5 Tips For Making Your Business Website Responsive

Since information is disseminated quickly in the palms of our hands, having a responsive website has become essential for organizations. With respect to screen size, platform, and orientation, responsive web design advocates that design and development should adapt to user behavior and surroundings. Making a responsive website is the best option for independent professionals who might not want to waste their more limited resources on establishing many websites.

However, how might independent professionals go about making such a website—especially if they already have one up? To be of assistance, here are a few ideas.

1. Make use of plugins

If your site was built using WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla, there are plugins available that create a reduced version of your website for smartphones. These plugins take the basic elements of your website and shape them into a mobile site that functions smoothly when a user accesses it via a mobile device, while still allowing your site to show up normally on computers.

2. Place important information strategically

To make the best use of the smaller real estate that a mobile device’s screen has to offer, independent professionals should make sure that they have placed the key information they want visitors to take away from their site prominently. Highlighting your contact information and details about what exactly your business provides at the top of the site, in large print, will help your message stand out no matter how small the screen.

3. Keep loading time and cell phone limitations in mind

While large images and videos can make a website attractive on a desktop, those same features can spell disaster for mobile users trying to access it. Avoid videos that use Flash, since they won’t work on cell phones. And try resizing images, or limiting yourself to only one or two, to speed up mobile loading times.

4. Make it easy to navigate

Keep in mind the fact that mobile users don’t have a mouse—they’ve only got their fingers to navigate. For this reason, drop-down menus are not the best option for a mobile-friendly site. List-based menus are much easier for smart phone users to access. Make sure that the links you make clickable are also large enough and far enough apart from each other that fingers can tap them easily.

5. Use a Responsive Theme

Using a responsive theme is an easy, convenient option for website beginners or non-technical users to create a mobile-friendly website. By installing this type of theme, your website will automatically adapt to any device. It doesn’t have to be difficult for independent professionals to make their websites mobile-friendly. By taking a few simple steps, they can create a site that is ideal for both desktop and mobile users.