You may know that your business needs a website to help reach new customers, but did you know that experts recommend building your website around mobile viewing first? That’s because over 60–70% of organic searches for products and services happen on a mobile phone.

And since many business owners start with a computer-screen version of their website, they may miss the crucial differences between computer and mobile viewing.

While a lot goes into an optimized website, we’ll cover the basics to give you a solid foundation for your business website.

Special note: Check out some of these tools to help you gauge the performance of your mobile site.

Responsive Design

If you’ve researched SEO, you’ve likely seen the word “responsive” come up quite often. A responsive website design means that your website automatically rearranges key elements to fit the viewer’s screen.

• Resize images. Your website images are one of the first things that need to adapt to mobile viewing. While large images are excellent for computer browsing, you’ll need to shrink or crop images automatically for mobile.
• Easy navigation. Toolbars and links are also different during a mobile experience. So keep all navigation points in an easily accessible place– and make sure the links work!
• Visible CTA or engagement. The purpose of any website is to create engagement or sales with prospective clients. Don’t let your CTA (call to action) get lost on mobile versions.

Formatting Content for Smaller Screens

Your website layout is the first impression you give your prospective client. And if images aren’t responsive to a mobile layout, the text is unmanageable, or colors strain reading, they’ll just move on.

So even though you’re likely creating, editing, and uploading your blog or web content on a computer, you should always create your content with mobile viewing in mind.

• Use small paragraphs of three lines or less on the computer. The section will look much longer when compressed to a 3-inch-wide screen.
• Create scannable content. Most people read only headlines or bolded content before deciding whether to read the details. So ensure you use consistent formatting and leading headlines to engage readers.
• Don’t use overly customized fonts or colors. Instead, stick to tried-and-true fonts that are easy to read and use black or white text, depending on your background.

Be Careful with Pop-ups

Pop-up ads are frustrating for most users, but they’re still used to help direct attention to ads or tools that create sales. But– the kind of pop-ups you use can negatively impact your search rankings.

• Check Google’s size requirements. Google has recently started penalizing “intrusive pop-ups” because users get frustrated and leave sites that make it hard to navigate the page.
• Use pop-ups sparingly on mobile versions. Mobile viewing doesn’t leave room to spare for pop-ups and your web content.
• Skip the pop-ups for other options. If you are on the fence about using pop-ups, leave them off until you have a compelling reason. Instead, focus engagement and collaboration efforts with videos, marketing campaigns, and social media.

Get Expert Help Optimizing Local Hawaii SEO

Large corporations and big businesses spend lots of money on SEO, making it difficult for smaller companies to compete. So you need an ally to help you get your website live with optimized content soon!

At Moonlight Labs, we’re in the business of helping entrepreneurs in Hawaii get their websites up and running, prototype their digital products, and create a strong foundation for their online presence. Contact us for a free consultation today!