I know you realise how important it is to have a website that looks good on a mobile phone. However, you may have heard that some sites are ‘mobile friendly’, whilst others are ‘mobile optimised’.

So what’s the difference?

Simply put, all mobile optimised websites are mobile friendly but all mobile friendly websites are not all mobile optimised. Let me explain further.

Mobile friendly describes the absolute minimum design that you should be using to engage with your mobile visitors. Typically mobile friendly websites were originally designed for laptop and desktop users and are essentially a slimmed down version of those sites.

While a smaller version of your desktop website can be read on a mobile it is simply functional and not designed to maximise the mobile experience or translate traffic into purchases and leads.

Mobile optimised websites are those that have been specifically designed for use on mobile devices.

These are some of the design features that a mobile optimised website will have:

• Single column layout
• Simple navigation that is ‘thumb friendly’ with large touchpoints
• Reduced graphics to make finding critical information easier
• Content formatted to make it more readable
• Minimalist uncluttered design

As more and more people access the internet on their phones, it makes absolute sense to have your website designed to maximise the mobile experience and stay ahead of the competition.