{"id":5719,"date":"2020-11-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jimdo.com/blog\/?p=5719"},"modified":"2021-06-18T16:46:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T14:46:00","slug":"build-mobile-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jimdo.com/blog\/build-mobile-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make a Mobile Website"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having a mobile-optimized website used to be considered a nice perk of web design, but now it\u2019s essential. In fact, consumers are so used to mobile websites (easy to navigate on a small screen, and with quick load times) that they will quickly leave a website if it doesn\u2019t work well on mobile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a website for your business, you\u2019ve heard again and again how important mobile customers can be. At which point, you probably ask yourself, \u201cWell, is my<\/em> website mobile friendly?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you use Jimdo\u2019s mobile website builder<\/a>, there\u2019s good news. Your website will automatically be mobile responsive<\/strong>, which is the gold standard of mobile friendly web design. Jimdo mobile website templates will adjust to fit any screen size automatically, without you needing to do anything special. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, if you\u2019re wondering what more you can do to create the best mobile website, or if you\u2019re curious about the benefits of mobile friendly web design in the first place, read on as we walk you through some mobile tips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is a mobile friendly website so important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lots of people use mobile:<\/strong> Mobile website usage (in other words, using a website on-the-go from a smartphone or tablet) has been on the rise for years. In 2015, Google announced that for the first time in history, more people were searching from mobile devices than from desktop or laptop computers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
Mobile-friendly websites are especially important for local businesses, whose customers often find them when they’re on-the-go.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Going mobile-friendly helps your Google ranking:<\/strong> There\u2019s a clear SEO benefit<\/a> to having your website optimized for mobile, because Google prioritizes mobile-optimized websites in search results on smartphones. This means that if someone was searching for \u201cpizza\u201d from their mobile phone, Google would be more likely to show that person mobile-optimized websites near them in search results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile customers tend to be local and ready to buy:<\/strong> People visiting your website via a mobile device are often more local, and more likely to make a purchase because they are on the go. If you search for \u201cpizza\u201d from your mobile phone, it\u2019s probably because you want pizza right now<\/em> and you want pizza that\u2019s right near you. While it\u2019s still common for customers to use a desktop to do research, read reviews, and make decisions about major purchases, mobile consumers are more focused on making contact and taking action right at this moment, which is why local search optimization<\/a> is so important. A mobile friendly website can help them do just that, translating into more local business for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Bring your business online with Jimdo.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Start Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is a responsive website?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever visited a website on your mobile phone and found yourself squinting to read the text, or constantly zooming in and out to see everything, then you certainly know what visiting a mobile \u201cunfriendly\u201d site is like. Frustrating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why we recommend using responsive design. A responsive website automatically adjusts to the type of device your visitors are using by changing the resolution, image size, menus, and more so that they make sense on different screen sizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
A mobile-friendly and responsive website will automatically adjust to any screen size.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With a responsive website, you don\u2019t need to build a separate website only for mobile devices or a separate mobile landing page\u2014all your users can coexist happily using the same responsive website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to make a website mobile friendly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are a few other simple steps you can take to improve your website on cell phones and tablets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s \u201cMobile-Friendly\u201d Test: <\/strong>Conveniently, Google provides a simple and free way to diagnose many mobile issues on your website. Just go to Google\u2019s Mobile-Friendly Test <\/a>and type in your website URL. This test might tell you, for example, that your text is too small, or that touch elements like buttons and links that are too close together for people to hit with their fingers. This is also a great way to check your website accessibility in general<\/a>. <\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Design a logo that makes your business stand out.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Design yours now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tips for the best mobile websites:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Make sure your pages load quickly:<\/strong> Mobile users are likely using a slower internet connection, so it\u2019s all the more important that your site loads quickly and isn\u2019t eating up their data plan. There are free tools you can use to test your page speeds, and they\u2019ll give you recommendations on what you can do to make things faster. For example, you can shrink very large images (see below), remove any unnecessary plugins or popups that are slowing things down, and cut down the number of URL redirects you\u2019re using.\u00a0
    <\/li>
  2. Resize and optimize your images and logo: <\/strong>Are the images and logo on your website<\/a> much bigger than what you actually need? Photographs from stock photography sites and even photos taken with a good digital camera can come with huge file sizes (as in over 1MB), for example\u2014and this can slow down your website. The good news is you can \u201ccompress\u201d them without losing their quality, using a free tool like TinyPNG<\/a> or TinyJPG<\/a>. You can also change a photo\u2019s dimensions to make it smaller (for example by making it 800 pixels wide rather than 2000 pixels wide). For more tips and how-tos on images, see our post How to Optimize Website Images for Better Design and SEO<\/a>.
    <\/li>
  3. Use a simple, short navigation menu: <\/strong>If your website has a complex navigation menu with lots of pages and subpages, it will be harder for mobile visitors to find what they need quickly. On an even more practical level, it will be difficult for them to aim and successfully poke the right link with their finger. Making your navigation menu shorter and simpler<\/a> will help (and, as an added bonus, will make your website easier for desktop visitors too!).\u00a0
    <\/li>
  4. Create clear contact information:<\/strong> Since mobile customers probably want to get in touch, make sure your homepage doesn\u2019t require lots and lots of scrolling to get to your contact info. Also, be sure to put in a phone number and email address that someone could click on, because filling out a contact form on a mobile phone can be time-consuming and annoying.\u00a0
    <\/li>
  5. Show the most important content first: <\/strong>Website visitors want to find the information they need quickly, and that\u2019s even more true when they are on-the-go.\u00a0
    <\/li>
  6. Use large text and buttons:<\/strong> People using mobile devices need even larger text and call-to-action buttons<\/a> than you might expect in order to be able to use a website comfortably. The best way to test this is to look at your website in the different View Modes. This will show you how your site appears on different screens, and you can see for yourself how everything looks. Better yet, ask a friend or relative (or someone who wears glasses) to test your website for you<\/a> and let you know what they think.\u00a0
    <\/li>
  7. Don’t use Flash animations:<\/strong> Flash effects or animations don\u2019t work on iPhones or iPads, so a big part of your audience won\u2019t get to see what\u2019s on your site. If you use Jimdo you\u2019re in luck: our websites all use the more up-to-date HTML5, which is accessible to all types of smartphones and tablets.\u00a0<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Common mobile website mistakes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n