With mobile traffic outstripping desktop and mobile bookings on the rise, a mobile website is now a must for hotels. However, all mobile websites were not created equal.
There are lots of ways to improve your mobile website – or to slow it down. Some of these are best left to a professional web design team, but there are things your hotel can take control of too. We want to give you 6 easy ways to improve mobile speed and engagement.
Here are our best tips. Take a look to get a streamlined mobile site that works effectively to get your hotel direct bookings:
#1: Fewer and Lighter Images
You must reduce the content on your desktop site when you move to your mobile website. Images have much more digital ‘weight’ than text, so they are even more important to cut back on.
Keep it to one image per page, where possible (you’ll probably want to make an exception for your gallery pages!). While images are important for hotel websites, you must balance that with the user experience. You can also compress images to make sure they’re as light as they can possibly be.
If people find themselves waiting too long for a page to load because you’ve crammed it with images, they might leave entirely. On pages like galleries, make sure the images only load as people scroll down the page – this reduces load time.
#2: Host Videos on YouTube, not your site!
Instead of hosting videos on your website, post them on YouTube and embed them. This has a few advantages.
Firstly, videos won’t need to load with the page – instead, they’ll only load when a user is ready to watch. This speeds up the page. Secondly, if your video is on YouTube, you can use it in video advertisements across Google if you wish.
Keep your site light, fast and user-friendly by embedding videos.
