Mobile Optimize Your Site with WordPress

In our last blog post, we compared mobile sites versus mobile apps. In this article, we are going to continue with examining which options are best for your business by looking at mobile sites versus responsive sites. As always, we recommend WordPress for mobile optimizing your digital presence.

Mobile Site or Responsive Site?

When web developers first began responding to the increasing mobile web traffic, the most chosen option was to improve user experience (US) by creating a mobile site. This was a distinct site separate from the desktop site, typically offering reduced content while targeting users with varying needs and devices.

Today, internet usage is vastly changed. Millions of consumers use only a mobile device for accessing the internet, and average time spent online via mobile surpasses desktop access. This means that your visitors are expecting the same type of UX via their mobile device that a desktop would deliver, and they can quickly become dissatisfied with inferior results.

So, do you have two websites? Typically, a responsive website will be preferable to a separate mobile site. You can choose between hundreds, maybe more, high quality responsive WordPress themes available in the market, including the free default themes.

How WordPress Has Embraced Mobile

The developers of WordPress are in general the best of the lot, always driving the latest trends rather than reacting to them. WordPress incorporates mobile in a variety of ways. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Responsive Admin Screens for Mobile

With the release of WordPress 3.8 in December 2013 (we’re on WordPress 4.9.6 now), the admin screens received a critical overhaul that made them responsive. This means you can manage your WordPress site from any device you have, from iPads, laptops, and more.

Responsive Images

Making images truly responsive is an objective that web developers have been pursuing for some years. Rather than simply resizing images to fit their container use CSS, now images are sent in the appropriate size for each device based upon screen size. WordPress has a feature than saves multiple versions of each image you upload, at varying sizes. Some plugins ensure that on mobile devices, the smallest image is sent to the browser that will still look good on the page. Now, the srcset HTML attribute in included in the core so plugins aren’t necessary anymore.

Optimizing Your Site for Mobile Users

We hope you are now convinced that you need a responsive WordPress website that is optimized for your potential and existing customers across all devices. If you haven’t already started this process, the easiest method to begin is to select a responsive WordPress theme. This will give you a combination of fluid layouts, which use percentages for width rather than pixels, and media queries to create a layout that works well on any screen size.

Optimizing Your Website for Mobile is a Must

The latest research indicates that you cannot afford to ignore mobile visitors to your WordPress site. Also keep in mind that more people are likely to use their mobile browser than download an app, and the average hours spent on mobile devices surpasses time spent on a desktop.

If you site isn’t optimized for mobile users, you need to act quickly to keep a competitive edge. WordPress continues to make the process easier to accomplish this goal.

NOYO Web Developers for Mobile Optimization

NOYO Web Developers have extensive experience with creating mobile optimized websites. We work closely with each client to understand their business needs and produce the best solutions to ensure excellent UX with each visitor. Contact us today for a free consultation.