Would you believe 50% of users leave a website when it takes longer than three seconds to load? In just three seconds your potential customer or follower will click off of your page because it’s taking too long.
Users expect to have the information they are looking for readily available to them and presented in a way that’s easy to navigate and easy to find. Let us help you avoid common mobile mistakes with some foolproof ways to ensure mobile responsiveness and speedy load times.
Speed
There are multiple things that can be done to help your website load quickly. The goal should be to hit the 3-second page load time on mobile devices. One of the easiest and most effective ways to speed up page load times is reducing image file sizes:
- Photo size: High resolution images scattered across your site are great for engagement and look stunning, however, those large photo file sizes don’t help in keeping you in the three-second window. Keep image file sizes to a maximum of 40KB when possible. You can also look at tools, plug-ins and photo software to compress or edit image sizes. Imagnifyis a great program that can help you reduce the amount of space your photos use while still maintaining the quality of the image. And Affinity Photo offers Photoshop-like tools at a fraction of the price.
Theme
If the majority of your audience are visiting your page from their phone or tablet, all your hard work could go to waste if it’s not optimized correctly. The website theme you choose must be compatible with mobile devices. The key word to look for is “responsive.” A responsive theme means when a user lands on your page from a mobile phone, for example, your website will still have the same content, but the structure will automatically be re-format to optimize the display to accommodate a mobile screen. If you designed your homepage to have rows of images with corresponding captions side by side, a responsive design may rearrange those images to be stacked with captions beneath them to make scrolling up and down easier. No phone tilt required.
- Responsive design – Most templated websites will automatically be formatted for responsive design. Just be sure to flag this as a “must” when you are choosing a theme, researching web designers or talking with a web company.
Calls to Action (CTA)
As visitors view your website, you need to ensure you are directing their attention to the content, product or services that matter most. What action do you want a user to take on your website? The best way to guide this experience is through call to action statements. Create calls to action that are concise, direct and easy to spot. Use action words that will get your potential customer to move forward in doing business with you. A few great examples are:
- Learn more
- Get started
- Sign up now
- Join us
Consider an App
Creating an app may not be as difficult as you think. When deciding if you should build an app to accompany your website ask yourself the following questions:
- What benefits does an app provide that aren’t offered on the website?
- Do you have a customer loyalty program?
- Do your competitors have apps?
- Will your app solve a customer problem?
A business can benefit from the addition of an app to better engage customers and streamline services. Think of the benefits an app can offer to decide if it’s right for you. There are several programs that make it easy for users to develop apps such as Firebase, BuildFire and AppPresser.
Ultimately, creating a website that is optimized across all devices and offers an ideal mobile experience is not impossible. Take a few steps to put your website ahead of the game by compressing your photos, choosing a responsive theme, using strategically placed calls to action or even creating your own app. Success is only a few clicks away!