to access your website. Also, it is quite annoying to know that a certain phone or browser doesn’t support flash or java. This surely leads the visitor to go to another website to make their purchases. This fact stands true for any other service based website as well.

Be Consistent with your Branding

Despite differences in features and layout, the mobile version of your website should resemble the desktop version to an extent that’s possible. Incorporate branding elements so users who are familiar with your company can easily connect the two versions of the site. There’s also something about site familiarity that makes people feel a sense of nostalgia, which is of premium importance to loyal customers.

The Value of Social Media and Link Placement

When mobile users search via their mobile device or tablet, the keywords are much shorter. This information is crucial when optimizing the site’s meta title and descriptions so your website appears at the top of the search results. On-the-go mobile users also have the need to be “entertained” that’s why they’re wired to their mobile devices 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means that the content of your mobile site should have the ability to entertain these users. It’s also important to have social media links present in all pages so users can easily share your information through their social networks. You’ll be amazed at how this simple gesture will boost your website’s engagement, traffic, and exposure. It is also important to be conscious of link placements in your site. Links to the main desktop site should be clear and visible so the user can easily transfer if he or she encounters issues with the mobile version of the site.

Maximize the White Space

Normally, people tend to minimize the white space by placing all sorts of videos, text, and images on their mobile site. Wrong. This is not visually appealing and users will leave the site because of all the “noise”. By maximizing the white space, the mobile site instantly looks clean and sophisticated. “Clean”, that’s the keyword you are looking for when determining the look of your website on the mobile screen. The user’s eyes can freely move around the pages and it becomes easy for them to click on the links and buttons.

Remember that users browse through their mobile devices because they need to entertain themselves and fight boredom. Keep this in mind while working out a plan to do mobile optimization for your website. We hope these tips help you and guide you in the right direction. Do let us know what other mobile optimization tips you would like to recommend? Leave your answers in the comment section below.