Mobile Mania or Mobile Sensical?

Mobile Friendly Web userMobile mania has arrived! Google has rolled out its new algorithm in which it gives favoritism to websites that are optimized for mobile. The big question is: are you optimized? If not, perhaps you’ve begun to see a descent in your rankings. Before you break out in a sweat and start banging your head against the wall at more changes, take a deep breath and keep reading. Even if you are still trudging through the mire of the mobile world and using your spare minutes to update your site, it’s not going to be the end of the world. 

First things first, get a mobile strategy! Once you have a plan in place, whether you are creating a separate mobile version of your site, or going with a responsive design, the rest of the steps will fall into place. Once you have your strategy, it’s time to think to take a look at some items that will help you optimize your site and stay in Google’s good graces.

Is Your Site Mobile-Friendly?

Take in the big picture - is your current theme mobile-friendly? If not, rather than adjusting your theme, it might be time to consider an entire redesign. It’s worth the time and a little extra money to get the opinion of a professional web designer who can give you some advice on responsive themes and the benefits you will receive. This might be the perfect excuse for a new updated, refreshed look. You can check to see if your site is mobile friendly (according to Google) via this link: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

How Do You Measure?

When you are optimizing for mobile, you need to track your stats just like a desktop. Make sure you have your analytics in place, whether you are using Google Analytics or another system. It’s important for you to see what is and isn’t working so that you can continually adjust for optimal response rate.

Missing Pages

“Hey, where’d the information go?” It’s common for mobile sites to be a shortened version of your desktop site. There might very well be fewer pages, but don’t fall into the trap of having 404 error pages. In order to save yourself future headache, you can have the option of offering the desktop version on your mobile site or you can simply have a search field or menu so that customers can easily access the information you need. Even if your mobile site is an abbreviated version, you still want to give your customers easy access to your content. 

Widgets

It might be easy to overlook your social media widgets or other content icons and that is why we’re here to remind you about them. All of your widgets need to work well with mobile devices. Nowadays, most providers will offer responsive widgets or mobile specific versions

A Blank Screen

There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to pull up content on your mobile device. Double check and make sure that ALL of your content is compatible with mobile devices. And keep in mind that flash media doesn’t work on iOS platforms. However, there are other programs that you can use that will convert flash files into other usable formats.

Load Those Pages

Just as in the desktop version, your mobile pages should load quickly. That is why you will see many responsive designs that are clean and streamlined and not loaded down with a bunch of images and video. You want to make the user experience as appealing as possible. 

Remember folks, this isn’t the end of the world. All that is needed is a little reading on your part to understand Google’s new mobile algorithm and how it affects you. Changes to your site can be easy and painless, not the manic hysteria that some people make it out to be. Keep a smart head on your shoulders and with a few tweaks here and there, you will be ready for the world of mobile and can confidently say, “bring it on!”