Responsive Web Design

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the top 4 questions about responsive web design

Having a website that is mobile friendly and responsive so that it displays effectively on all devices is incredibly important. The direct benefits in terms of visitor engagement and lead or sale conversion are incredibly significant and undisputed. However there is still a mind blowing proportion of websites online that are not mobile friendly. In the following article start with the very basics by answering the four most asked questions about responsive web design.

1. What Is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive web design is a method of building a website that is simply able to adjust to whichever screen size it is being viewed on. This provides an optimal viewing capability and enhanced user experience for potential customers who will be visiting your website from a smartphone or mobile device.

Shockingly, despite the growth in the use of mobile devices and responsive websites, the majority of business websites are not mobile compatible and therefore will not successfully render on mobile devices or smartphones.

2. How Is A Responsive Website Different To A Regular Website?

Prior to websites being built with responsive web design techniques, the layout and framework of websites had a ‘one size fits all’ approach. This is because up until recently, most people viewed a website from a desktop computer or a laptop.

So with a non- responsive website, if someone was to view this from a mobile device or a smaller screen, they would often have to zoom in to read text and click on links. A non- responsive website leads to a frustrating user experience and causes a lot of people to quickly leave in favor for websites that are mobile friendly.

According to a recent study by Google:

48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that’s not mobile-friendly
36% said they felt like they’ve wasted their time by visiting those sites
52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
48% said that if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn’t care about their business

In the already competitive world of online marketing not having a responsive mobile website could mean the difference between you and your competitors.

3. How Does Responsive Web Design Work?

Responsive web design is achieved by a web developer including instructions (or lines of code) to re-size the web design relative to the size of the device it is being viewed on. This is most commonly achieved by readjusting the width and or height of certain elements on the page like images and navigation items. Responsive web design uses multiple web development techniques which were first combined for this purpose by Ethan Marcotte who wrote a manifesto on responsive design.

The best responsive web design results are achieved by having a mobile first approach. This means that websites are now being designed for mobile devices first and then being adjusted for larger screen sizes like desktops. Customer opinion supports this practice as 85% of web users think a company’s mobile website should be as good as or better than their desktop website.

4. Will A Responsive Website Benefit My Business?

A mobile friendly website is essential not only for providing a good user experience, but also for being found online as it’s a crucial aspect of a good SEO strategy (search engine optimisation). Over 20% of Google searches are performed on a mobile device and Google have also launched Mobile friendly badges in the search results to help guide users on mobile devices.

This means that businesses with a mobile web design are likely to receive a higher proportion of traffic from search engines than those who do not. Ultimately an increased volume of traffic will result in an increase in sales and leads for your business.

Responsive website design in particularly beneficial for eCommerce websites as a mobile friendly shopping cart will result in a more intuitive checkout process. This will result in an increased conversion rate and reduced cart abandonment rate, which translates to an increase in sales. According to eConsultancy 62% of companies that designed a website specifically for mobile had increased sales.

Whether you’ve already got a website or you’re planning your first web design, having a mobile friendly and responsive website should be at the top of your priorities. Partnering with a web design & web development company who specialise in responsive WordPress websites and has a team of experienced responsive website designers and developers is essential to achieve an optimal mobile user experience for your customers.

More Mobile Users

With over 50% of people now using mobile devices instead of desktops, the majority of users coming to your website are likely to be using a mobile device.

Google Penalty

Google is now penalising websites that are not mobile friendly. Your website is less visible in the search engine results if it is not mobile friendly.

User Experience

Research shows that if your website is not mobile optimised visitors will spend less time on your website, engage with the content less, and are more likely to leave.

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Not only do we understand the importance of responsive web design, we know how to design and develop it exceptionally well.

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