The days when all you needed for a website was a domain and some content are over. The world has changed and if you want traffic, you will have to change too. For starters, customers want a website that meets their needs. Nothing will put them off faster than a website that does not work with whichever device they are using.
What Exactly is Responsive Design?
A responsive website is one designed to provide the user with an experience that has been optimized for their device. The website adapts to the screen width and resolution of each device. This differs from mobile design, which involves creating a separate website for mobile users.
Reasons to Get a Responsive Website
Mobilegeddon
In April of 2015, Google instituted changes to its search algorithm to make it friendlier to responsive websites and less friendly to nonresponsive ones. This change was dubbed Mobilegeddon by the media due to the fact that the websites that were not mobile friendly would likely see a significant (possibly catastrophic) dip in their traffic. In short it would be an “apocalypse” for those without responsive websites. In July of 2015, the Wall Street Journal ran a story stating that the algorithm change did indeed wreak havoc on the traffic of sites that were not mobile friendly. The article stated that non-responsive websites saw their traffic fall by 12 percent.
Responsive Websites Deliver a Better User Experience
The goal of responsive design is to provide the user with a good browsing experience. If people find the website easy to use on their device, they will probably keep using the website. If they stick around, this ups the likelihood that they will buy something. If they leave after a few seconds, then the website owner will likely be missing out on sales.
Users Surf on Numerous different Devices
Consider the fact that as of 2015, here are over 20,000 different types of Android devices. That is just one operating system; there are many other types of phones, tablets and TVs. There are also multiple different screen sizes and resolutions, making it impossible to account for all of them with mobile versions of a website. Responsive design solves that problem by enabling websites to adjust to the screens and function the same way on all devices.
Mobile Design is Antiquated
With a mobile site, it will be necessary to have at least two different URLs and maintain at least two websites. The problems with this are:
- customers may not remember the address of your mobile site
- maintaining two different websites costs more than maintaining one
In the modern era, responsive design has become the standard. In fact, many web designers no longer identify it as “responsive design.” Instead, it is included as simply another essential aspect of web design at no extra cost to the client.
Recent Comments