Importance of Responsive Web Design

Responsive Web Design

Remember when you had to zoom into the squeezed version of a desktop website on your phone to see everything?

It was undoubtedly a bad mobile representation of all websites and a bad user experience.

Following this, Google changed its search engine algorithms on April 21, 2015.

And now, a website’s ranking signal also depends on its presence on mobile. It all perfectly explains the importance of mobile website design.

Generally, everyone owns a mobile phone today. So, there is a great need for your website to be mobile-responsive. If not, your business may substantially lose sales and leads.

What is Mobile Responsive Web Design?

A responsive website design changes its layout according to your mobile’s screen. In other words, Mobile-friendly websites fit perfectly into any mobile screen with no zooming/pinching.

The “responsive web design” sites allow you to scroll vertically and read text easily. In addition, such websites provide sufficient space on handheld devices (smartphones and tablets), making it easier for you to tap anywhere.

Responsive sites respond to any screen with automatic formatting, no matter your device.

Today, your business depends on mobile-responsive websites. If you think only a desktop website would be best for your brand, you’re living back in time.

In 2020, research showed that about 90 percent of the internet population uses mobile phones for internet surfing. Today, mobile users account for 55% of the total web traffic.

So with the increase in mobile usage, it is necessary to ensure that visitors enjoy navigating your site and stay there longer.

Before 2010, website developers developed more than one site to fit various screen sizes. However, with the number of devices having different screen sizes today, the multiple-website trend looks entirely incompetent.

Fortunately and thankfully, web designer Ethan Marcotte invented the term “responsive web design” in 2010.

Ethan said that such web designs paved the way for us to move forward. And “finally allowing us to design for the ebb and flow of things.” Hence, a mobile-friendly website is not a choice but a demand.

6 Reasons You Should have a Mobile Website Design

Here are some major reasons or benefits of responsive web design;

Extreme Mobile Usage

The number of internet searches via mobile is increasing effectively. It’s because a mobile is a handheld device that matches the preference of internet users.

Mobile responsive websites provide easy site navigation to your visitors, resulting in their satisfaction and higher conversion rate.

Mobile users also expect all websites to offer an optimal experience. And they are more likely to visit the same site again on their phones.

If your website is flashy, barely mobile-friendly, and hard to use, your ideal visitors will leave your site right that instant. So yes! Increased mobile usage is one of the greatest reasons the mobile web is an important element of web design.

Improved SEO Rankings

SEO, can refer to it as search engine optimization, is a strategy that helps companies or solo brands to boost higher on Google’s search page rankings.

The more you’re on top, the more chances of potential customers to find you.

Google announced the usage of mobile-first indexing in 2015. Mobile indexing means Google will first see the mobile version of a website to rank it before looking at the desktop version.  Google already prefers mobile-friendly websites, proving that it can perfectly assist you with SEO rankings if your site is mobile-responsive.

Better User Experience

User experience is all that accounts for a business or brand’s growth.

Of course, there are several other reasons for business growth. However, they all attach back to offering the best user experience to your target audience.

A mobile responsive site means no more zooming, no horizontal scrolling, no frustration.

Such sites let the user enjoy a better experience and increase website conversion, reduce bounce rates, and boost brand perception.

You want people to trust your brand, visit your site more often, and buy your service. However, it’s only possible when you give them what they want, a great user experience.

If mobile users visit your site and find it lazy to load and contain low-resolution pictures, they will take your company as highly unprofessional.

With low-quality websites, trust becomes hard to build, resulting in your losing customers.

Hiring an expert web developer to make your site mobile-friendly to provide a better user experience is undoubtedly costly. However, the cost is only one time, whereas the benefits stay longer, outweighing the initial expense.

Cost-Effective and Effortless Management

Even today, several companies use two versions of their website. One is the desktop version, while the other is strictly the mobile version. However, it’s an old practice and fairly expensive too.

By operating a mobile responsive design, you can save money and time. All you got to do is spend on a single responsive site, which may initially be expensive.

However, at least it will be less expensive than paying for two sites regularly.

Managing a website is a necessity but quite a hassle. Most businesses today don’t have time to manage their websites. So they probably prefer only a single business site to have two versions.

You can employ an experienced web manager to look over your sites whenever you want.

However, mobile responsive websites ensure the front is user-friendly and its backend. They allow the website owner to make preferred changes in just minutes rather than hiring an expensive manager.

Flexibility

When your website is responsive, you can quickly make desired changes.

It is quite the opposite of the two website practices, where you’d have to make changes on two websites separately.

It’s time-consuming, inefficient, and annoying to a great extent.

Building a responsive website draws and keeps customers, gives you the ease of editing, and saves you time.

Sometimes, a few things on your site need fixing or changing. Your site’s flexibility allows you to fix the issues quickly as you aren’t frustrated thinking you’ve to do it twice.

Therefore, this flexibility of editing your site whenever you want is a significant benefit to you.

Improved Mobile Conversions

Although average website conversions are still higher for desktops than mobiles, mobile conversions are increasing gradually with the increased use of phones.

By following a mobile website design, a brand can achieve the greatest conversion rate.

And thus, improved mobile conversions add to the importance of mobile-friendly websites.

Conclusion

Mobile responsive websites are part of modern web strategies. After reading this detail-oriented post, you must realize the importance of mobile website design.

As a result, having a mobile-friendly website design saves you valuable time and money. It also assists you in converting and maintaining more customers for longer.