As we navigate and grow in the digital age, your next customer most likely will find your business online, and if possible, will purchase your products and subscribe to your services using just their smartphones – the current market’s device of choice, and where much of their lives are now lived. Your website isn’t just a place that allows potential customers to find you; rather, your business’ website is a digital marketplace wherein the next big lead could be generated from, as well as a steady stream of e-commerce revenue.
For these reasons, it’s important that your website stands out and performs well on mobile devices to instantly attract potential customers and capture their interest from landing on your homepage, all the way to checking out items in their shopping cart, or filling out a contact form.
Are you now realizing how old, sluggish, and poorly updated your website is compared to market standards? Now may be the perfect time for a complete overhaul with AMP web design. Here are some telltale signs you need a redesigned website with AMP web design:
Mobile web design issues
To get started, you can check how well your site is performing against industry standards – in short, how does its’ overall aesthetic compare to that of your closest competitor? Google Search Console is available for testing sites and identifying issues to improve on in order to build better, traffic-generating websites.
Here are some common mobile design issues that are identified through the Search Console, and how they can be solved with AMP web design:
Poorly fitting content in viewport: This is a common occurrence among older websites that were designed for only desktop use, long before people turned to their mobile devices to browse the web. Many of these sites fit desktop screens well, but when viewed on mobile do not fit inside the window, and users find themselves repeatedly scrolling from one side to another to view all the content. These sites are not equipped with code that automatically adjusts its content to fit smaller screens.
Touch elements are too close: This issue occurs when elements of a webpage are too close together, making it hard for users to tap on an element or make a selection without hitting another option. As a result, users can become frustrated as they cannot properly interact with the site.
Viewport not configured: The viewport meta tag indicates to different browsers the suitable display size of a page according to a device’s window. When left unconfigured, this leads to a site that is not optimized for viewing on mobile, or its integrity is not preserved across different devices.
Flash usage: Most mobile browsers are no longer designed to render Flash, so in building a more modern site, such as through AMP, you will be prompted to use more modern technologies in order to provide a pleasant mobile viewing experience.
Fixed-width viewport: This is a trick that attempts to bypass mobile design using set width pages, but it’s not a solution to mobile optimization issues, as a fixed width isn’t dynamic and cannot easily adjust to preserve the user experience across different platforms.
Font size: As many old and poorly updated sites were built with just desktop use in mind, many sites use small font sizes, forcing users to pinch the screen and zoom in to see the content – and it doesn’t take long for them to bounce back into the search results page and find another website that offers the same information, without having trouble with the display.
Interstitial usage: This happens with pop-ups that cover the entire screen of a mobile device, which at the very least can be annoying and unpleasant, especially for users already beginning to explore the content in a page.
With AMP web design, these problems can be resolved as AMP allows developers and publishers to build websites that are built especially for mobile, essentially performing at their best even on the smallest of screens, and across different browsing sizes and processors.
Through AMP web design, your potential customers will no longer have to go through the pains of zooming in and out, and scrolling back and forth just to see all the content in a page. Instead, content on your website will be easily accessible, and your products and services even more a delight to explore with AMP web design as your customers enjoy a mobile experience that is especially built for their needs.
Slow page load times
Page speed is an important factor that makes or break user and potential customer experience on a website. Slow loading times deter users from transitioning into leads and customers, as it takes a while before they are able to access information about products and services they could need at that very second. As a result, they could bounce back to search results, and choose another website that can offer the same information, without the lag time. This causes your site’s bounce rate to rise, indicating to search engines like Google that it is not a relevant search result, and over time its rankings will be pushed down.
A quick look at Google’s PageSpeed insights show problems related to your site’s loading speed, and provide insights for improvement. AMP web design solves the problem of page speed at is core, as it uses only stripped down versions of HMTL, CSS, and its own JavaScript library in order to build a site – none of the elements that cause loading time to slow down, even when a user is on a mobile data network, as opposed to WiFi which is faster and more stable.
Thanks to lightning fast loading speeds, your potential customers will no longer have to wait for your products and services to load, and they will no longer be driven away or discouraged by sluggish page speeds that cause them to choose your competitors instead.
AMP web design builds on modern business and the idea that customer experience no longer just constitutes a warm storefront welcome. In the digital age, customer experience begins with the first point of interaction – your website, and from there, users can transition into leads you can count on, numerous sales, and return visits over the years – all depending on how their interest was first captured, and their needs met by your complete service in online interactions.