Part 14: Is My Healthcare Website Mobile Friendly?

Lure Creative is a full-service marketing company in Kansas City. We help healthcare companies Get Found & Be Known. In our adventures, we’ve found that many doctors and healthcare practice owners have questions about marketing, marketing budgets, and just what it takes to grow their business in this digital/online world. We have answers! So we decided to try to answer some of those questions in an ongoing series of blog posts. Part 14 of our Healthcare Marketing Questions Answered series focuses on a common question: 

How Can I Tell if My Healthcare Website Is Mobile-Friendly? 

If you’re not familiar with “Mobilegeddon” it is a name given to Google’s search engine algorithm update back in April 0f 2015. Because Google’s main objective is to create an easy search experience for its customers, it makes sense that as mobile use increased, Google would reward websites that offered a good experience on the smaller smartphone screens. So here we are in 2022 and the landscape hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s gotten more mobile-focused as smartphones have become ubiquitous in today’s society. In 2020, the number of unique mobile internet users stood at 4.28 billion, meaning that over 90% of the global internet population uses a mobile device to go online. Today, mobile internet traffic accounts for more than 55 percent of total web traffic. Yes, more people use their mobile devices to access the internet than desktops, laptops, or tablets.

Okay, so what does that mean for your healthcare website? It means that having a “mobile unfriendly” website will have negative implications for your website’s traffic as Google has given more mobile-friendly sites top ranking in organic search results. If you haven’t updated your website recently, you’re losing business. 

8 Mobile-Friendly Website Musts

So just what does your website need to be mobile-friendly? Here are some things to look for:

1. Mobile-Responsive Website 

This is critical. A mobile-responsive site means that it is designed to automatically resize itself to fit all sizes of screens from desktop to laptop to tablet to smartphone to provide the best experience for users. All of the sites we build are mobile responsive.

2. Font Size

Use large and easily readable font styles. Remember that smartphone screens are much smaller by nature and are harder to read. A font size of at least 14 pixels is recommended on desktops, but that may seem small on a smartphone so feel free to bump it up a bit.

3. Streamline Content 

Shorten large chunks of text and simplify any forms. Mobile is made for action and immediate gratification. 

4. Viewability 

Make sure content is easily viewed. You want to make sure that prospective patients can read the content without having to zoom in or scroll left to right. It must all fit on the screen properly.

5. Fast Load Speed 

Make images lighter by compressing them to reduce the file size (this won’t affect the quality) and host videos on third-party sites like YouTube so your site doesn’t get bogged down.

6. Avoid Flash Player

Flash Player is a relatively old plug-in that has become increasingly vulnerable to online threats like viruses and hackers. Most web browsers have even started disabling Flash Player content by default for security reasons. It’s best to avoid it altogether.

7. Check Links & Navigation Buttons

Make sure your buttons are large enough to click with a thumb and placed where they are easily accessible with a thumb – middle to bottom of screen. Make sure any hyperlinks on the screen are spaced far enough apart to prevent accidentally clicking the wrong one. 

8. No Pop-Ups 

On mobile, you have less real estate for pop-ups, plus you can’t tailor it to trigger at key moments, like when the user goes to exit your screen. Pop-ups negatively affect the user experience as well and are frowned upon by Google.

These are the big things to look for. If your website hasn’t been updated in a few years, it probably needs some help. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you update it and help your practice or healthcare company rise in the search engine rankings. If you’re not sure if your website has what it takes to be considered mobile-friendly, contact us today for a FREE website analysis. 

Dr. Mark Eting Healthcare Marketing Doctor

We hope this helps you in your quest to grow your business. If you’d like to learn more about website design or SEO strategies, we’d love to chat! Please contact Lure Creative and we will be happy to share our insight and expertise (but not in a bossy, condescending way) to help your healthcare business Get Found and Be Known.