Website mobile optimisation best practice for small business owners

Websites are a business’s digital storefront and practically every company has invested in their own internet real estate. These ecommerce digital stores, however, interact differently on desktop and mobiles. Considering the majority of internet surfers access the web through their phones, optimising this version is crucial to build your brand’s authority and keep customers returning to your website.

Getting your mobile SEO strategy right takes a couple of steps that we explain in this article. From tracking mobile behaviour to using contact widgets, we walk you through the ins and outs of mobile optimisation and its benefits. After implementing these steps, you should feel confident that all your users, whether they’re visiting from a desktop computer or a smartphone, are having a positive interaction with your brand.

What is mobile optimisation?

Mobile optimisation is the process of tailoring your website content to provide a user-friendly experience for visitors accessing your site from mobile devices. This customisation is essential because mobile devices typically have smaller screens, and users are often on the go, making it key to capture their attention quickly.

To achieve mobile optimisation, you may need to alter the content of your website, including text, images, and layout. This could involve creating responsive design elements that adapt to different screen sizes, optimising images for faster loading, and simplifying navigation for touchscreens.

Mobile optimization also extends to other digital marketing efforts, such as social media advertisements. By tailoring your ads and content for mobile users, you can improve your ranking on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) since search engines reward mobile-friendly sites.

Why is mobile optimisation important for small businesses?

Google reports that more searches are now conducted on mobile devices than on desktop computers, and statistics show that 55% of website traffic is generated through mobile devices.. This means that potential customers are increasingly using mobile platforms to discover products and services. As a small business, you want to put your best foot forward to make a positive and memorable first impression with new clientele.

Mobile optimization contributes to a smooth and hassle-free purchasing process, from product discovery to checkout, enhancing the overall user experience and increasing the likelihood of conversions. For small businesses, this mobile-first approach is essential in staying competitive, reaching their target audience effectively and boosting sales.

10 website mobile optimisation tips for small business owners

1. Establish a mobile SEO strategy for your website

From integrating responsive design to ensuring pop-ups work the way they should, having a clear game plan for how you’ll implement your mobile site’s SEO will make it easier to rank higher in the SERPs. Have a list of must-do items to optimise your site, test it out, and keep track of the response it’s getting after its rollout.

2. Design your site to be mobile-friendly

Think carefully about design placements, images, and the navigation of your site. Approach your mobile optimisation with the eyes of the user. What would make it easier to check out items? How can you go straight to the page you need to answer your questions about the brand? By keeping the user intent at heart, it’ll be easier to optimise your mobile site.

3. Always preview for mobile when changing your site

No matter how perfect you think your coding is or how seamless it looks on the backend, make sure to double check it’s all looking the way it should on mobile. Not only do you get peace of mind that it’s running smoothly, but will ensure that your mobile users are having the streamlined experience you’ve designed for them.

4. Understand how mobile-first indexing works

Mobile-first indexing basically refers to the mobile version of your site becoming the starting point of how Google includes you in their index. Although you can still rank with just your desktop site, not having a mobile version can negatively affect your ranking.

5. Use contact widgets designed for mobile users

It’s inevitable that your customers will want to get in touch with you at some point. Whether that’s to inquire about a product, complain, or share positive feedback. Having contact widgets that are the right size and easy to fill in will be key to make the mobile experience as user-friendly as possible.

6. Avoid long paragraphs

Having to scroll through piles of text on mobile can be painful for the user. Breaking up your copy into bite-size chunks streamlines the mobile experience.

7. Ensure content is the same on desktop and mobile

This is to avoid being accused of duplicating content or cloaking. To ace this step, you can use responsive design. This means creating a style sheet that automatically transitions designs between different platforms and devices. This step will also make sure all users have access to the exact same information about your business.

8. Use code instead of images to improve site speed

The rule for mobile optimisation is that if you can code it, you should. An image overload on your website design can make your site speed turtle slow. The last thing you do is your user abandoning your site because it won’t load and going straight to the competition.

9. Integrate auto-fill form fields and auto-detect location settings

Chances are, if customers know exactly what they are buying from your website, they want to finish the payment stage as quickly as possible. Auto-fill forms are great for that. They make a customer’s experience frictionless, they get the product they want, and they leave your site feeling they got exactly what they needed.

10. Track mobile behaviour

As you optimise your website to be mobile-friendly, collect data to understand how users are behaving when interacting with your brand on their smartphones or tablets. This will give you hints about what is and isn’t working on your mobile site, and give the data-led insights needed to optimise accordingly.

Mobile optimisation benefits for small businesses

• Increased sales → With more users searching and shopping on mobile, a mobile-friendly site can capture a larger audience, engage them effectively, and provide a seamless path to purchase, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and increased sales.
• Better SEO ranking → Search engines prioritise mobile-friendly websites, rewarding them with better rankings. Responsive design, fast loading, and mobile-specific content increase user engagement, reducing bounce rates. This boosts the site’s authority and relevance, positively impacting SEO rankings and increasing the likelihood of being found by potential customers.
• Social media followers becoming real customers at higher rates → social media is the top sales generator for a quarter of UK small businesses. Although not every SME will have their brand integrated into social commerce, it’s likely they’ll have a link to their website on their bio. Social media users can easily become active buyers if your website is optimised for mobile, as they’ll experience a seamless buying process that will make them return to your brand later down the line.
• Faster load times → Mobile optimization accelerates website load times by reducing unnecessary elements and streamlining content. It involves techniques like image compression, minifying code, and leveraging browser caching. Responsive design ensures that resources are scaled appropriately for different devices, enhancing loading speed. Mobile optimization also prioritises mobile-friendly formats and content, minimising data transfer and improving user experience. These measures collectively result in faster load times, reducing user frustration and bounce rates while enhancing SEO, as search engines favour faster-loading mobile sites.
• Enhanced customer retention → a mobile-optimised website is a magnet for customers. This is because the product discovery and purchasing journey is streamlined, keeping the user’s intent at heart. The less frustrations they encounter along the way, the more likely it is they’ll come back for their second purchase.