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5 reasons to have a Responsive Website Design

By Brian Bennett, Thursday, 21st February 2013 | 0 comments
Filed under: UX/Design, Web Development, General News.

5 reasons to have a Responsive Website Design

1. Your website works on every device

This is the main reason people opt for a Responsive Designresponsive website design. You are creating a website that can be view on any device; a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Your website will automatically recognise the device and display the information for that accordingly. Everything just falls into place without you having to worry about it. With the responsive design all your content will be accessible, unlike a mobile site, and your user can find what they are looking for quite simply. Responsive designs are fluid, which means that when the next smartphone is released by Apple, Android or Windows your website will recognise the devices dimensions and will automatically render to that devices screens dimensions. Responsive web design is part of future-proofing your website.

2. Content

Content is King no matter what way you look at it. Whatever content you have on your website will determine how your site performs in Google searches. With a responsive design you do not lose any content at all; everything on your main website is just transformed. When you write your content you will be speaking to people on both desktops and mobile devices. It's win, win. With a mobile site, as discussed in our previous blog, you will only be able to display specific content; therefore missing out on certain traffic and phrases. With all your content on the site you give yourself the best chance of getting found all the time.

3. Improves your Google Rankings

Google loves people who follow their rules, by following them you improve your chances of getting found. You need to be honest, transparent, but also be thinking of the end user and the whole user experience. With a responsive design you are giving the customer a better user experience while they are surfing your website, on any device. Google rewards websites that follows their rules; if you have a responsively designed website you get a big imaginary tick and this should help you improve your organic ranking. Everyone’s goal is to get found by Google but we need to give ourselves the best possible chance.

4. Save time and increase revenue

How do you currently update you website? If you have a mobile site how do you update it? Do you waste lots of time and in turn money updating two sites? I’d imagine that you. With a responsive design you only have to update one website; the content on both is the same. This saves you time and money.
In an article published by Smashing Magazine on their Twitter on the 21st of February 2013, they stated that companies with a responsively designed website have a high conversion rate than those without. What can we take from that statement? People are more engaged when they are on their smartphone and are more likely to contact you or purchase from you if your site if it is easy navigate. More engagement should lead to more revenue.

5. Increased traffic from Mobile Devices

If you look at your Google Analytics you will see that more and more people are accessing your website from mobile devices. The number is continually on the rise. Taking some numbers from a Google survey 72% of people between the ages of 18 - 29 and 49% between the ages of 30 - 49 have a smartphone. The total number of people in Ireland with a smartphone is a little under 50%. Potentially half of Ireland’s population can access your site from a mobile device. It has become more convenient and people are not constantly on the move. A Responsively designed website allows people to access your website on the move and view it in the best way possible.

A Responsively Designed Website is the next big step as far as Web Design is concerned; it is for 2013 and beyond. At Webtrade we’re here to help, so please feel free to contact either Joe or Brian on 01 2990655 or email sales@webtrade.ie
 

Read Blog 1 in the Series: What is Responsive Web Design

Read Blog 2 in the Series: Mobile Friendly Design vs. Mobile Design vs. Responsive Design