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The proliferation of smartphones is a global phenomenon shaping and influencing our lives considerably. Mobile phones have become the go-to solution for all our daily needs.
This includes shopping, education, information, entertainment, and much more. Most mobile app usage statistics also hint towards the growth in smartphone users.
The demand for intelligent, portable, and adaptable devices will increase further. Hence, optimizing your WordPress website for mobile-friendly users has also become mandatory.
It can increase your chances of getting more exposure. Besides, it also reduces the risks of losing potential customers who prefer mobile devices to browse online content.
So, how can you improve the performance of your WordPress website on mobile devices? Stay with us until the end to find out, and you’ll also receive optimization tips.
Five tips to make your WordPress website mobile user-friendly
Go through the list of tips and strategies listed below and offer a frictionless experience to every visitor on your WordPress website:
#1: Use Responsive Plugins & Theme
Plugins are used to expand the features and functionalities of the website. Fortunately, WordPress has a plethora of options when it comes to different kinds of plugins.
However, you must ensure that your plugins are responsive and include widgets and CTAs (if any) that can adapt to various screen types. In fact, for better results, you can also use mobile optimization plugins like WPtouch.
These plugins can help you by enabling mobile-friendly versions of your website, optimizing the appearance, and more. Just ensure that your plugins are up to date and remain compatible with the WordPress updates.
Besides plugins, the theme that you use for your WordPress website should also be responsive and dynamic. In simple words, it should be mobile-optimized. If you want a custom theme, hire professionals to design responsive themes for your website. Finding a good web designer who can help you create a responsive website can be challenging. One great way to find someone is to go to LinkedIn and look for professionals who offer this service. You can use an email finder tool to look for their email address and contact them about the opportunity.
You can also use LinkedIn automation tools like scrappers, extract email addresses through LinkedIn sales navigators, and reach out with their best email addresses.
#2: Optimize Media
Different media, like images and videos, add aesthetic appeal to your website and enrich the content. However, bulky media can sometimes slow the website’s load time.
Ideally, your website should take three seconds to load. The longer the delay, the greater the risk of losing a potential consumer.
Only use files with optimized sizes. Compression tools like Imagify, which do not affect the quality of the image, can optimize and compress the file size. With this tool, you can restore the original version anytime you want.
You can also try the ‘lazy loading’ technique to optimize the load speed. It defers the image load time and prioritizes textual content, reducing the load on the server and increasing the speed.
Whatever your course of action, do not let the images affect your website’s performance. WordPress 4.4 addresses this issue by default and serves the smallest version of the image available on your server.
Moreover, it would help if you also tried to optimize your website’s load time by making it more mobile-compatible. You can also set up Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) on your website. It enables stripped-down HTML copies of existing webpage content, ensuring faster load time.
#3: Test Mobile-Friendliness
The best thing about having a WordPress website is that you are part of a large, constantly evolving family. Numerous online tools can assist you in improving your WordPress website in multiple ways.
You can use some tools to test your website’s mobile-friendliness to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Google’s free mobile-friendly testing tool can be your go-to companion.
Just paste your website’s URL and perform the testing. It will test your website’s performance across different mobile devices and screen types and generate a detailed report. Identify the problem areas and work on them.
There are many other tools that you can use to check the responsiveness of your website design, theme, etc. Explore your options and pick the ones to help you make more informed decisions.
#4: Find a Reliable Web Host
A reliable web hosting partner can play a crucial role in deciding the performance and, ultimately, the fate of your website. It is better to opt for managed WordPress hosting as it can ensure better results.
While shared hosting is economical but less suitable than managed hosting solutions, managed-to-host solutions ensure frequent backups, manage WordPress updates, and offer extensive reliability.
Moreover, a good web host service provider can also automate many tasks for you. It can make your website more robust, secure, and safe from external threats and issues.
Your host should also handle things like CDN, SSL certification, page caching, security, etc. It should also ensure good speed, robust performance, substantial bandwidth, and extensive support. This will shape the performance of your website and ultimately lead to a great mobile browsing experience.
#5: Add Prominent CTA’s
Mobile websites are mandatory for gaining the necessary exposure. However, you may sometimes get visitors who want more and prefer the convenience and easy accessibility of an app.
You can build a WordPress app for such consumers and give them easy access. Include an elaborate section discussing the benefits of switching to the app and adding prominent links or CTA (Call to Action) buttons to facilitate Android and iOS app downloads.
You can have two buttons redirect visitors to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. This will reduce the risks of abandonment and traffic migration. It will also boost your online presence and make your brand mobile-friendly.
We are wrapping up!
That was all from our end today. It was an insightful tour, and you learned something from it. Proceed to implement the tips above and make your online brand more mobile-friendly.
The strength of mobile-friendly consumers will only expand in the coming years, so make the most of it. You can look for more affordable and advanced DIY options to build apps if you wish to avoid going through the laborious process of custom app development.
The ultimate goal should be to make your website more likable for modern-day visitors. So, go ahead and make your WordPress website more mobile-friendly! Amplify your reach and grow your online brand like never before!