[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Introduction” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
The way we use the internet has changed significantly from the days of the cumbersome family computer in the living room. As of February 2023, over 60% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices (Oberlo<\/a>). On top of that, over 40% of the websites we visit are built on WordPress (HubSpot<\/a>).<\/p>\n Need help selling websites? Get your copy of our Million-Dollar Pitch Deck for selling digital today!<\/a><\/p>\n The good news for you and your clients is that making a mobile-friendly WordPress website doesn\u2019t need to be difficult. But sorting through the thousands of plugins to decide just which ones will make life easier for you and your clients can be overwhelming. In this article, we\u2019ll cover the top ten tips and a list of WordPress mobile-friendly plugins to make building, developing<\/a>, and optimizing a website hassle-free.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Mobile-friendly websites 101″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re creating your clients\u2019 websites on a case-by-case basis, or looking into reselling white label websites<\/a>, you need to keep mobile top of mind. But what does it mean to have a mobile-responsive WordPress website? Simply put, it\u2019s a website that\u2019s designed to look great and work properly on smaller devices like phones and tablets. With a much smaller screen size, it\u2019s important to make it easy for customers to navigate, use font sizes that are easy to read, and fewer graphics or animations to keep loading speed in check.<\/p>\n For SMBs, ensuring their website is mobile-friendly means customers can find the information (or products) they want, have a good experience using the website, and potentially return in the future. Mobile optimization can also improve search results since Google indexes the mobile version of a website to determine rank results (known as mobile-first indexing<\/a>). Improved search results means more people will see your clients\u2019 website when they\u2019re searching \u2014 meeting potential customers when they\u2019re looking.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Challenges with creating mobile-friendly WordPress websites” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking to make a WordPress site mobile friendly, there are some things to look out for. A few culprits can cause a WordPress website to have laggy load times on mobile devices, which isn\u2019t a great experience for potential customers visiting your clients\u2019 websites. Some common causes of slow mobile WordPress experiences are:<\/p>\n With the importance of making your client\u2019s WordPress site<\/a> mobile-friendly, there are great plugins (and default settings<\/a>) that can take a WordPress website to the next level for both user experience and improving SEO results.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Top 10 Tips and Plugins to Keep a WordPress Site Mobile-Friendly” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Most websites have plenty of eye-catching images to make them engaging and keep the visitor\u2019s attention. For businesses offering products instead of services, there are also product images to take into consideration. Almost everyone has dealt with slow-to-load or even broken images while trying to navigate a website on their phone, and if the experience is too cumbersome it usually translates into leaving the site.<\/p>\n Reducing the file size, dimensions, or both, can lead to faster load times. This results in happier visitors and potentially higher SEO ranking since loading speed is a ranking factor for Google when it comes to mobile search results.<\/p>\n Another factor for people browsing on mobile devices is data. Large images can eat up data, and if people are worried about their data limits it can deter them from staying on a business\u2019s site.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: Smush<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Smush is an award-winning plugin that reduces image size without sacrificing quality. It does this through a number of techniques, including:<\/p>\n Smush allows users to optimize all images on a mobile-friendly WordPress site at once, or on an image-by-image basis.<\/p>\n Cost: <\/strong>Smush is a freemium plugin, with a free basic version and a pro option that comes with more advanced features.<\/p>\n If you aren\u2019t continuously testing your WordPress site<\/a>‘s page speed, you won\u2019t know where you\u2019re succeeding \u2014 and where there\u2019s room for improvement. You can get an idea of where you\u2019re starting from with a speed testing tool like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to measure how fast your mobile-friendly WordPress site is.<\/p>\n For businesses, site speed can directly impact income since 70% of consumers stated page speed influences whether they\u2019re likely to purchase from an e-commerce site (Unbounce<\/a>). Ideally, a mobile site should load within 1\u20132 seconds. Aside from the impact it has on ranking with Google, here are some impactful statistics about just how important site speed is for business owners like your clients:<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: NitroPack<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n NitroPack tackles site speed and performance through a variety of techniques, including:<\/p>\n NitroPack can help ensure your client\u2019s WordPress site is mobile-friendly and optimized to be as fast as possible.<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> NitroPack has a free plan as well as monthly and annual pricing for businesses of multiple sizes and needs. The free option does come with<\/p>\n When you\u2019re thinking about making a WordPress site mobile-friendly, it\u2019s crucial to remember the most important person: the potential customer on the other side of the screen. Navigating a website on a phone \u2014 even the largest, newest model \u2014 is always going to be different from the experience on a laptop or desktop. Think about where and how you access menus, how you scroll, the role of footers and headers, information hierarchy, and more. In addition to the challenges of using a website on a smaller screen, many visitors may have digital accessibility needs<\/a> that should also be considered in website design<\/a>.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: WP Mobile Menu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n WP Mobile Menu is a popular WordPress mobile-friendly plugin for creating mobile-optimized menus. The easy-to-use plugin lets you customize color, font, and icons. You can also change the menu location based on the section of your client\u2019s site and what makes sense from a design standpoint.<\/p>\n The plugin works with any WordPress theme, is optimized for search as well as being fully responsive so it works regardless of screen size, and is WooCommerce optimized.<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> WP Mobile Menu offers multiple monthly or annual plans at a variety of price points, starting at $6.49 per month for one site.<\/p>\n While plugins can solve a host of problems, sometimes they can be the cause. Too many plugins can impact how mobile-friendly your client\u2019s WordPress site is.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: Jetpack<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Jetpack has a suite of features to address performance and security vulnerabilities to make your WordPress website more mobile-friendly. Since Jetpack has so many features, you can replace multiple plugins with one tool that includes security, site stats, and performance optimization, among others.<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> Jetpack\u2019s tools also include security to protect against malware and spam, real-time backups, and a host of other features starting at $13.50 per month depending on how robust you\u2019d like your plan to be.<\/p>\n A good, responsive theme is crucial when it comes to making your WordPress website more mobile-friendly. The right them can ensure a website meets reliability and accessibility requirements, images that load quickly, an intuitive layout that works on small (and large) screens and is easy to navigate by touch rather than a mouse or trackpad. Google prioritizes mobile sites, and using a responsive theme can also improve search results \u2014 getting your client\u2019s website in front of more potential customers.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: WPTouch<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The WPTouch plugin can optimize a current WordPress website without changing the desktop experience.<\/p>\n Features:<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> WPTouch has bundles starting at $79 per year or \u00e0 la carte options so you can choose just the products that suit your client\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n To keep your client\u2019s WordPress site mobile-friendly, you need to ensure your cache is under control. But what is caching? Simply put, it\u2019s the temporary storage of data that is used frequently so that it can be accessed as quickly as possible. When someone visits your website, the server first checks the cache to see if the information is there and then checks the original source. Caching takes place at different locations, including browser caching, server-side caching, and content delivery network (CDN) caching.<\/p>\n An efficient caching system can reduce server load, speed up page load times, and only store the most necessary and relevant data. Expiring the data on a regular basis can also ensure that the stored information is always up-to-date and the most recent version of your website content.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: Hummingbird<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Hummingbird can optimize a WordPress mobile site and boost site speed through multiple tactics.<\/p>\n One of the biggest features Hummingbird offers is caching by creating a cached copy of a website’s pages and resources, which can then be accessed quickly and served to visitors as fast as possible.<\/p>\n The plugin features both browser caching and server-side caching. Browser caching stores data such as images, stylesheets, and scripts, on a visitor\u2019s device so that they don\u2019t have to be accessed from the original source every visit. With server-side caching, the information is kept on your client\u2019s web server \u2014 also allowing for faster access.<\/p>\n With Hummingbird, you can also decide how long your files are cached, determine which information you want cached, and when and how often the cache is cleared.<\/p>\n Hummingbird comes with a scanning tool that scours the entire site for files that are slowing things down and provides you with solutions to fix them.<\/p>\n Cost: <\/strong>Hummingbird is a freemium plugin, with a free basic version and a pro option that comes with more advanced features.<\/p>\n Pop-ups and messaging are key tools in any digital marketing strategy.<\/a> However, it\u2019s crucial that they don\u2019t interfere with the experience of visiting that website on a smaller screen like a phone.<\/p>\n Your clients can use pop-ups to grow their email list (leading to more marketing opportunities), increase conversions or add to cart size, and even do market research to find out more about what potential customers want.<\/p>\n Here are some ways to effectively use pop-ups on your mobile-friendly WordPress website:<\/p>\n Too many or poorly-designed pop-ups can be intrusive enough on a desktop site, but when people are using smaller screens they can make or break the browsing experience. That\u2019s why you need to make sure they\u2019re optimized for mobile websites.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: OptinMonster<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n OptinMonster is an easy-to-use pop-up builder and conversion tool to help businesses like your clients get the most out of their websites. You can build lightbox pop-ups, floating bars, slide-in pop-ups, full-screen welcomes, a spinning wheel for discounts, forms, timers, and more.<\/p>\n The plugin features a drag-and-drop pop-up builder, plenty of templates, A\/B testing<\/a>, analytics, and advanced page targeting and behavior-based personalization so your clients can customize pop-ups based on previous visits or show specific offers on certain pages.<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> OptinMonster has a basic package for $16\/month and more robust plans for businesses with multiple websites starting at $32\/month.<\/p>\n When visitors are already on their phones while browsing your customer\u2019s website, sometimes it\u2019s easier for them to call to find out the information they need. Instead of sending them digging in the menu or to Google to find out the business\u2019s contact information, a floating call now button gets customers in touch with your clients faster.<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: WP Call<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n WP Call Plugin is a user-friendly plugin for businesses to add click-to-call buttons to their mobile-friendly WordPress websites. The plugin allows customization of the button\u2019s color, text, size, and placement anywhere on the site \u2014 including specific pages and sidebars. The plugin also has analytics so you can find out which pages are more likely to prompt calls.<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> WP Call is a freemium plugin, with a free basic version and a pro option that comes with more advanced features.<\/p>\n One thing to factor into making a WordPress website mobile-friendly is cross-browser compatibility. Most of us stick to the same browser on our devices, so when visiting your client\u2019s website you might not think to check for cross-browser compatibility. But it\u2019s important for a number of reasons:<\/p>\n WordPress Mobile-Friendly Plugin: LambdaTest<\/strong><\/p>\n The LambdaTest WordPress plugin is a cloud-based tool that allows businesses to test their websites across different browsers without the need to set up a dedicated testing environment. With the plugin you can test your website directly from your WordPress dashboard, as well as record screenshots and videos of the website in different browsers.<\/p>\n Cost:<\/strong> LambdaTest is a freemium plugin with 60 minutes of testing per month on the free version and paid plans starting at $15 monthly.<\/p>\n Many mobile users keep their devices in dark mode \u2014 in fact, over 80% of people use dark mode on their phones (IncrediTools<\/a>). If you want them to have a good experience on your client\u2019s mobile website, you need to take this into account. Dark mode can be easier to read in low light, and many people choose it to help reduce eye strain. If a website isn\u2019t optimized for dark mode, people are less likely to stay on that website.<\/p>\nMobile-friendly websites 101<\/h2>\n
Challenges with creating mobile-friendly WordPress websites<\/h2>\n
\n
Top 10 Tips and Plugins to Keep a WordPress Site Mobile-Friendly<\/h2>\n
1. Optimize images for mobile-first design<\/h3>\n
\n
2. Test and improve page speed<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
3. Mobile-optimized menus and navigation<\/h3>\n
4. Remove unnecessary plugins<\/h3>\n
\n
5. Create mobile and desktop-friendly themes<\/h3>\n
\n
6. Make sure your caching is efficient<\/h3>\n
7. Mobile-optimized pop-ups and messaging<\/h3>\n
\n
8. Adaptable call-to-action buttons<\/h3>\n
9. Cross-browser compatibility<\/h3>\n
\n
10. Dark mode adaptability<\/h3>\n