At one point, having a website was a powerful marketing gimmick. These days, it’s more or less a given, and there are very few businesses which can sustain themselves without some kind of web presence. Now, there’s a different feature which is changing the way businesses operate online. Responsive web design is now more important than ever, and if you haven’t taken advantage of it that needs to change! Here’s why responsive design is so important.
The first reason to get responsive web design is that it more or less future-proofs your site. I bet you can remember when the first iPhone adverts hit our screens, and how revolutionary the whole concept seemed. These days however, smart devices are everywhere, especially with the growing phenomena of smart watches. In 2015, over 58% of Americans owned a smartphone, and a similar proportion of all website traffic was coming through mobile devices. Consequently, responsiveness has become something of a given if you’re running a website design agency. This is a trend that is only growing, but without responsive design all those mobile users are going to find it very hard to use your site.
Another big reason you should have responsive web design is its intimate link with social media. Well over half of all social media use now happens through mobile apps, and online shopping through smartphones and tablets is also on the rise. If you have any kind of social media presence at all (you really should), then responsive web design is an absolute necessity. Let’s say your ideal customer gets a little Facebook notification pinging up on their screen, and opens it to read about a business they’re very interested in. They tap the link, and they’re taken to a clunky, disproportionate site that’s obviously designed for use with a desktop. A massive proportion of people would leave immediately. For the ones who stay, the experience will probably be frustrating enough to soil your reputation forever! If you value your social media efforts at all, you should get some responsive web design done.
Finally, a responsively designed website will improve your SERP rankings. Google itself recommends it, so what does that tell you? Thanks to their changes in algorithm over the past decade or so, websites with responsive design will be bumped up the ladder, as they provide people with a much smoother user experience. Furthermore, Google seems to favour sites that use single URLs, rather than several URLs for different versions of the website. You should also know that when someone searches through a mobile device, it’s run through a completely different algorithm than on a desktop. So, if you type in a search term and your site comes up first on a computer, that’s no guarantee the same will happen for a large chunk of your customer base. With mobile searches overtaking other devices, this factor is something you really can’t afford to ignore!
There you have just three of the reasons why you should have had responsive web design yesterday. If you’re still not phased, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
