How can you tell if your website design has passed its sell by date? Well, try this simple test to see if your website passes muster. Pick up your mobile or tablet and log onto your website and honestly answer the following questions:
- Does your website load in less than 5 seconds?
- Does it look different on mobile and tablet devices?
- Does it draw your eye to your key selling points or messages?
- Do you have to pinch and pull to see text and photos?
- Is the content easy to read and navigate?
- Is it easy to activate the call action?
- Does it provide a good user experience?
- Would you spend time on this site if it wasn’t your own?
If the answers are all negative, then you’re going to have to redesign your website so that it cuts the mustard in today’s mobile-orientated world.
Why is the increase in mobile usage important for businesses? Well, mobile internet usage has risen dramatically over the last few years. More and more people are using smartphones and tablets for everything online; from browsing social media outlets and checking emails to shopping online. So it’s vitally important that your website is mobile-friendly, and for that you’re going to need a website with responsive design (RWD).
What is responsive web design?
Well, put simply it’s a website that has been constructed so that all of the content, images and structure of the site remains the same, regardless of the device you’re viewing it on. In other words, RWD works across multiple platforms. If a user views the site on a desktop they’ll get a full view of the site: however, if the user chooses to view the site on a smartphone or tablet the site will retract to fit on the smaller screen. The important point is that whatever device you view the site on, the user experience will be the same.
Responsive website design has helped to transform website design on two fronts. First because of its dynamic capabilities, website pages reformat themselves depending on the device they are being viewed on; the result is that regardless of whether a page is viewed on a phone, a laptop or a desktop, the website experience will still remain user-friendly. Secondly, RWD has transformed the web design industry. Responsive website design has done away with the need to create a separate mobile site, or a dynamically-served mobile site to satisfy internet browsers. Now one dynamic site can service all needs.
The added benefit of RWB is that it can also help with search engine ranking. How so you may wonder? Well, Google has categorically said it prefers responsive website design as the recommended mobile configuration: and if Google says it, then it pays to take heed. The principal advantage of responsive designs is that, unlike separate desktop and mobile sites that require a different URL and HTML for each site, all responsive sites have only one URL and use the same HTML across all devices. So Google doesn’t have to index multiple versions of the same exact site. What’s more, as there is just one website and one URL, it’s much easier for users to share, interact and engage with the content on the site.
Responsive design also gives users a better experience. There’s no longer any need to zoom and shrink text and images to view on screen: with responsive design all of the content automatically adjusts to the screen of the device. This makes it easier and more convenient for users to read and navigate on your site. That not only makes the user’s experience more pleasurable – and a happy visitor is far more likely to buy your products and services: it also helps to improve bounce rates.
Responsive website design helps businesses to make the most of mobile and tablet traffic and offers the very best user experience to today’s visitors whether their browsing the internet using a mobile, a tablet of a desktop. For more information on responsive website design, contact our team of experts on 0161 669 5544.
