Most people will see your website on a phone, not a laptop. If you built or last checked your site on a big screen, it's worth seeing it the way your customers do. Grab your phone, open your site, and ask yourself three questions.
1. Can I read it without zooming?
If you have to pinch or zoom to read anything, the site isn't built for phones. Look for:
- Text that's too small, or lines that run off the side of the screen
- Pale grey text on white that's hard to read outside in daylight
- Buttons and links so close together you tap the wrong one
2. Can I tap to call or message in one go?
Someone on a phone wants to contact you right now. Make it one tap:
- Your phone number should be a tap-to-call link, not just text or, worse, part of an image.
- Your email or contact form should be easy to find from every page.
- If you use WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger for enquiries, link straight to them.
3. Does it load in under 3 seconds?
Try it on mobile data, not your home Wi-Fi. If you're staring at a blank screen, so are your customers, and many of them will leave before it finishes. Common causes are huge photos straight off a camera, too many plugins, and slow, cheap hosting.
For a proper measurement, put your web address into Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool and look at the mobile score.
If any answer is "no"
You're probably losing customers without knowing it. Some fixes are quick, like shrinking images or making the phone number a link. Others, like an old site that was never designed for phones, usually mean it's time for a rebuild.
Quick win
Ask a friend to find your phone number on your site using their phone, and time how long it takes. If it's more than a few seconds, move it somewhere obvious.