Designing a website that automatically adjusts and adapts to the inflexible screen resolutions of desktop/laptop computers, mobile phones or tablets is referred to as responsive web design. Created to optimize user experience by enhancing the ability to scroll, resize or pan, RWD allows for the effortless adaption of a site layout to screen resolution capability by using CSS3 media queries, grids that are fluidly proportion-based and manipulative graphics. With the incredible increase in the number of mobile device users over the past decade, businesses must have websites that can be accessed and investigated without difficulty by smartphone and tablet users who rely exclusively on these devices for interacting with e-commerce sites.
Survey after survey has found that mobile device users report visiting a competitor’s website if the one they originally tried to access did not contain elements of RWD. Websites developed only for traditionally-sized screens do not appear whole on smaller screens. Columns of information may be missing, images warped or missing altogether and elements vital to increasing revenue, sales and conversion rates often fail to load properly. Consequently, businesses neglecting to upgrade their website with professionally incorporated RWD techniques could potentially lose thousands of customers, new leads and search engine ranking.
Here’s five more reasons why the success of your business demands responsive web design essentials that naturally attract mobile device users and keep them coming back:
1. The cost effectiveness of having just one website optimized for desktop/laptop and mobile devices instead of two websites is consistently significant and allows businesses to delegate extra funds towards the business itself.
2. Google loves websites that contain responsive web design elements. And with nearly 80 percent of the search market share, Google’s preferences should be addressed and gratified by site owners if they want to remain relevant as answers to search queries. In fact, Google reps have stated that RWD is the industry’s “best practice” because RWD sites have the same HTML and only one URL. This unification of identity acts like a magnet for the Google spider to crawl and index content.
3. Having a single interface for administrative purposes that can be quickly upgraded and optimized means that content can be managed using workflow and layout tools as well as preferred templates for specialized businesses.
4. Consolidation of reporting and analytics–with one website developed from a variety of responsive web design strategies, businesses do not need to spend extra time tracking conversion paths, redirections, user journeys or funnels between two or more sites.
5. Responsive web design allows optimized websites to provide offline browsing via HTML5 and the establishment of protocols that permit users to save site pages offline for later viewing.
Ask any internet guru or industry insider what one aspect of website design companies should be focusing on in order to sustain their viability in the increasingly competitive world of e-commerce and they will answer with responsive website design strategies. With more people choosing smartphones and tablets over other Internet-enabled devices, businesses that fail to use RWD will find themselves lagging far behind in the brutally competitive race among websites to attain high ranking and comprehensive exposure to users worldwide.
