Having a responsive website is no longer just important, it’s critical. The days of desktop only sites are long gone. In 2015 61% of the UK’s population used their smart phones to access the internet, with this percentage on the rise.
Search engines such as Google and Bing now highly recommend responsive web design. Those websites that don’t comply and fail their mobile friendliness tests could be punished by their ranking algorithms. Back in 2012 Google also declared that its ranking algorithm prefers responsive website design over mobile templates.
If you don’t have a responsive website, you are most likely losing customers to a competitor who does. Data from Google shows that 67% of users are more likely to buy a product or service from a mobile friendly site. It also shows that 61% of people are more likely to leave your website if it is not mobile friendly.
Even with all this evidence, the majority of business websites are still not responsive.
So what is responsive web design?
Put simply, responsive web design allows your website to adjust its appearance depending on what size device it is being viewed on. This allows your websites content to be displayed optimally across different sized smart phones, tablets and desktops. Figure 1 demonstrates how one of the responsive websites, we have developed, appears across different devices.
More reasons why your website should be responsive
- Cost effective
A responsive website can be viewed across all devices, still looking beautiful and providing a great user experience. This eliminates the need to invest in a separate mobile website or an app, especially if you have to develop separate apps for IOS, Android and Windows!
- Loading time
Google’s guidelines now state that a web page should load in 1 second, on a mobile. Just to illustrate how far things have come, in 2012 the average time it took for a web page to load on a mobile was 7 seconds! Responsive websites use one URL which eliminates the need for redirections to a mobile website. The reduced loading time responsive websites bring can also help with SEO.
- User friendly
Responsive design means no more zooming in and out! The content is all resized to the correct proportions for each device. A responsive menu ensures that the website is still as easy to navigate on mobile, as on desktop.
- Easy to maintain
- Improves SEO
- Increased mobile sales
- Higher conversions
- Lower bounce rates
- Keeps your website relevant for longer
What are you waiting for?
The points discussed in the blog post should be seriously considered if you or your business currently has a website that is un-responsive.
Here at Ctrl Alt Create we develop mobile friendly websites, that look good on all devices. We are based in Heswall, in Wirral and we cover the whole of the United Kingdom. For more information, e-mail us at hello@ctrlaltcreate.co or fill out our enquiry form.