Having a mobile-friendly website is a must in this day and age; however, it is not enough to simply create a website that can be viewed without too much difficulty on a mobile device. If you want your site to stand out from the crowd, consider the following real-life examples from companies in order to learn how to design a mobile-friendly website like a pro.

Make Menus Convenient and Easy to Use

It can be hard to know what to include on the home page of a mobile website. You may have a lot of products and/or services to promote; however, there is only a limited amount of space to use. A company owner who can design a mobile-friendly website like a pro understands this dilemma without trying to fit in as much content as possible. In fact, he or she is most likely to focus on creating an easy to use menu so that visitors can easily find whatever it is that they are looking for.

Since this is such an important point, here are a few examples of well-designed menus:

  • Shutterfly's mobile home page consists solely of a header image offering a 40% discount and a drop-down menu. When someone clicks on a category, he or she is taken to a page with product images pertaining to the category of choice.
  • Etsy has a small yet classy image on top. It is followed by a search button. After this is a convenient drop-down menu for the main categories of items that it sells. This setup is great for an e-commerce website because it allows users to either shop by category or search for specific items.
  • Buzzfeed attracts its audience by displaying images of its most popular articles on the website's front page. However, there is a button you can tap in the top left hand corner to view content by category. When clicked on, the display menu takes up almost the entire phone screen, making it easy for users to tap on the subject they are most interested in.

Use Color to Attract Attention to a Particular Feature

Use color to attract attention to a particular feature. Doing so makes the feature in question stand out from pictures and menus, making it easy for potential customers to answer a call to action or find something they are looking for. Booking.com uses this technique by adding a bright yellow background to a form that visitors can use to book a hotel. Dove uses dark blue to set its main menu apart from side images and promotions.

Use Big Buttons

Mobile phone screens are pretty small so it's hard for a mobile phone user to hit a small or even medium sized button. Shutterfly, Typeform, Evernote, Dove, Adidas and Abercrombie & Fitch are just some of the many savvy companies that use big buttons to make it easy for people to browse the website, find information and/or purchase products.

Other Tips on How to Design a Mobile-Friendly Website Like a Pro

  • Use attention-grabbing images on your front page if at all possible. Doing so takes the focus off a minimal mobile website design and puts it on your products and/or news articles. Abercrombie & Fitch and Adidas are some of the many brands that use this tactic with great results.
  • Get rid of clutter that increases the load time for your website. This clutter may look good and even be essential to your regular website but it should not be allowed to interfere with a mobile website user's experience. Typeform does this effectively by getting rid of all the complex design components to create a mobile site that is simple yet appealing and easy to use.
  • Make sure your content is easy to read. The best way to do this is to only feature one to three articles on any given page. Squaredo does this by having only one article take up the entire screen at a time. If users don't like the article they see in front of them, they can slide for a new one. Hidden Valley, on the other hand, only displays about three to four featured recipes on its homepage at any given time; however, you can scroll down easily to see more.

Creating a winning mobile website is a challenge but it's one that is well worth taking on. Thankfully, you don't have to figure out how to do it on your own. Brandgy specializes in website design as well as other important forms of marketing, including content creation, branding, local SEO and offsite marketing. Get in touch with us at your convenience to discover how to design a mobile-friendly website like a pro and learn more about reaching your target audience in the best way possible.