Traffic! It’s something everyone wants for their website or blog. But, in some cases, when we are striving to gain more traffic, we can actually lead ourselves into a problem; a problem that can undermine all the hard work we have put into building our website.
By focusing on gaining traffic, some completely ignore important factors that are causing the loss of the same. Since sending traffic to a website that makes the visitors bounce is similar to pumping water from a broken pipe. So, what is the smart move here? To fix the pipe, or to pump more water?
So, is your website leaking traffic?
Do Not Ignore Your Mobile Visitors
The internet has changed, and your traffic has been affected. Mobile internet usage has exceeded desktop usage. Or, to put it in simple words, people are now accessing the internet from their mobile devices rather than from their desktop PCs. Since more and more people are choosing the mobile as their primary device, your website will suffer if you choose to ignore them.
Statistics say that 65 percent of emails are first opened on a mobile device, 78 percent of active users on Twitter are on the mobile and 76 percent of active users on Facebook as well. So, whatever your views on these statistics are, just remember, your visitors not stop using their mobile devices.
If you choose to ignore it, some important things will be at risk, like less traffic to your website. You can turn away from 20 to 50 percent of your potential traffic, less people will sign up for your email list, and potential readers will be lost forever. You have worked hard to build your website and your audience, so it would be insane if you ignore this important trend.
Discover How Many Mobile Visitors You Already Have
This is your first step; to find out how exactly how many of your visitors are using mobile devices. The simplest way to do this is by using Google Analytics. Log into your Google Analytics dashboard, click on “Add Segment” in the panel on the top of the screen and check the boxes for “Mobile Traffic” and “Mobile and Tablet Traffic”. Then, click “Apply”.
And, voila. You will see the percentage of visits that are coming from mobile devices and tablets. If mobile usage represents a third of your visitors, than this is a significant part of the audience and you need to take care them.
Your Website Theme Needs To Be Mobile Friendly
Has someone ever sent you a link to your smartphone that had an interesting headline that you could not resist to click on? You follow the link and you can hardly read the content because everything is so tiny and you need to pinch and zoom in so that you can read everything. Go ahead and visit your website on your mobile device and see how it looks. If you have to zoom in, then you need to use a mobile responsive theme.
If you are using a self-hosted WordPress, the odds that you already have a mobile-responsive theme are high. A mobile-responsive theme detects the visitor’s device and adapts the resolution accordingly. These themes use consistent design across all device resolutions, including desktops. There are some themes that are free, but if you want a professional looking theme, accompanied with good technical support, you can look at the reviews of some of the best mobile website development companies that can create a mobile-responsive theme for your website.
Text Links Need To Be Replaced With Menus and Buttons
Websites which are not mobile friendly can give visitors a bad case of “Fat Finger Syndrome”, which occurs when links and buttons on the website are so small that visitors cannot accurately tap on them with their fingers. Even after you have installed a mobile-responsive theme, there are some elements that need to be changed to avoid this issue.
Touch targets vary from device to device, but the point is to make the buttons large enough so as not to frustrate the visitors. When you are creating them, make sure that they do not crowd the space; that leads to yet another case of the “Fat Finger Syndrome”.
There are many plugins that can help you make simple text buttons, which are particularly useful when creating a call-to-action button. You can also use a plugin to create a more mobile friendly navigation menu, like a “hamburger” menu.
Create Content Your Mobile Visitors Will Love
Studies show that people who use mobile devices are more task oriented. They are usually looking for something specific, and this is why you need to create content for them. It has to be snackable, or easy to consume in small pieces. To successfully do this, start by opening a short but punchy headline using a larger font, irresistible subheadings, embed images within the subheadings, as well as bullet points and numbered lists.
There is another form of snackable content you can implement into your website, and that’s audio. Some people do not like to read and prefer to consume information by listening. Over 65 percent of podcasts are listened to on mobile devices and audio content is the most popular mobile content out there. Repurposing your content can grab the attention of people who do not like to read, but still want to consume it in other ways.
Payment and Opt-In Forms Need To Be Mobile Friendly
Every website needs more traffic, because that traffic is often converted into something else, like signups and product sales. But, if the opt-in forms are not optimized, visitors will struggle when giving you their email address. The same goes for your payment forms; if they are only designed for large screens, visitors will struggle when handing over credit card details.
There are some WordPress plugins that can help you with this, and if you are selling products, some third party tools will provide your visitors with a mobile-friendly checkout experience.
Create Emails That Will Look Good on Mobile Devices
Making your website and its content mobile friendly is a big step forward, but you need to think beyond that. You have already heard it many times before, that you need to build a mailing list, and if you have followed that phenomenal advice, it is time to make sure that the emails you sent to people from your list are also mobile friendly.
Like we mentioned above, 65 percent of all emails are first opened on mobile devices, and if those emails do not look good on a smartphone, you will be responsible for crippling the effectiveness of that hard earned mailing list.
If you have not yet built a list, opt for an email provider that offers mobile responsive email templates. Even if you do not want to use an email template especially optimized for mobiles, you can improve the experience for your visitors by opting for a single-column template, because having more than one column will force visitors to pinch and zoom and this is something you want to avoid.
Before your readers even see how nicely your emails are structured and how good they look on their mobile devices, you need to push them to open them.
When you are sending emails, you can choose the display the name of the person who is sending it, but when it comes to mobile devices, the sender’s name is more visible than the subject line when compared to emails on desktop devices. Make sure that the name is clear so that your recipients know from whom the email is from, because confusion will reduce success rates.
If you decide to do just one thing from this guide to making your website mobile friendly, remember, if you are serious about traffic, you also need to get serious about mobile experiences. Your website needs to catch up, because what is the point of going after traffic. If your website is throwing most of that traffic away and if you do not do anything about your mobile users, you will only work harder to maintain the growth of your website while others will just ride the wave of the mobile revolution.
So, follow the tips we have given you above and fix all the leaks on your website. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll experience a spike in mobile traffic.