Why WordPress is Ideal for Mobile First Content

Focus always on mobile first content…

First came the articles proclaiming responsive design as the next wave in the world of digital content, inspired by the first generation of post-iPhone mobile devices. Within a handful of years, those predictions were borne out entirely, and every business with online ambitions began to invest heavily in translating desktop design to the mobile space.

And when mobile devices started to become more important to everyday life than their predecessors, a new prediction appeared: that web design would no longer be about shifting desktop designs to mobile, and instead go in the other direction. Once again, it came to pass, and today every company invested in strong design is embracing the mobile-first process.

But when it comes to mobile-first content, not all platforms are equally viable. If you’re going to move to mobile-first methodology across the board for your website, what CMS will make a strong partner? Well, WordPress is ideal — and here’s why:

Mostly anything will integrate with WordPress – Mobile First Content

Smartphones have greatly expanded the options available to users and web designers alike. Their location-tracking potential alone has fundamentally changed the world of eCommerce, furthering the success of ventures such as click-and-collect (or click-and-brick, if you prefer). This also means, however, that squeezing every drop of potential from a website aimed at mobile readers is very challenging.

Fortunately, whenever a new technology, tactic or service comes along, it’s almost inevitable that a WordPress integration will appear. The reason for this is simple: WordPress is too big to ignore. Think about how a company building a mobile app will jump through hoops to get it into Apple’s App Store — doing otherwise is just passing up on a golden opportunity to get attention.

So creating mobile-first content on WordPress is a solid investment in the technological possibilities of the future. When something revolutionary comes along (or even just a hit new social network), you won’t need to wait long for a plugin to be released.

It’s extremely easy to find support – Mobile First Content

Because WordPress is the most widely-used consumer-targeted CMS in the world, it’s incredibly simple to find people familiar with all of its intricacies, including dedicated WordPress experts — something that can be invaluable if you need support.

Think not only about all the technical elements that go into designing online content, but also the creative aspects. If you’re not yet fully confident with creating a mobile-first page, it will help immensely to be able to look at numerous examples of comparable pages built in WordPress, and consult the creators to get some directly-applicable tips.

If you were building a page in a lesser-known system and encountered a bug or a feature you didn’t fully understand, you would have a lot more trouble figuring out how to proceed.

It’s incredibly (and easily) customizable – Mobile First Content

One of the biggest reasons that WordPress is so popular is that it’s almost-endlessly customizable. If there’s something you want to achieve in this CMS, you can do it: all you ultimately need is the dedication to work out how to get there.

And in most cases, customization doesn’t even require great technical expertise, because you can find plugins that provide intuitive drag-and-drop editors. Using such an editor, you can cater to mobile requirements with ease. Make a change, preview it on a smartphone, and adjust accordingly.

Given how tightly-packed smartphone screens are be relative to desktop devices, space is at a premium — you can’t afford to size things incorrectly or make a layout mistake that causes something to only be displayed partially. Using a CMS with so many options makes the process much less daunting.

It provides access to excellent themes – Mobile First Content

The theme you use for your website will play a significant role in its success, factoring into its speed, its aesthetic, its functionality, and its responsiveness. And yes, you could create a custom theme from scratch, but there’s unlikely to be a practical reason for doing so. You won’t win points for being original. Just as a competent email marketer will take advantage of free email templates before adding tweaks, a smart web designer will find a theme and customize it.  

As such, step one for implementing a mobile-first content strategy should be selecting a corresponding mobile-first theme. A great theme will minimize the time you need to spend on making format tweaks (having a rigorous set of mobile breakpoints, for instance) but also allow you plenty of flexibility to go in a different direction if you feel it’s justified. And WordPress has more excellent free or low-cost plugins than any other CMS.

If you go with WordPress for your mobile-first content, you’ll be well-positioned to find a theme that does everything you need while also retaining an individual style (other platforms have mobile-first themes, but so few that their sites tend to look the same).

It allows you to use a PWA plugin – Mobile First Content

A PWA (or “Progressive Web App”) is a type of hybrid between a website and a mobile app, designed to provide a seamless experience across distinct devices. When you turn a website into a PWA, you provide each mobile visitor with the option of essentially adding that page to their smartphone as an app — without needing to go through any kind of app store.

When you’re trying to distribute content to mobile viewers, and you’ve gone to the effort of optimizing it for them, it will be immensely beneficial to have the added hook of offering your website as a smartphone “app” — and because of WordPress, you can do so without too much difficulty using a simple plugin.

SuperPWA is very straightforward to use. In fact, it’s essentially a one-click process. Install it, and it should get everything working for you: giving you a mobile app experience without having to go through the expensive development process of creating a dedicated mobile app.

For all these reasons (and more), WordPress is the perfect CMS to use when you’re investing in mobile-first content. Don’t waste time using other platforms when such a compelling option is both free and easily accessible — in this case, the most popular choice is also the best one.