Want more people to actually enter your competitions? The secret weapon most competition website owners are overlooking is mobile optimization. And they are losing entries, engagement, and revenue every single day by ignoring it.
Here’s the thing…
Mobile devices are now the source of over 60% of all website traffic worldwide. That means that more than half of your potential competition entrants are browsing using their phones as we speak.
Your competition website looks terrible on mobile? They’re gone.
Key Takeaways
- Mobile optimization is crucial for competition websites as over 60% of traffic comes from mobile devices.
- Common mistakes include tiny tap targets, slow loading times, blocking pop-ups, and lengthy entry forms.
- Implement mobile-first design, simplify entry forms, and ensure buttons are easy to tap for better user experience.
- Prioritize speed by optimizing images and minimizing code, and always test on real devices for functionality.
- Mobile-optimized competition websites increase entries, engagement, and search rankings, giving you a competitive edge.
Table of contents
Why Mobile Matters for Competition Websites
The number one job of any competition website is to get people to enter.
But here’s the problem. Most competition website owners are obsessing about design and functionality on desktop. They spend hours tweaking how it looks and works on a big screen. Then they completely forget about all the people scrolling on their phones during lunch breaks, train commutes, and late-night internet browsing sessions.
That’s a huge mistake.
Think about when people actually enter competitions. They’re bored. Waiting for a bus. Watching Netflix in bed. Scrolling through Instagram and clicking on links. Hardly any of this happens at a desktop computer.
The data agrees too. Working with specialists for competition website design shows that mobile-first websites consistently outperform desktop-focused ones in terms of entries and conversions.
Why? Because they’re meeting users where they actually are.
Image: Unsplash
The Biggest Mobile Mistakes to Avoid
Before we dive into how to optimize, it’s good to know what NOT to do. Here are some of the most common mobile mistakes that destroy competition website performance.
Tiny tap targets
Entry buttons and form fields that are too small to be tapped accurately on a phone frustrate users. No one wants to try and enter a competition only to fail repeatedly at hitting the right buttons.
Slow loading times
Nobody waits around anymore. 53% of mobile visitors leave a website if the page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. That’s over half your potential entrants gone before they’ve even seen your competition.
Blocking pop-ups
Nothing is more infuriating on mobile than a pop-up that covers the entire screen and is impossible to close.
Too many fields on entry forms
Long forms work ok on desktop. On mobile they’re a nightmare. Each extra field you include is a barrier to users entering your competition.
Non-responsive images
Images that don’t resize correctly look horrible and slow down your site. Neither is good for business.
5 Ways to Optimize Your Competition Website for Mobile
Here’s the good stuff. Five tried and tested strategies for getting your competition website to work like a dream on mobile.
1. Design Mobile-First
This is the golden rule of modern competition website design.
The secret to optimization is designing for mobile screens first, then scaling up to larger desktop ones. The approach forces you to prioritize ruthlessly. Keep only the essentials.
Mobile-first design means large buttons, simple navigation, and crystal-clear calls to action. Everything a competition entrant needs to know and do should be visible without having to zoom or scroll left and right.
2. Simplify Your Entry Forms
As with everything to do with competition websites, less is more.
Form fields create friction. Friction kills conversion rates. On competition websites that means fewer entries. Keep your entry forms as short as humanly possible.
Name and email are the absolute bare minimum. Question whether you really need everything else. Autofill-friendly form fields are a godsend when mobile users can just tap and autofill their details. Entries shoot up.
3. Optimize for Touch
Mobile users don’t have a mouse. They have fingers.
It completely changes how a competition website should work. Buttons need to be large enough for easy tapping without accidentally hitting the one next to it. Recommended minimum is 44×44 pixels, but bigger is almost always better.
Space interactive elements apart from each other. Nothing is more frustrating for mobile users than trying to tap one button and hitting another by mistake.
4. Prioritize Speed
Speed is not negotiable. It is required.
Google made page speed a ranking factor ages ago. But the fact is that your visitors have made it a requirement long before that.
Slow websites lose visitors. Full stop.
Here’s how to speed up your competition website for mobile:
- Compress all images before uploading them to your site
- Enable browser caching
- Minify unnecessary code
- Use a content delivery network (CDN)
- Choose a fast and reliable hosting provider
Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to regularly test your site. Aim for a score above 90 on mobile. Anything below 50 is a problem.
5. Test on Real Devices
Emulators and preview modes are handy. But they are not reality.
Test your competition website on real phones and tablets of different sizes. Use different OSs and browsers. Watch what works and what breaks on each.
Ask friends and family to try and enter your competition using their phones. Watch what they do. Observe where they hesitate or get stuck. Fix those issues.
Speed Optimization Tips That Actually Work
Speed is so critical it deserves its own section.
Lazy loading
Only load images as the user scrolls down to them. Helps massively reduce initial page load times.
Minify CSS and Javascript
Remove unnecessary characters from your site code. It makes your files smaller and faster to load.
Reduce redirects
Every redirect adds to the time it takes to load a page. Keep redirects to an absolute minimum.
Optimize your hosting
Cheap hosting providers often mean slow. Paying for good quality hosting infrastructure makes a real difference.
Next-gen image formats
WebP images are much smaller than the usual JPEGs and PNGs while retaining quality.
Bringing It All Together
Optimising your competition website for mobile is not complicated.
But it is work. You have to put the effort and attention in to do it.
The rewards are worth it though. Mobile-optimised competition websites get more entries, better engagement, and higher search rankings. They just win more.
Summary:
- Design mobile-first
- Keep entry forms simple
- Make everything easy to tap
- Prioritize speed
- Test on real phones and tablets
The majority of competition website owners treat mobile as an afterthought at best. By putting mobile users first, you instantly get a competitive edge.
Put the above tips into action today. See your mobile entry rates respond. Keep optimizing based on what you learn.
