Having a mobile-friendly site isn’t just good for your site’s visitors.

It’s now also highly preferred by Google and will even be used to rank your site. You now need a site that looks great on mobile devices to be competitive in search results.

Now is the time to ensure your site meets Google’s latest ranking criteria. Whether you choose a separate mobile design or a responsive site, incorporating mobile is a must.

Google’s Changes To Mobile Search

As of April 21, 2015, Google is changing how it displays search results to mobile users. The focus is on ensuring users only see mobile-friendly sites. Sites without a responsive or mobile design may not appear in the results. Google has already been using mobile-friendliness as a small part of their ranking criteria. Now, they’re expanding how they use it to deliver more relevant results to mobile users.

Takeaway: If you already have a mobile site, it might be time to check to ensure the site looks great on all screen sizes. If you don’t have a mobile site, hiring a developer could ensure you don’t disappear from mobile search results.

Mobile Results Matter

Mobile search results may not seem important until you fully understand how many potential site visitors rely mainly upon mobile devices to search for businesses, make purchases and find directions. During 2013, mobile traffic in the UK increased from 22.8% to 37%. This is only expected to continue to rise.

Recent statistics from early 2015 show 80% of users access the Internet via their smartphone. Tablets are being widely used as well with 47% of Internet searches coming from tablets. If you have an ecommerce site, mobile results are even more important. Mobile devices accounted for more online sales than desktops and laptops.

Takeaway: Optimise your site for mobile or you could be missing out on a large portion of Internet users. Your audience is just as likely to search for you on a smartphone or tablet as a desktop.

Mobile Affects Desktop Rank

Even if you don’t think you need a mobile-friendly version of your site, Google could penalise your desktop rank in the long term. Bounce rates are a major determining factor. If users try to visit your site on a mobile device and it’s not optimised for their device, they’ll go to another site. Eventually, this increases the bounce rate for your site and negatively affects your rank on all devices, desktops included.

Takeaway: Every site that wants to rank well needs to have a mobile or responsive design. Hiring a professional developer to optimise your site is an investment in the future performance of the site.

Better User Experience

If you take Google out of the picture, mobile optimised sites are still important. With many of your visitors coming from mobile devices of varying sizes, you want to ensure they have a good experience no matter what they’re viewing your site on. Visitors who visit a poorly designed desktop site usually move on the competition. Visitors trying to view a desktop only site on mobile do the same thing.

Takeaway: The user experience is just as important as Google’s search results. Use a developer to help design a site that’s ideal for your visitors on every device.

Meeting Google’s Standards

If you’re not sure if your site is mobile-friendly, you can check a few pages of your site using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool. All you have to do is enter a URL to be tested. Google will give you an analysis and let you know if anything is wrong. It’s also a good idea to have a professional developer test your site in-depth to ensure it’s mobile ready. They’ll be able to tweak any small issues that the Google tool might not notice.

Takeaway: Make a point of having your site tested or analysed as soon as possible. The sooner you’re ready for a mobile audience, the better you’ll rank in search.

Conclusion

Mobile accounts for a large portion of Internet usage. Ignoring the growing mobile trend could cost you visitors and rank position in Google. With new algorithm changes in place, it’s now more important than ever to go mobile-friendly.

Need to check your site or make the switch to a mobile-friendly design? Contact StuartMedia today to prepare your site for Google.

Image: Maria Elena

Some apps seem to instantly go viral while others aren’t as well received.

Part of the success is marketing, but the other part, which is even more important, is how the app is designed.

Every successful mobile app is a chance to learn a valuable lesson for your own business app. These five apps showcase five of the most important lessons for app creators and businesses.

Waze – Easy To Use Interface

Waze is designed to make travel easier by involving the community to create real time traffic data. The app is full of information such as navigation, road work details, traffic accidents and more. Since users need quick access to the app on the go, an easy to use interface was crucial. Large icons and obvious navigation make it quick and easy for users to access the information they need and enter details for other users. Plus, it even has an introductory tutorial to answer any questions.

Takeaway: The app avoids looking cluttered while still giving users a powerful mobile app. Design mobile apps with a clear, concise UI. Great app developers strive to create the most user friendly interfaces possible for more successful apps.

Evernote – Seamless Integration

Evernote quickly became a must have note taking app due to it’s clean layout and seamless integration with different platforms. Whether the user was on their tablet, laptop or desktop, they could access the same notes anywhere. Plus, the app looks similar on every platform, making it easy for users to pick up and learn. What really makes this a truly successful mobile app is how well the app is designed to perfectly fit every screen size so users can easily see all their notes with no problems.

Takeaway: The more accessible an app is, the more successful it is. Businesses never know what platform their audience might use. Ensuring the app integrates well with other platforms while still being easy to use is important.

Candy Crush Saga – Social Integration And Spacing

Candy Crush Saga and the entire line of King games have proven highly successful. Part of the success lies in the social integration. Users love having apps that integrate with social media, especially games. They also like if the social aspect isn’t front and center. This app keeps the social aspect in the background without interfering with gameplay or valuable screen space.

The main lesson to learn from this app though is spacing. The app has graphics galore, but they’re spaced well with a pull out menu to make the most of even the tiniest screens. The app shows you can place a lot on the screen as long as it’s well laid out and easy to see.

Takeaway: The spacing of an app’s layout is crucial. If it’s too cluttered, users won’t go back to it. To make the most of an app’s screen space, hire a professional designer who fully understands the importance of spacing.

Pocket – Simple Navigation And Offline Access

Pocket combines two valuable app lessons into one app. The first is simple navigation. Users don’t want to scroll endlessly or search for buttons to go from one screen to the next. This app incorporates intuitive gesture controls that make it easy for users to navigate and learn to use the app. The second lesson is making the app useful offline as well. Many mobile apps require Internet access to load at all. Saved stories in Pocket are available offline, bringing users to the app all the time.

Takeaway: Keep navigation simple. Use clear icons, slide out menus or gesture controls to save space and provide easy navigation through the entire app. If possible, provide an offline element as well to encourage users to use the app more often.

Flipboard – Continual Updates

Flipboard showcases a myriad of lessons, but the most important is the app’s constant improvements. The developers listened to their users and paid attention to what other successful apps were doing. They’ve continued to incorporate new features into the magazine style app such as content curation, in-app sharing and a more stream-lined design. With every update, the app’s popularity increases.

Takeaway: Never stop developing the app. Always work with an app developer who provides regular updates. Users often tire of apps that never incorporate anything new. Updates help boost an app’s success rate.

Conclusion

If you want to create a more successful mobile app, look at other successful apps and learn from them. Take notes about design, navigation, colour schemes, update schedules and more. Mixing highly useful features with a great design is the first step towards creating the next must have app.

Are you ready to incorporate these lessons into your own app? Contact StuartMedia today for details on crafting successful app on multiple mobile platforms.

Image: Siddartha Thota

One of the most important things to decide when creating a mobile app is how many features to include.

While there’s no set number of features per app, it’s a careful balance between functionality and usability. The right balance equals an app users want to keep coming back to.

With careful planning, it’s not hard to decide on the right features for the app.

Keep It Simple

Users prefer mobile apps that are simple and straightforward. The feature set of any successful app should be as simple as possible to make it easy for users to understand. Apps that require in-depth tutorials just to navigate are overwhelming.  The more intuitive the app, the more likely users are to want to keep using it. This is most important with navigation. Navigation is one of the most important features and it should always be basic and obvious.

Takeaway: Features don’t have to be complex to be useful. Simple features come together to create a highly effective app. The best mobile developers understand exactly how to achieve this perfect balance.

Customisable Settings

Every great mobile app has one feature in common – customisable settings. Users like to be able to customise settings such as sound, music, notifications and more. This gives the user control over the app and their own unique experience. If any features in the app can be customised, give the user the ability to do so.

Takeaway: Give the user a chance to customise apps.

Limit Permissions

Some apps become bloated because they need access to everything a user’s mobile device. Unless absolutely necessary, limit permissions and features to only utilise necessary components of the phone. For instance, if the app doesn’t use the camera, don’t build-in the permission for it. Users expect the app to have obvious features for every permission. Limiting permissions helps trim down unnecessary features.

Takeaway: Only include the features and permissions that are necessary to make the app functional. If you’re not certain about which features are necessary, consult a mobile developer for assistance.

Think About Screen Size

The most important consideration when choosing a number of features is the user’s screen size. Mobile screens vary greatly between smartphones and tablets. Limit features to only the most useful and beneficial to the user. An abundance of features often leaves the user unable to easily see or use the app.

Takeaway: Test mobile apps thoroughly, starting with the smallest screen sizes. App developers always test on a variety of devices to ensure the app is fully functional and easy to use.

Save Additional Features For Updates

The best mobile apps start with a minimal feature set. The app includes only what it needs to serve its purpose. As users provide feedback, updates are released that either change, add or remove features. This gives you the chance to edit the app over time to give users the best feature set possible. Apps never start off perfect. They always get better after incorporating user feedback to create the ideal features for the target audience.

Takeaway: Start off with only what’s necessary. Every app update is a chance to improve the features once you see how users react. App developers can create an update schedule to ensure new features are implemented smoothly.

Consider The App’s Purpose

Choosing features comes down to ensuring the app serves a purpose. For instance, will the user need to input data? If so, a keyboard is necessary. Carefully consider the purpose of the app and which features are needed to make the app functional. Adding unnecessary features only confuses the user. They download apps to solve a problem, inform them or entertain themselves. Choose the number of features based around these set needs.

Takeaway: Apps only need as many features as required to serve the app’s purpose. Mobile developers understand which features are necessary to make the app user friendly without overwhelming the user.

Conclusion

Every app requires a different number of features. It all depends on the purpose of the app and the target audience. The one main rule is to keep it simple and functional.

Having trouble deciding on the right number of features for your business app? Contact StuartMedia today for assistance from a professional mobile app developer.

Image: Jason Howie