Responsive web design

A mobile responsive website is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity.
With over 65% of all internet traffic now coming from mobile devices see info graph below, it is essential that a website that can be viewed from any device; be it a smartphone, tablet or a desktop computer.

What Is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive web design is the method of building a website that is able to adjust to whichever screen size it is being viewed on. This provides an optimal user experience for potential customers who will be visiting your website from a  mobile device.
Alarmingly, despite the growth in the use of mobile devices and responsive websites, the majority of business websites are not mobile "friendly" and therefore will not successfully render on mobile devices.

How Is A Responsive Website Different To A Regular Website?

Before websites were built with responsive web design methods, the layout of websites had a ‘one size fits all’ approach. This is because up until recently, most people viewed a website from a desktop computer or a laptop.
So with a non- responsive website, if someone was to view this from a mobile device or a smaller screen, they would often have to zoom in to read text and click on links. A non- responsive website leads to a frustrating user experience and causes a lot of people to quickly leave in favor for websites that are mobile friendly.
An answer for this was to build a separate stand alone mobile version however this required the maintenance of both versions at extra expense, clearly not a sustainable option.

In a recent study by Google:
49% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that’s not mobile-friendly
38% said they felt like they’ve wasted their time by visiting those sites
57% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
68% said that if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn’t care about their business
In the already competitive world of online marketing not having a responsive mobile website could mean the difference between you and your competitors.

How Does Responsive Web Design Work?

Responsive web design is achieved by having a mobile first approach. This means that websites are now being designed for mobile devices first and then being adjusted for larger screen sizes like desktops. Customer opinion supports this practice as 85% of web users think a company’s mobile website should be as good as or better than their desktop website.

Will A Responsive Website Benefit My Business?

A mobile friendly website is essential not only for providing a good user experience, but also for being found online as it’s a crucial aspect of a good SEO strategy (search engine optimization). Over 20% of Google searches are performed on a mobile device and Google have also launched Mobile friendly badges in the search results to help guide users on mobile devices.
This means that businesses with a mobile web design are likely to receive a higher proportion of traffic from search engines than those who do not. Ultimately an increased volume of traffic will result in an increase in sales and leads for your business.

Responsive eCommerce websites

Responsive website design in particularly beneficial for eCommerce websites as a mobile friendly shopping cart will result in a more intuitive checkout process. This will result in an increased conversion rate and reduced cart abandonment rate, which translates to an increase in sales. It has been reported that 63% of companies that designed a website specifically for mobile viewing had increased sales.

Whether you’ve already have a website or you’re planning your first web design, having a mobile friendly and responsive website should be at the top of your priorities. Partnering with a web design & web development company who specialise in responsive websites and has a team of experienced responsive website designers and developers is essential to achieve an optimal mobile user experience for your customers.