6 Reasons your website needs responsive web design
What is responsive web design?
Responsive web design is designing a website in such a way, that it is optimised for viewing on desktop, mobile and tablet. In other words – it allows you to have the same user experience, regardless of which device you use to browse the internet.
So since when did responsive web design switch from a nice-to-have to a must-have?
Probably ever since the wonderful internet became available right from your pocket – on your phone. There were a few early adopters but generally speaking responsive web design has hit ‘main stream’ over the last 3 or 4 years or so.
Here’s 6 reasons your website needs to have responsive web design.
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Simple statistics
Experts are still in discussions about how much traffic on average comes via mobile and tablets. You can’t really put an exact figure to it, as it will differ depending on what your website is all about. However it’s fairly accurate to say that around 30% of traffic is mobile and 15% of traffic is from tablets (the rest is desktop).
Although desktop is still the largest source of website traffic, the number of visitors from mobile and tablet is increasing every day. Simply said, if your website is not responsive for mobile and tablet, you are at risk of really annoying 45% of your website visitors. You can check your own website statistics with Google Analytics.
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Search Engine Ranking
Search engines are increasingly moving away from capturing how many keywords you have. They are steering towards how rich your content is and how good your user experience (UX) is. This is measured by bounce rates, average pages per visit, time spent on the website, and many more magical algorithms. In other words, if 45% of your visitors are not finding your website easy to navigate and easy to use, you can imagine this will affect the user experience and therefore your search engine ranking. To get the best out of your search engine ranking, read our 10 Small Business SEO Tips.
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It helps to control your cost
By having a responsive website that is optimised for mobile and tablet use, you are essentially eliminating the cost of developing a separate website for mobile and tablets. One system to update, one system to maintain. The more money you keep in your pocket, the more you can spend in the pub and the happier you will be. Google also finds it easier to index one website and one URL, as opposed to separate websites with the same content.
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Staying ahead of competition
Let’s face it – it’s a dog-eat-dog world. As soon as you are not up to date with your customers’ expectations, your competitor is already signing the deal. There are many ways in which you can differentiate yourself, obviously subject to which industry you operate in. Research from Google shows people are increasingly browsing the web from multiple devices, before actually returning to the website on desktop to make a purchase. The mobile website tends to be higher up in the conversion funnel, but is nevertheless important to drive your visitors to convert.
Imagine you are looking for a new apartment. Are you really getting in touch with the first estate agent you see? It’s likely you’ll be browsing a bit to see what fits your needs. Those of you using public transport (pretty much all Londoners) are likely to do this on the train to or from work. If you’d come across a website of an estate agent that fits your need, wouldn’t it be so much easier to have the website automatically adjust to the device that you’re using?
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Actually reach a wider audience
Almost half of the UK population uses a smartphone. Facebook and Angry Birds can be quite addictive, but we reckon that these smartphone owners do a bit more with their phone than just playing games and stalking their friends. If your website is not responsive, where would all these poor people go with all the money they want to spend on your products? Your competitor, probably.
Actually now we’ve brought up Facebook – did you know that more than 50% of their traffic is via mobile? So if you’re a heavy social media user and you get loads of traffic from Facebook or other social networks, it’s imperative to have responsive web design in the website. Imagine actually getting good click-through rates via your social advertising, only to see all your visitors bounce because they can’t read your content.
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Your customers are online, so why aren’t you?
Gone are the days you went on holiday and when you came back, you invited all your friends and family over to come and have a look at the photos. Thanks to a healthy cocktail of global internet access, smartphones and social networks – you can now be the envy of your friends in real-time!
According to the independent, Brits spend one in every 12 minutes online. It’s a mad statistic if you think of it really – but it only means you need to include a good online marketing mix within your overall marketing efforts. Sure enough having internet access on your phone these days has helped the internet frenzy, and it only means responsive web design is playing an increasingly bigger role within your online communications.
So how can we help?
Luckily, we deliver all of our work completely responsive. If you’re reading this from your desktop, pull out your phone and head over to www.hiremediagroup.com. No matter which phone you use, the content automatically adjusts – so you don’t have to.
With a bit of magic and fairy dust, we can actually convert most existing websites to responsive web design too. So if you are struggling to keep mobile visitors interested in your website, then feel free to get in touch. There’s a good chance we can help.