When it comes to building your next website, you may be tempted to focus on the aesthetics – after all, the right colours, layout and fonts can make or break your digital image. But have you considered how your website will look to mobile users? With worldwide mobile and tablet internet traffic usage exceeding desktop usage for the first time, there’s never been a better time to ensure your website is optimised for mobile.
What is responsive web design?
Responsive web design (RWD) is the process of designing a website that has the ability to adapt to different screen sizes. A responsive website will automatically reformat dependent on the device the visitor is accessing it from, offering better user experience and allowing you to deliver clear brand messages every time.
Responsive design is for your users
When you serve content through a responsive website, your pages will be flexible and fluid across all screen resolutions. Whether your customer visits your site from their smartphone or desktop, they’ll have an optimal viewing experience and navigation will be adapted.
Mobile is popular
Forecasts from Statista suggest that the number of smartphone users in the UK will reach about 44.9 million by 2017, so ensuring that your website is optimised for mobiles makes sense. 51% of all e-commerce sales are now made from mobile phones, so making it easier for customers to make purchases from their smartphones could result in more sales.
Responsive design is easy to maintain
Before responsive web design, web developers would traditionally create an ‘mdot’ version of a website specifically for mobile phones. Although this made it possible to serve a mobile-friendly version of your website on mobile, you effectively had to manage two entirely separate websites, making search engine optimisation difficult. Now, with responsive web design, you only have to manage a single website, which is cost-effective and makes SEO campaigns more effective.
Google’s Mobile-First Index
For a couple of years, Google has recommended that all web masters serve their content on a responsive website, and even offered a mobile friendliness ranking boost to websites that adopted Google’s best practices. In January of this year, however, the search engine giant went one step further, and now crawls content using a mobile-first index. Now, instead of crawling for content from a desktop browser point of view, Google now crawls the web from a mobile browser perspective, making responsive web design all the more important.
Tip: You can use Google’s free tool to check whether your website is mobile friendly.
Implementing a responsive design on your website can be technical, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. Work with JAK to find out how we can improve your website’s mobile presence and help you convert more visitors into customers. Get in touch today by emailing sales@jakinc.uk, call us on 0191 3882 698 or click here to visit our website.