Get Past the Friend-Zone with a Mobile-First Web Design

“Mobile-friendly.”

You have probably heard this phrase many times when speaking about websites and web design. A web design or SEO salesperson may have emphasized this as a selling point in a pitch. You may have even caught yourself saying it without thinking twice. But what does mobile-friendly imply?

A likely common interpretation of “mobile-friendly” would be: “Plays nicely with mobile,” or in other words, “just friends.” That you want to make sure that your website is compatible or functional with mobile devices, but the concern is usually secondary.

The relationship with mobile is strictly casual because your website is designed for its true love: the desktop. To be fair, mobile-friendly sites have certain default benefits: No more pinching to zoom in for users and mobile menus.

But do you want it to end there, or should you wish to get out of the friend-zone with mobile?

In many industries, long gone are the days when desktop visitors dominated their website traffic. Many retailers are seeing mobile users make up over 75% of their total traffic.

So the question arises: Should you be happy with “mobile-friendly,” or should designing for mobile experience be your primary concern? Ultimately, the answer will come down to the type of traffic you are receiving, but a mobile-first approach will pay off, either way, more often than not.

If most of your traffic is from mobile devices, then designing your page for mobile-first can create more engaging experiences, better information flow, and better calls to action than standard mobile-friendly behavior. 

As of Dec 2020, Google released an update to its core algorithm, putting a lot of emphasis on mobile UX or User Experience. Core Web vitals is a large part of this, so a fast mobile design based on user experience will always be a winner for search engines. 

If most users will not ever see the desktop version of your site, why place the design emphasis on it? 

If most of your traffic is from desktop, staying in the friend-zone with mobile is more acceptable… but for how long? Even industries that still have desktop-heavy traffic are seeing an increase in the percentage of mobile users. The odds are that sooner or later, you’ll want a better experience for mobile users.

If you are considering a website redesign soon, the bottom line is it needs to be designed with the mobile experience as the driver and not settling for mobile-friendly.

The desktop version can still be made to look great with a mobile-first approach. This way you will be ready for the continuous swing toward mobile devices even if it’s happening slower in your industry than others.

Contact Phyxter Digital Marketing today and Book a free consultation. We’d love to throw our hat in the ring and help you decide what’s right for you with a mobile-first approach.

This article was written by Russell Jones

VP of Operations @ Phyxter and SEO Specialist @ SEO Kangaroo

Click here to connect with Russell on Linkedin