5 Ways to Optimize Your WordPress Site for Mobile
The number of smartphone users worldwide has drastically upsurge. In fact, over few years the number of mobile users to access the internet has outshined the number of desktop or laptop users. This reason is enough to optimize your WordPress site for mobile. Failing to do so will let you miss out opportunities and reach a bigger market of customers.
So, if you want to make the best from available opportunities then have a look at the following tips. These will help you optimize your WordPress sites and make them mobile-ready!
#1 Using Mobile-Friendly Themes
You can keep your website theme consistent throughout mobile and desktop versions, by selecting mobile-friendly themes.
This way, you don’t have to develop separate websites for each platform. There are numerous mobile themes available, and you can have a look at some of them right here!
- Twenty Fourteen – This is a default theme that is ideal for numerous websites. It is attractive, responsive, and can fit any screen size.
- Metro – This is another top-selling theme that is great to display your site across a range of mobile platforms.
- Scherzo – With this minimalist theme you can make a mobile responsive website.
- Mayashop – If you have an e-commerce site then the Jigshop plugin is an excellent solution that works flawlessly with this theme.
#2 Employ Plugins
With different types of plugins available, website owners can easily optimize their WordPress website for mobile.
You can use a simple plugin to make your website content easy to read and navigate on mobile. The WordPress Mobile Pack is a popular plugin that offers you total control over the mobile version of your website. It even makes it easy to identify most popular devices.
Another plugin is WP Mobile Detector that offers a simple way to optimize a website design for mobile devices. This detector is compatible with numerous smartphones, web-enabled processes, and tablets.
#3 Creating a Responsive Site
Responsive sites are one that appropriately responds to devices they are being viewed on. When viewed on the desktop the website is showcased in one way, and when presented on smartphone it is showcased in another way.
Creating a responsive website means that you can customize it automatically, no matter what is the source of viewing. So, to make sure your website is able to serve visitors a rich experience, you must create a responsive site design.
#4 Reduce Graphics
Just think about the mobile screen. It is not as big as the screen of a laptop or desktop. Though the screens are much bigger as compared to what they were earlier, filling your website with fancy graphics can take loads of time and hence will ensure that your site is not ideal for mobile surfers.
This point is especially true for e-commerce sites. The busy shoppers don’t want to get bombarded with graphics that are of no use to them. They want to make a purchase as efficiently and quickly as possible. Hence, veto excess graphics and try to create a website design that is simple and takes very less time to load. Only then it would be able to perform well on the mobile.
#5 Avoid Silly SEO Mistakes
Google has set everything to help site owners who wish to work on improving the SEO experience of their mobile site.
The very first thing is to fetch your site higher rankings in Google search results. If there are any issues pertaining to it, then you must find a solution immediately. This can be done through Google Search Console Tool.
Also, avoid using any misconfigured robots.txt sitemap or file that can restrict Google from accessing your website. Broken or bad redirecting links, particularly those that affect mobile can damage your website’s image. Using a plugin such as Yoast SEO can help you enhance your SEO, as well as identify some errors.
Furthermore, if you have employed any pop-up plugin or downloading the app then make sure it does not block the entire mobile screen. A better way is to use less intrusive ad display and deactivate popups for mobile.
Check for a font size of your mobile. A large font size of around 16px is appropriate. Even the long-form articles in your website must be in a single column form with no sidebars on the screen. Most importantly, make sure the buttons or tap targets are at least 44px, which is the minimum requirement from Apple.
Wrapping Up
Besides following these tips religiously, it is of utmost importance to track your site’s progress on mobile versions. Google Analytics is an excellent tool to track mobile visits separately. With this feature, you can see how much traffic is available on your mobile and what pages are getting most of it.
So, do keep these tips in consideration and sure you would be able to optimize your website for the curious, mobile users.