Why your website design should be mobile-first

Now more than ever, we rely on our mobile phones – be it to browse the web, stay connected with friends or anything else in between.

Recent research from Statista shows that over half of our time online is spent on mobile phones and that mobile internet traffic accounts for almost 60% of total web traffic.

So, it’s safe to assume that having a mobile-first website design is incredibly important.

But what is a mobile-first website, why is it important, and where do you start when it comes to creating a mobile-first, responsive website design?

Our web design specialists here at Paramount Digital reveal all you need to know in this article.

What is a mobile-first website design?

The clue is in the name.

Put simply, a mobile-first website design is primarily built for mobile devices first, and later developed to work for desktops, tablets and laptops.

Mobile device users are always the priority when it comes to mobile-first site design.

What’s the difference between mobile-first and mobile-friendly web design?

Mobile-friendly and mobile-first web designs are both built to work on mobile devices, and although the terms sound similar, they have entirely different meanings.

Mobile-friendly web designs are built for big screens – like desktops, laptops and tablets first, and then sized down and developed to work well on smaller smartphone screens.

Mobile-first designs, on the other hand, are, as we’ve talked about, developed for smartphone screens first and sized up to fit tablet, laptop and desktop screens.

Why is mobile-first site design important?

With more and more people turning to their mobile phones to browse the web, it’s undeniably clear that digital products need to work well on the small screen.

And companies that take the mobile-first approach are much more likely to build better, more successful websites, for many reasons, including:

• Improved user experience

Taking a mobile-first approach to your website design is about creating the best mobile user experience possible.

By prioritising the design for smaller screens, mobile-first websites are much easier to navigate, as rather than concentrating on flashy widgets, vanity features and fillers, more focus and attention is on users’ needs and essential content only. 

• Better performance

A mobile-first website, with fewer elements and optimised content, will have much faster loading speeds, which is essential for maintaining SEO (search engine optimisation) rankings.

In addition to this, Google prioritises pages utilising a mobile-first design and focuses on crawling and indexing these pages first, seeing as most internet users access the search engine through their mobile devices.

• Increased accessibility

A mobile-first design is essential for improving the accessibility of your website for users who have disabilities.

As mentioned above, mobile-first websites are designed to be more responsive and, as a result, they’re much easier to navigate, especially for users with visual impairments or other disabilities.

• Decreased bounce rate

Mobile-first websites tend to have lower bounce rates.

Thanks to the design being easier to navigate, users are more likely to stay and engage with content, which can have a huge impact on your search rankings, as lower bounce rates are viewed favourably by Google and other search engines.

Creating a mobile-first, responsive website web design

The key to creating an easy-to-navigate, mobile-responsive website is good content.

Of course, it’s tempting to think about layouts, colours and fonts when starting to design your website, but if you’re taking a mobile-first approach, content should be your main focus, and organise this before anything else.

When it comes to the actual design, it’s important to keep things simple and functional. Remember, the easier your site is to navigate, the more successful it’s likely to be.

Contact the web design specialists at Paramount Digital 

If you’re looking for ways to boost your business, the importance of a mobile-first website shouldn’t be underestimated.

Our specialist, in-house web design team here at Paramount Digital has decades of combined experience in mobile responsive web design and would be more than happy to help build a mobile responsive website for your business.

To find out more, or for a competitive quote, get in touch with us today by calling 01744 747474 or emailing marketing@paramountdigital.co.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!