Companies can no longer put off creating a responsive website design as mobile website traffic continues to rise.
The “early adopter” period of responsive website design has already passed. Users now fully expect websites to behave intelligently to whichever device they are using.
Have we gone a long way, don’t you think? Did you ever imagine having an Internet browser on your television? Or, even stranger, your refrigerator? (By the way, I’m out on that one.)
The world was a different place when I first started developing websites 16 years ago. There was no such thing as a “smartphone.” If your dumb phone had any internet, it was so slow that you’d prefer to wait for desktop access.
There was really just one key factor when web developers designed a website… I remember recalling aiming for 980 pixels. You had to simply ask “what are the most popular monitor dimensions?” and then target the lowest common denominator.
But that was yesterday; today is a different story.
While I’m on the topic, here are my top three reasons why EVERY public-facing company should have a responsive website.
Reason #1: Your visitors expect a mobile-friendly website
It’s all too easy to overlook your website’s users’ experiences. After all, you aren’t there. You are not aware of their difficulties and disappointments. Website troubles may easily slip out of sight and out of memory.
But I can assure you that not having a responsive design is harmful to your brand.
What good is it if your consumers have to touch and zoom all the time when browsing your website? If 90% of the websites people visit look amazing on their phones, your organization will appear out of date. Don’t drive your prospects away because you keep putting off dealing with this issue.
Reason #2: Google Kudos for Responsive Website Design
Did you know that Google takes over 200 factors into consideration when determining how to rank a website? Is it any surprise that mobile-friendliness ranks high on the list?
With each online search, Google has a simple mission: to provide the finest and most relevant material to the consumer. However, because the user experience is bad, unresponsive content is by definition of low quality.
Google is increasingly attempting to eliminate gaming functionality from its search platform. Rather than allowing cheap approaches like keyword stuffing and acquiring backlinks, Google prefers to rank content higher if it is actually beneficial to live, talking individuals.
Bottom line: if you want Google to be pleased, prioritize user experience.
A smart place to start is to ensure that your company’s website is responsive.
Reason #3 – Easier Maintenance
I talk to a lot of marketing managers, especially when we’re doing a lot of outreach. One of the most popular ways I see people get around a non-responsive website is to develop a second, mobile-specific website. Many times, people just install a WordPress plugin to create a distinct mobile site.
Unfortunately, because you are now managing two websites, this may sometimes result in a maintenance problem.
There is just one website with a truly responsive web design. 95 per cent of the time, if the website is correctly developed, the content just appears excellent regardless of device, and there is no content duplication.
How to Create a Responsive Website
in most cases, you cannot make an existing website responsive; you must start from scratch. The explanation for this is simple: we’re discussing your website’s structural system. It’s like expecting your house to have steel framing when it was built with wood.
Luckily, not everything has gone. If you prefer your present design, you may rebuild your website while preserving the old style. Instead of going through a long design process, you may advise your web developer to preserve the existing website but redesign it to be responsive.
These responsive rebuilds are pretty common at our company. Because there isn’t a lot to examine in terms of responsive design, such tasks mostly go fast.
Do you have a question concerning responsive website design? Ask us a question in the comments below or fill out our contact form. We’d be delighted to hear from you.
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