As you probably already know, we at Clear believe that having a website to represent your business is vital to success. We aren’t alone in this belief. Let’s talk statistics. Surveys conducted at the end of 2012 proved that in-store sales are influenced by visits to your website. A different survey showed that 46% of December 2012 purchases were made online, and a further survey yet showed that 10% of these were influenced by visits through a mobile or tablet platform.
So what does your website look like from a mobile phone? Take a look.
Typical problems that occur when a website designed for a desktop computer is viewed on a mobile phone include the following:
- Large images are missing details in their new format
- Layouts with more than two columns do not compress properly
- Variation of text size appears jumbled up
There was a time when the solution would have been to create a mobile friendly website. Well, gather round my friends because that is no longer the case. The new solution is not about being mobile friendly, but about being flexible.
This is where responsive design comes in. As the name suggests, responsive design responds and rearranges information on the website to fit the medium that you are accessing it from. Responsive design does not assume the device that you are going to access a webpage from; rather it reacts to it, and adapts elements of the webpage to the device. For this to work, the website needs to be designed in a fluid and moveable fashion, so that elements can realign to fit the medium that they are being viewed on. This may entail going from large-small, or simply stacking up on top of each other in neat columns.
Apart from looking better on a mobile device, there are three very practical reasons that you should consider ensuring that your website is designed and developed to be responsive.
1. Usability
Your website is simply the stage on which you can present information. But as soon as the stage stops working, the information is lost and frustrated users won’t pursue it any longer. Responsive web design bypasses this problem, as it minimises bounce rates and provides the perfect platform for your many on-the-go users. It’s impressive, and shows that you care about your users.
2. Planning for the future
The reason that viewing websites on mobile phones is a problem… is because no one ever anticipated that it would be a problem! Designing your website with the ever-changing digital and media landscape in mind is sure to save you in the long run, as the moveable fluidity of responsive web design is usable on all platforms. We can’t control which devices access our websites, but we can make sure the experience is going to work for everyone! This is also more convenient for you, because producing a specifically ‘mobile’ website would have to be administered separately.
3. SEO
This is a technical blog which so far has bypassed any technical jargon! SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) means using keyword-rich language and implementing it in such a way that it hits all of Google’s buttons and heads to the top of the search engine charts! Responsive web design is good for SEO because the content on your website stays the same no matter the medium, instead of duplicating as it would for a purpose-built mobile website. Another benefit of responsive design versus separate mobile sites, is that you don’t need to worry over whether people will find the website tailored to their device as the website will automatically adapt to their device! That’s just another reason why we think responsive design is so great.
Fads and phases come and go, but the adaptability of responsive design means that it is sure to be around for a long time. We’ve even tested it out on our new website – check it out!
If you are planning a new website, responsive design is the foolproof way to get the most out of it and ensure that you reach as many of the right people as you possible. To find out more about how we can make your website responsive, click here to send us a message.
