With the rise in mobile browsing, making sure that you have a website that is viewable on technology such as tablets and smartphones is not just recommended, it’s imperative. If your website is not mobile-friendly and is lacking a responsive design, then you are going to be losing potential clients and consumers to the competition.
Much in the same way that a slow load time on a website will cause users to “bounce” or leave your website, a page that is not compatible with mobile will have them running for the hills. Your website should be built and designed specifically to enhance the user experience. Websites that are poorly designed are ones that try to fit the entire kitchen sink onto a single page, probably accented with some nonsensical animation thrown in for good measure too. Let’s be frank here, no one wants to see that. However, if your website is not responsive or mobile-friendly, I can promise you that no matter how much time and effort you’ve put into building a wonderful design, people aren’t going to look at it.
They simply can’t be bothered. Especially not when so many of your competitors have already made that call to embrace mobile.
So What Is Responsive Website Design?
Responsive website design is an approach aimed at crafting websites to provide an optimal viewing experience. That means they incorporate easy reading and navigation with a minimal amount of resizing, panning, or scrolling. All of the content, images and structure of your website stays the same no matter what type of device you are utilizing to browse the Internet.
When a user goes to a website on their desktop they will see the website in full view:
With a responsive design, when a user accesses that same website through their mobile device, the website will automatically recognize this and retract to accommodate the smaller screen.
All you need to really do to understand how prevalent mobile browsing is in the world today is to simply look around. Everywhere you go people are browsing, consulting, and utilizing their smartphones in some form or fashion. People use their mobile devices to view social media outlets, check emails, read product reviews, and even shop on the go.
Here are just a few facts in case you’re still wondering if a responsive design is right for you:
- There are approximately 1.75 billion smartphone users worldwide
- 61% of the US population owns a smartphone
- 4 out of 5 consumers use their smartphones to shop
- 70% of mobile searches lead to online action within an hour
If that still doesn’t convince you, think about this, more people in the world own smartphones than have access to running water or own toothbrushes. Still don’t think mobile is here to stay?
Added Benefits of Responsive Designs
You may be thinking to yourself, “I have a website designed for desktop users and another website designed for mobile users.” That’s great! You’ve got your bases covered. However, for those who have yet to embrace mobile or who have websites in need of updating, responsive website design is perfect for you. It saves you the hassle of having to create and design two separate websites.
Another thing that is really important to your bottom line, is that Google actually prefers websites to have a responsive design. And in case you haven’t heard, they’re kind of a big deal. But why do they prefer it? Google finds that it more efficient for their bots to crawl the website and index and organize all of the content found online. This is because when your website has a responsive design Google bots only have to be concerned with one URL and the same code across all devices. If you are the type of business with a separate desktop website and a separate mobile website, the HTML and the URL will be different for each individual property.
So a responsive website design means that your website is going to have a better search ranking overall.
Website Development With Longevity For Your Business
Mediaura has experience in “retrofitting” websites for a responsive design, as well as Website Development from start-to-finish. To learn more about our website services, click here. If you would like to learn how mobile website development can benefit your business, contact us here or give us a call at 502-554-9649. A member of our team will be happy to assist you.
