4 Reasons to Get a Mobile-First Design for Your Website

As of today, the importance of having a mobile-friendly website should be properly balanced.

With most internet users accessing websites on mobile devices, professional companies should prioritize mobile optimization in all their site aspects.

But why is a website with a mobile-first design so important?

In this article, you’ll discover the multiple benefits of getting a website designed with a mobile-first approach and how it can help your business reach a wider audience and enhance its overall user experience.

What Is Mobile-First Design?

Mobile-first design is an approach that prioritizes designing and developing websites and applications for mobile devices first before considering other versions, such as tablet or desktop ones.

The fundamental principle behind a mobile-first design is to start with the smallest screen size and work your way up to larger ones so it becomes easier to focus on the core content and features that are most important for smartphone users.

4 Reasons to Have a Website with a Mobile-First Design

Here are some essential reasons to get a mobile-first website:

Touch Optimization

Touch optimizations are the first thing to consider when getting a mobile-first design for your professional website.

Mobile devices rely on touch interactions contrary to clicks, making it essential to optimize your website for finger-friendly navigation and reassure them about your website’s usability. 

Usually, it involves adapting some components for a more portable-friendly utilization:

• Displaying larger tap targets. Unlike traditional desktop and laptop computers, where we interact with the screen using a precise cursor, mobile devices demand a more generous approach. By increasing the size of interactive elements such as buttons, links, and icons, you can minimize the risk of accidental taps and ensure that users can easily navigate the website.
• Avoiding drop-down menus. While drop-down menus may be a space-saving solution on desktop computers, they can be cumbersome and challenging for mobile devices. Instead, it’s standard best practice to opt for alternatives such as hamburger or accordion-style menus, which are more conducive to touch interactions.
• Ensuring that interactive elements are spaced enough. Cramming too many elements into a small space can lead to frustration and accidental taps. By providing ample spacing between interactive elements, users can easily select the desired option without accidentally triggering unwanted actions.

By taking care of these elements for your business website, users can more easily browse your content and discover your offers.

Mobile-Friendly Features 

Another top reason to have a mobile-first website for your brand is undoubtedly its ability to use some specific features that are more likely to be used by visitors on portable devices rather than on a computer.

A mobile-first approach allows you to incorporate specific features for these devices that can provide contextually relevant content and functionality by considering their unique characteristics and limitations.

Some of the following features can be incorporated into a mobile-first design:

• Geolocation. This feature allows websites and web apps to access the user’s location. It can provide contextually relevant content, such as nearby restaurants or attractions. However, this functionality isn’t mobile-first by itself but has a mobile app-like behavior and perfectly fits within a design intended for mobiles.
• Camera access. This functionality allows the user to take photos or videos using the device’s camera for various purposes, such as uploading UGC content online. As for the geolocalisation, this feature also has a smartphone app-like behavior, helping websites that use it to simulate an app experience.
• Device orientation. This feature allows websites and web app users to adjust their content to their device’s orientation, which can be landscape or portrait. The ability to adapt a screen according to specific devices is one of the multiple functionalities that can be integrated into a website and web app to make it more responsive.

Search Engine Benefits

A mobile-first design approach can also significantly enhance a website’s ability to appear in search results, as nowadays, search engines like Google prioritize sites that provide a seamless experience on mobile devices. 

In fact, Google now uses mobile-first robots to browse websites and discover their content, meaning that the mobile version of each website is considered for indexing and possible apparition in search results.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to have a well-optimized site embracing a mobile-first design strategy to cater to the growing number of mobile users while aligning with search engine best practices for improved visibility and organic traffic.

Additionally, websites featuring a mobile-friendly design also benefit from higher engaging metrics such as longer session duration and lower bounce rates, which are considered positive ranking factors by search engines. 

Faster Loading Times

Another good reason to embrace a mobile-friendly design for a professional website is to benefit from faster loading times, as page responsiveness also depends on the person who visits your site and its network availability.

That’s where making some adjustments to its design to ensure it becomes mobile-friendly or making it mobile-first from the beginning can significantly improve page speed.

It uses layouts and visual components built for smaller screens with a more straightforward method to optimize a website’s content delivery, as this optimization process often involves employing a minimalist design philosophy, where unnecessary elements are removed to highlight essential content and functionalities better.

A fast and mobile-friendly design usually involves:

• the use of lightweight images
• efficient coding practices
• minification techniques
• unnecessary functionalities removal

The more these aspects are considered during a website design process, the more likely a professional website can offer its users with a satisfying browsing experience by reducing the time required to display its content.

And that’s it for this article!

You now perfectly understand the reason for having a website made with a mobile-first design.

Whether to improve your website usability or reach a wider audience, implementing it is more likely to positively impact your site’s outcomes in the coming years as more and more users browse the web using their portable devices.