Why is a Responsive Website Important?

If you’ve been paying attention to updates in web development over the past few years, you’ve probably heard of responsive website design. A responsive website is simply one that recognizes the type of device that it is being utilized and adapts accordingly, reformatting to ensure that there is the ideal user experience at all times. There are a number of benefits of having a responsive website, so why not consider it for your site?

Mobile use

With an ever-increasing number of people relying on smartphones for their internet access, it does not make sense to ignore this market. People are using them for social media, online banking and even a grocery shop. Around one third of people believe that this is the best way for them to access the internet and most people are actually spending more time online via their cell phone than they ever did with a laptop or desktop computer.

Back in 2014 it was only around 22% of people who relied on their smartphone for internet access so it shows just how quickly this market is growing.  4G phone services have also helped to boost these figures – faster, more reliable mobile internet means that it is even easier to do everything that you need to do online via a smartphone.

If your website is not responsive to the mobile user then you could be losing a lot of potential customers and clients. The sheer number of people who could find you this way make it worthwhile to have a responsive site.

Google Recommendations

Google is constantly updating and the current recommendations are for a responsive website. One of the ranking factors for search results takes into consideration just how mobile-friendly a website is. This means that sites that cater for the mobile generation are ranked more highly on the search engines.

Responsive web design benefits

Choosing a responsive website means that the content and the page design will automatically be flexible so it changes to suit the resolution of the screen that the viewer is using. It will minimize the amount of scrolling and resizing that is needed.

The more flexible that your site is the easier people are going to find it to use, so they are more likely to come back to it again. If you are promoting a product or service then this is maximizing the potential of your site to boost your business.

There is also no need for you to create different websites for different formats. You just need the one website, instead of creating a separate website for mobile users. You don’t need an additional website to maintain – one website that does all the hard work for you is a much better solution. It is also going to be more cost-effective to run just one site.

When it comes to your SEO campaign you are also saving yourself a lot of work. You only need to have an SEO campaign for your responsive site instead of planning for two different sites.

The true benefit of a responsive site is that it is going to save you a lot of work in the long-term, so you can reap more benefits with less work and cost.