Responsive Web Design has been catching
up, a bit slower than it should but it’s getting there. 83% of new business
sites are now responsive and that’s what yours should be too. In case you
aren’t familiar with the term responsive web design, here’s a brief definition
to cover the basic concept in a nut shell:
“Responsive Web Design is a technique using which websites retract
and deform to spontaneously fit the size of a user’s screen allowing them to
view and work with your site no matter what device is used to access the web.”
Web Designers across the globe
christened 2013 as the year of Responsive Web Design as most businesses both
small and large switched over to this amazing technology. It began with news
sites a few years ago as they wanted people to catch up while in transit.
However, with the increase in smartphone traffic to E-commerce sites, many
businesses now have responsive shopping carts and payment gateways! How cool is
that?
If you’re still contemplating whether
or not you should switch over or create your new business site based on a
responsive theme, here are a few benefits to show you what you’d be missing out
on:
Reach a Wider Audience
Tablet sales over the span of 2014 are
expected to cross 150 million in worldwide sales and hence there are going to
be many new people browsing via smaller screens. Traditionally users would be
redirected to a mobile site, but what are the dimensions going to be? Every
Tablet and Smartphone has screens of varied dimensions – the solution to this
problem is Responsive Web Design.
Increase in Sales and Overall Conversion Rates
Another major benefit of responsive
design is the fact that the user isn’t redirected from the desktop site to the
mobile site. This was one of the main reasons which led to bounces as mobile
internet connections are relatively slow and not many people have the patience
to wait.
Customers don’t always buy the moment
they land on your site. They’d probably check your site out while traveling
back home or when they’re having a cup of coffee at work and they’d probably
return home and visit your desktop site in order to purchase, but if the look
and feel is different they may not feel welcomed and hence visit another site
instead.
Responsive websites have the same style
sheets and hence the overall appearance is the same across all devices.
Responsive sites have an approximated 5% increase in conversion rate, which is
huge monetarily.
Better Analytics and Reporting
You’re also going to be helping out
your online marketers as they would be able to keep track of all your stats in
one go. Consolidation of reports is a very powerful feature that responsive web
design has made possible. Using these details your marketing agency would be
able to make better informed decisions and hence improve your sales month after
month.
Improved visibility on Search Engines
When you have a single responsive
website you can consolidate your link building strategies. You wouldn’t have to
separately build links for both sites to rank them well. Moreover, today search
engines especially Google and Bing stress on responsive web design and sites
that lack this feature find it harder to rank well, because the main goal of
search engines is to offer a better user experience.
Save up on Mobile Development
Responsive websites are easier to
create compared to setting up an entire standalone mobile website. Also, once
you get the basic framework of the responsive site setup you don’t really need
to bother with it again. Just update your desktop site with new features and
content and you would see it reflect on all devices.
You’re not staying ahead of the trend
A few years ago you could say that you
were ahead of your times when you had a responsive website, but today that’s
not the case, it’s more of a necessity. So, don’t fall back, address this issue
as quickly as you can, you don’t want to regret it when you see your
competitors doing better than you.
