Responsive Design: How important is it really?

You may have already heard of Google’s Mobile-Friendly update by now. This recent update, which many are calling Mobilegeddon, can hurt your search rankings if your website is not responsive. If you’re curious to see how your website is performing mobile wise, you can find out by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool. The tool will give you a pretty good idea if your company website needs improvements or not. At the end of the day, if you’re company website is not responsive, chances are your visitor will simply leave and find your competitor that is.

The responsive design concept for websites in nothing new. Terms such as; liquid structures, fluid grids, percentages and ems have become an attraction for years now. Here are a few reasons why it’s important to have a responsive design:

1.) Say Goodbye to Creating a Website Per Device

Stop the madness! Do you have any idea how many different types of mobile devices are out there? I can’t even imagine building a website for each one. It’s just crazy to think how much production and expense that would be for our clients. Not to mention when new devices come out, will you need to create a new website for that as well?

2.) Retain Your Mobile Visitors

We can talk about mobile vs desktop stats all day but the fact is if your website is not mobile friendly you are losing business. How long does it take your first time mobile visitors to call you, find your address, or learn your operating hours? If you are selling products, how quickly can your client buy through a mobile device? It’s time to retain that mobile traffic, and gain better qualified leads through inbound marketing, and increase those sales instead of losing them.

3.) Flexible Across the Board

The issue is there’s always going to be a new touch screen device where the screen size varies. The bright side is their shapes do not vary. There are no mobile devices that are circles or triangles… last I checked at least. For now, it’s safe to say they are all rectangle. One less thing to worry about. I have to admit, this is probably one of the features I enjoy the most. The ability for images to enlarge or scale down when they need to, menus disappear and simplify into small boxes and grids morphing and adapting to a portrait or landscape positioned mobile device.

4.) Mobile Experience is Crucial

This is the age where simple, efficiency and ease of navigation is key. Having the ability to scroll through content and being able to call directly without typing in the number is key. A one click (two max) access to more information or to buy is key. Big, finger-friendly buttons and large fonts… is definitely key.

5.) Better Search Results

Last, if one of the main goals for the organization is to be visible on Google or to improve search results, then having a responsive design for your company website is a must. As I mentioned earlier, Google is giving out brownie points if your website is responsive. There are other elements that come to play for achieving a great mobile experience such as; image optimization, download time, and compressing CSS and JS files. Ultimately, if the responsive design talk is on your to-do list, you’re off to a great start.

 
What other benefits do responsive design websites have? Share your opinion with us in the comments!

 
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