Most of the people who visit your small business website won’t be using a laptop or a desktop computer. They’ll be using their smartphone.

If your website isn’t designed with mobile users in mind, it can seriously undermine their experience and lead to them pushing the back button and turning to one of your competitors instead.

Here are a few things you can do to design a website that will work just as well for your mobile users as it will for your desktop users.

7 tips for designing a mobile-first website

#1. Design for mobile first, desktop second

It used to be that website designers were focused solely on the desktop experience, with mobile-friendliness as an afterthought. But, that’s no longer a recipe for success.

The reality is that most of your website traffic is going to be mobile traffic. In order to drive the best results, you need to design your website for mobile first, and desktop second.

A mobile-first design is a responsive design. This means that your website will reconfigure itself automatically for the device it’s being viewed on.

#2. Get to the point above the fold on mobile and desktop

Someone who lands on your site using a mobile device is going to see less of the page, which makes sense, since they’re using a smaller screen.

Your mobile visitors need to understand right away what the point of your website is. Make your message clear and above the fold — the visible part of a web page without scrolling.

If your visitors have to do a lot of searching or scrolling to get to the point, the likelihood is high that they’re going to click away.

#3. Focus on pain points and benefits instead of features

Oftentimes, the way you convey your message is just as important — if not more so — than the message itself.

Too often, when people are writing copy for their website, they get lost in the weeds focusing on features. But, while you may clearly see the benefits of a specific feature, that doesn’t mean that your visitors will, too.

When writing page content for a mobile-first website, focus more on the benefits of features — and the pain points they can help to resolve — a lot more than the actual features themselves.

#4. Give further explanations later on

While it’s important to make your above-the-fold message short, sweet and easy to digest, that doesn’t mean that you should never give visitors more information or details.

When a visitor scrolls down, they should be able to learn more about your business, what you have to offer and any details pertinent to the page in question.

Further down the page is the perfect place to answer common questions, highlight benefits and pain points, showcase your testimonials and more.

#5. Compare your mobile site with your competitors

Mobile users have a lot of options, and they aren’t going to settle for a website that wasn’t designed for mobile friendliness.

When designing your mobile-first website, it’s important to understand how it stacks up against the competition.

Take some time to peruse your competitors’ websites, and honestly compare the way your website looks and performs on mobile to your competition. It’s imperative that your website performs at least as well on mobile as your competitors, if not more so.

#6. Test your mobile site on multiple devices

From iPhones to Androids, there are a lot of different mobile devices someone might use to visit your website. You want to make sure that all of them have a good experience.

Just because your website performs well on one mobile device, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will perform well on other devices.

Make it a point to test out your website on your own mobile device, but ask friends and family to check it out on their smartphones as well. This can help you catch and correct any potential issues.

#7. Highlight your call to action

When designing your website, you need to know what a conversion looks like. Are you hoping to get someone to call or fill out a form for an estimate, make a purchase, schedule an appointment or something else?

Whatever action you want your visitors to take, you need to make it clear to them by using a straightforward call to action (CTA).

Having a clear, visible CTA on your website is even more important for mobile visitors who are less likely to keep scrolling or look around.

Does your website pass the mobile-friendly test? If not, it’s time to build a mobile-first website for your small business.

The Marketing 360® Websites app makes it easy to build your own website, even if you don’t have prior web design experience. Learn more and see plans and pricing.