It's been two full months since Google rolled out its infamous Mobilegeddon update, and while it is important to remember that this update affected only mobile users, a recent report of the impact of Mobilegeddon goes to show that sites who didn't optimize their interface for mobile visitors have lost as many as 35% of total mobile visits, which can be devastating for a business that depends on organic search traffic. So what can you do to make your website ready for mobile devices?

Optimize for mobile devicesSource: kaboompics / Pixabay.com
Image Source: kaboompics – Pixabay.com / License: CC0 Public Domain

The WordPress themes here at MH Themes are all optimized for a smooth mobile experience. If you have been meaning to become a customer, now is the perfect time to get started. Hiring a freelance developer to do all the work for you usually is going to end up costing you hundreds if not thousands of dollars, money that could be spent elsewhere for much better return of investment.

It's still common to find blogs and websites that run WordPress without any kind of mobile optimization enabled. It really does make for an unpleasant experience on mobile, so today we're taking a look at some of the best ways of making your sites mobile friendly in the best way possible.

Test your site for mobile experience

Mobile friendly testing

Before we plunge into the tips, take this quick test over at Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to determine whether your site is optimized for mobile or not, at least according to the standards of Google. If the test fails and your site isn't mobile ready, there will be plenty of links provided to help you optimize for mobile. You can also follow the rest of this article and be done with it.

Get a responsive WordPress theme

Responsive Magazine WordPress Themes

If your WordPress site is not mobile-friendly, chances are the WordPress theme you are using is not a responsive one; meaning it does not adapt to the size of the device used to browse your site. We've got plenty of WordPress themes available at our own directory, but the web and even the official WordPress theme repository is a vast ocean of themes that will give you mobile functionality.

Responsive Layout Tags

As shown in the picture above, when looking for a WordPress theme in the official WordPress Theme Directory, always look for tags like "responsive layout" or "mobile layout", and you'll know that the particular WordPress theme is going to be mobile-friendly.

Get a mobile-friendly plugin

Mobile WordPress App
Image Source: MariusMB – Pixabay.com – CC0 Public Domain

It's understandable when a website that you've spent countless hours building and perfecting is too much of a treasure to let go of, and perhaps a huge investment in a web developer is also not within your budget. For those cases - we recommend looking into mobile-optimization plugins, something that WordPress stands out with. A single plugin to make your site mobile friendly? Sounds great!

  • MobileView - Transform your WordPress site into a mobile-friendly theme for various devices including iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Windows Phone.
  • WP Smart Mobile - WP Smart Mobile automatically gets your WordPress website or blog mobile-ready with a beautiful theme that automatically adjusts depending on the device it's accessed on, whether it's an iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or Windows.
  • Jetpack - Instant and customizable lightweight responsive WordPress layout designed for phones and tablets. Jetpack is an extensive plugin that offers plenty of modules.

Technically, the only disadvantage of these mobile WordPress plugins is that they're awfully similar, with heavier customizations to be done by writing custom code; perhaps not something everyone is capable of doing. Usually a responsive WordPress theme is always the best option.

Optimize your content for mobile devices

Mobile Optimization
Image Source: FirmBee – Pixabay.com / License: CC0 Public Domain

A good and optimized mobile theme will go a long way, it will even go as far as protecting your site from the impact of Mobilegeddon. However, it isn't always going to provide the best content experience right out of the bat, which is why this last section of this article is dedicated to optimizing your content for a mobile-friendly experience. Take these following tips into consideration when creating your next piece of awesome content:

  • Headlines - Mobile users are always on the go, always ready to consume interesting tidbits of content, which is why working on making your headlines as interesting as possible can be one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself and your mobile readers.
  • Scrolling - Seriously, pagination on mobile devices is ancient history. Let users scroll your content infinitely, even if that requires of you to install an additional plugin. Mobile users are used to swiping up and down, and left and right by now.
  • Tell stories - Take advantage of modern capabilities of platforms such as WordPress and tell stories with your content. Be as engaging as possible to keep your readers interested in coming back for more.

Not at all difficult things to keep an eye on, but this will be of most value to yourself and your mobile readers both short-term and long-term. We hope that this roundup of tips and insights will set you on your way of optimizing your site for the best possible mobile experience.

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