You may have heard of “mobile-friendly” websites, which sounds like “mobile-first”, but it is actually quite different.

Mobile-friendly sites are built for large screens and desktop users. The design starts big and then sized down.

The Mobile-First approach focuses more on the user’s needs that are simple and functional. The designs start for the smallest screen first and gradually work up to the larger screens.

Fun Statistics on Mobile-First Web Design

• 68% of companies increased their sales with a mobile-first website
• 85% of users expect the mobile site to be faster than the desktop
• 90% of users think the mobile version of the site should be better than the desktop website.
• When searching for a business online, 88% of mobile users call or visit that business within 24 hours.
• Mobile users grow with a leading market share of 60.43%

Why is Mobile-First Better?

Improved Performance

When a web page has optimized content and fewer elements and widgets it will load faster and increase your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Most mobile users search through Google and Google crawls and indexes pages using a mobile-first approach. In other words, Google is more likely to rank you higher on SERP (Search Engine Results Page) if you have a mobile-first design.

Intuitive Navigation

Internet users expect to have intuitive access to information on your mobile site. A consistent and simple navigation interface that is easy to locate as you are scrolling is imperative. According to Microsoft, the average attention span dropped from 12 to 8 seconds for web users. Time is of the essence. Intuitive navigation is important when it comes to creating a neat and clean user experience. Navigation drawers (Hamburger menus) are great to help users find information quickly.

Decreased Bounce Rates

A mobile-first design keeps bounce rates healthy due to the speed and ease of the site. It provides a better user experience overall and has a higher return rate as well.

Tips for Creating a Mobile-First Design

1. Keep it Simple – A simple, clear, functional website enables people to quickly view what they are searching for. Removing pop-ups, ads, and unnecessary content they don’t need to see.
2. Usability Testing – Usability testing should be performed before launching a website on all major mobile platforms. It helps you to know your target audience and analyze user behavior.
3. Content – Before you build a mobile-first site you need to have all your content in order first and design from there. With desktop design, that is something you can add later, but with the mobile-first, the content must drive the design strategy.
4. Accordions – Accordions help you fit content into smaller screens. They are containers for content but are displayed as a header on a mobile device. They are often used for FAQ pages and menus.

Mobile-First Web Design and the Testing Process

It is always important to test our websites on different mobile devices and sizes before and after launching. But testing it regularly and on a wide range of screen sizes, resolutions, and view ports is made simple now. You can get all the different options in the LT browser. The LT browser allows you to see all the resolutions on an iPhone, iPad, Samsung, and MacBook.

Conclusion

Mobile traffic is continually increasing and more than 50% of consumers purchase products from their mobile device. The Mobile-first design gives your users the best experience possible, and Google will reward you for that!