Top 4 Reasons You Need a Responsive Design

It is all the talk about why you should have a responsive design for your website. But do you really understand why? There are a lot actually, but I’ll cover the top 5, on my list anyway.

Google

Early in 2015 Google announced that they were going to modify search results based on whether the site was “mobile friendly”. They even came out with a handy tool for checking your site. LINK (https://goo.gl/XV6ZkX). This announcement unfortunately set the web on fire. There were a lot of sites that already were using responsive designs, but it was far from everywhere.

The biggest hit of this was to small businesses. To a small business, their website is a portal into their business. It is a way for possible customers or clients to research before actually engaging. And to a small business, a website can be a huge expense.

Needless to say, to stay in Google’s good graces, redesigns were happening all over the place. And for good reason. No site wanted to relinquish their reputation with a search engine all because they didn’t cater to the mobile crowd.

Your Site Visitors

Your site visitors will thank you if you have a responsive site. I can’t recall the number of times where I look up a company or store to see where they are located, get a phone number, check their hours, or see if they have sales. All on my smart phone.

Doing so on a site that isn’t responsive can be a chore. Seeing that “desktop” site will cause many people to leave. It can cause your bounce rate to climb sky high.

In 2014 the number of users of mobile devices finally overtook desktop users. (reference: http://goo.gl/38iLwM) This means that there is a much better chance that visitors to your site are viewing on a phone or tablet than sitting at a desk. If you are watching your site analytics, you should be able to see this trend of mobile visitors.

Simplicity

The old way of making a site usable on a mobile device was to have a second site. When the device was detected by the code, it would be automatically re-directed. This re-direction worked great for your users, but caused maintenance and upkeep nightmares for you and/or your web developer(s).

With two separate sites, every change that was made needed to be made to both sites. It also needs to be tested on both sites. If you’re not testing your changes before releasing them to the public, that is a topic for another day.

With a responsive design, you have one site. There is no dual maintenance, no need to double test everything. It simplifies your life and gives your visitors a top notch experience.

Your Competition

Don’t think that your competition isn’t already looking to redesign their site. As I mentioned above, Google drove a mad dash to get ahead or keep what rankings you had. If your competition hasn’t already redesigned, there is a good chance that they are in the midst.

Redesigning your site to be responsive may be the boost you need to bypass them in the search rankings. Don’t let the opportunity get past you.

Conclusion

Opie’s Computers can help you redesign your website with responsiveness in mind. We can deliver you a site that will give you the flexibility to display your site the way you want it to. Please Contact Us if you have any questions.

photo credit: Browsing properties to buy on an iPhone via photopin (license)