March 17, 2016
What Responsive Design is and Why Your Business Needs it!
Some of you may or may not know what responsive design is. I didn’t really know what it was till recently, why? Probably because it’s the new web trend that’s more than just a trend – it’s a necessity.
You may have some questions floating around and our Orange County web design experts are here to hopefully answer those questions before you ask them
What’s the Difference Between Mobile and Responsive Design?
Mobile website is where you not only have your “desktop” version of your website but you also have a website specifically designed for mobile viewing (aka, looking at the website through your phone) whereas responsive design only requires you to have ONE website, yeah…just one, and that one website is coded to adapt to all screen size no matter what device it’s being displayed on.
A mobile website is a completely separate entity requiring you to have a sub-domain, also its only really just designed for viewing on a phone which can cause an issue when you are getting different size displays on phones ranging anywhere from a iPhone to almost iPad mini size displays.
So – Why Responsive Design? Here are some undeniable reasons why your website needs to be responsive:
1. Mobile Usage is Growing at a Rapid Rate
If you didn’t notice already, EVERYONE even their moms have smart phones. Mobile Usage is exploding, and despite these crazy statistics, businesses still haven’t taken advantage of this obvious growing trend.
Over 20% of Google searches are being performed on a mobile device.
In 2012 more than half of the local searches were performed on a mobile device.
In the United States, 25% of internet users only access the internet on a mobile device
61% of people have a better opinion of brands when they offer a good mobile experience
25.85% of all emails are opened on mobile phones, and 10.16% are opened on tablets.
(via Smart Insights)
2. Make Your Visitors Experience a Good One
According to , if a visitor visits your mobile website and is frustrated or doesn’t find what they are looking for, there is a 61% chance that they will leave immediately and go to another website (ahem, perhaps a competitor) and it is also said that if they have a good experience with your mobile website, a visitor is 67% more likely to buy a product or use a service.
3. Responsive Design is Preferred for SEO
Via SMX Advanced, Google prefers responsive web design over mobile templates. Having a website on one single URL makes it easier for Google bot to crawl your site. The Algorithm for Google’s external link reduces the chance of on-page SEO errors. YAY! Even more reason to do responsive design versus a mobile template site.
4. Faster Websites are Better
According to standards recommends that the content above the fold on a mobile device loads under 1 second and the entire page loads in under 2 seconds. If loading a desktop website on a mobile device, this “standard” speed that Google recommends is not possible, and guess what? There’s probably an extremely high chance that a visitor, who has been waiting for your site to load, will leave.
Not sure how your website holds up? Test it now!
5. Responsive Will Adapt to Future Devices
One of my personal favorite benefits of responsive design is that the size of the template is designed based on screen size…NOT the device, talk about time traveling to the future. So when new devices with a variety of screen sizes come up (glasses, watches, TVs, SmartHouse etc.) you’re responsive website will still look amazing!
Understand that it is extremely critical that your website offers mobile users an easy-to-use experience. Why would you make it hard for someone to obtain your products and your services? Get your business website optimized for the future, get responsive.
Check out our NEW GreatLike responsive website , try it on your phone, computer, and tablet and let us know what you think.
Want to get a responsive site? Let us know! Contact the Orange County web design experts from GreatLike Media.
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