WordPress is hands down the most popular CMS (content management system) platform. It is the choicest solution for all kinds of people willing to make big in the online industry. In this article, you’ll learn how to make your WordPress website more mobile user friendly.
However, the proliferation of mobile phones has made it mandatory for every business to take a mobile-first, or at least, a mobile-friendly approach.
The number of smartphone users has increased in leaps and bounds over the years. This trend has compelled businesses to focus their resources and efforts in this direction.
In fact, it might not be an exaggeration to say that only the businesses that are leveraging this trend, actually stand a chance to make it in the mobile-driven world.
As an online brand, you must not miss the opportunity to make the most of the mobile-oriented market. Stay tuned and discover some insightful tips to make your WordPress website more user-friendly.
Mobile devices and apps are ruling the world and how!
Mobile devices are being designed to make them the ultimate solution for all our needs. People are using their smartphones for communication, education, entertainment, shopping, business, and almost everything.
While a website helps you gain ground on the internet and earn the necessary exposure for your brand, giving mobile-friendly options to customers has become mandatory for holistic success.
Having a website that is mobile-friendly or an app that complements your business, is only going to increase your chances of success. While websites and apps are both essential and significant in their own way, apps can help you get the additional edge.
Making your business mobile friendly can benefit you in the following ways:
#1: Offer easy accessibility to customers
Optimizing your WordPress website for mobile can bring it in proximity with your potential customers. They will be able to get access to your platform more easily and effortlessly.
#2: Leverage device-specific features to make your WordPress website mobile user friendly
Mobile devices can ensure more personalization as compared to other devices like desktop, laptop, etc. Therefore, if you have a mobile optimized site, or even better, an app, you will be able to personalize your users’ experience more efficiently. You can get access to a range of information like location, demographic details, purchase or browsing behavior, and more.
#3: Gain more average session time
How often do you think people open their laptop or desktop? How many times do you think they use their mobile device? The answer to these two queries is sufficient to know that a mobile device is likely to attract more average session time per user. This ultimately leads to higher chances of engagement, conversions, sales, and growth.
#4: Ensure a smooth user-experience
A vanilla website can hardly match the user-friendliness of a mobile-friendly website, or an app for that matter. Clearly, by having a mobile friendly website, you can offer a smooth user-journey and take the experience several notches up.
#5: Boost your mobile SEO and visibility
Google is mobile friendly itself! It means that if your website is mobile friendly, it will also be more SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly. Your WordPress website’s ranking and visibility will get a boost, and in turn it will power your conversions and sales.
Tips to optimize your WordPress website for mobile device users
Now let us cut to the chase without further ado. As a WordPress website owner, you can ensure multiple things and take several steps that contribute to making your site more mobile friendly.
Follow the suggestions listed below and enable mobile device users to interact with your brand in a frictionless manner:
#1: Pick your themes and plugins wisely to make your WordPress website mobile user friendly
WordPress is one of the most customizable platforms that extends support for thousands of themes and plugins. While the themes add value to the aesthetic aspects of the app, plugins add more functionality to your website.
Sometimes, the temptation to add multiple plugins or a desired theme can affect the performance of your website. The theme you use for your website must be mobile-friendly. Similarly, the choice of plugins should be made after careful consideration of the goals, assessment of the requirements and scrutiny of the case studies.
Basically, the theme and plugins should be optimized to adapt to different kinds of devices, and offer a smooth experience to users opening your website on a mobile device.
#2: Optimize media for responsiveness
WordPress has come a long way and the platform has evolved to address many needs of the website owners in an automated, efficient, and coherent manner. For instance, WordPress 4.4 addressed the issue of limitations arising on mobile devices due to images by default.
Therefore, even issues like metered connections, limited bandwidth, etc., are handled automatically as WordPress enables the loading of the smallest version of a media file (say image) available on the server. Thus, keeping the site updated can help a great deal.
However, this does not end your responsibility of reducing the cognitive burden on your visitors as they load a page or browse through the contents of the website. Keep ensuring that the UI (User Interface) and design of your website is super-friendly and responsive towards varied conditions.
#3: Partner with the right web host
Picking the right web host for your website is like finding the right help or assistance for your house. It enables you to run your website in a stress-free manner by automating multiple activities and responsibilities that may otherwise be stressful if handled manually.
For instance, an efficient managed web hosting service provider can take care of automated backups, updates, security checks, and more. It can boost the performance of your WordPress website and make it more user-friendly, coherent, and secure.
The right web hosting partner will also take care of additional needs and incorporate multiple services within one package for the most holistic experience. It will also boost the performance of your website and make it more mobile-friendly.
#4: Audit your core vitals regularly to make your WordPress website mobile user friendly
Many assessment experts, including Google, offer multiple tools and services that you can use to audit the mobile-friendliness of your website. This regular assessment is important to maintain consistency and keep up with the latest technology and trends.
For example, you can assess the core web vitals for your website. These are a set of factors that Google considers important in determining a websites overall user-friendliness and experience. If you have a Google Search Console account, you can find these in the Enhancements section.
Collect necessary data and analyze it to study the performance of your website. Keep updating your assessment practices and scrutinize your website on a regular basis. Iron out any persistent issues and aim for absolute perfection when it comes to ensuring mobile-friendliness.
#5: Create a dynamic mobile app
It is high time to face the fact that apps are taking over websites and that this essential requirement must be fulfilled if you really aspire to attract the mobile-friendly audience. You can use the website to gain exposure and test your campaigns.
However, the option of apps must be available to the visitors who are willing to indulge with your brand for a long term. In fact, like any other modern-day brand, you should aim to mobilize your web traffic towards app stores and inspire visitors to download your app and use it.
This may not be as extravagant and troublesome as you think. Ditch the traditional app development methods. Take a modern route to complement your website with an app.
You can create an app with a DIY app builder without writing a single line of code and without burning a hole in your pocket. Offer the ease of accessibility and portability to your users, and boost the dynamic growth of your brand.
Wrapping up!
That was all from our end today. Implement the strategies listed above and make your business more mobile friendly.
Mobile devices and apps are set to become more dominant in the coming years. Prepare your business for the change and reach your customers where they are, i.e., on their mobile phones. Channelize your business goals, resources and efforts in this direction, and you will be able to give your competitors a run for their money.
