Top 7 benefits of responsive design for your business.

So, you’re a business owner, you’ve set up your website, you’ve done your keyword research and set up your social media accounts. Your marketing plan is created and you’re ready to start reaching out to your audience to begin generating leads and making sales. Job done. But wait, you haven’t got a mobile responsive website, and you seem to be hearing the benefits of responsive design all over the web and from other business owners.

Hang on, what is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design is the building of a website so it automatically changes to fit the device you’re viewing it on, including PCs, smart phones and tablets / IPads. This makes sure the viewer has the best user experience when accessing your site.

What are the benefits of responsive design for my business website?

Most non responsive websites look and work poorly on mobile devices because they were designed to display on a desktop computer with a mouse. You will find that you need to zoom in a lot in order to display the information you are looking for, which leads to visitors losing patience and just bouncing out, probably to a competitor site that is easier to use. More people than ever are using mobile devices to look for local services. If your business does not have a “mobile friendly” website then you will be missing out on lots of potential enquiries.

In this post, we cover the Top 7 benefits of responsive design for your business and look at why having a responsive website is so critical to your business now and for your future online marketing efforts.

1) Google searches on mobile devices is skyrocketing

You may not be bowled over by this revelation, as most people you know will have some sort of mobile phone or tablet / Ipad. However, with some startling statistics below, mobile usage and Google searches on mobile devices is certainly on the rise – and will only continue to increase. What may be a surprise is that many businesses still do not have a mobile or responsive website.

By looking through these stats from Smart Insights, maybe this will convince businesses who continuously ignore the ever growing need for a mobile responsive website.

Over 20% of Google searches are performed on a mobile device.
In 2012, more than half of local searches were performed on a mobile device.
61% of people have a better opinion of brands when they offer a good mobile experience.
25.85% of all emails are opened on mobile phones, and 10.16% are opened on tablets.

2) Your customers will have a positive experience

Your visitors want an easy, pleasant experience when visiting your site. According to Google’s Think Insights , if they have a positive experience with your mobile website, a user is 67% more likely to buy a product or use a service.

If, however, they need to scroll and zoom in and out just to navigate around the site, they will become frustrated and there’s a 61% chance they will leave immediately or go to another website (most likely a competitor). They will be more likely to take action if they don’t have to work hard to do so. Using Mobile Responsive Design, you will give them a better experience when using mobile devices, and ease them into making a buying decision. Which leads us onto our next point….

3) Increase leads and convert more sales

What is the fundamental goal that most business owners want their visitors to do when visiting their website? They want them to buy their products or hire their services. In online terms, this process involves generating leads and then converting them into sales.

As well as all of the search benefits and positive user experience of having a responsive website, a key goal is to encourages a visitor to get in touch or make a purchase through your website. This is why it is crucial your website works effectively on mobile or tablet device so it makes it easy for your visitors to convert into a paying customer.

4) Responsive design is good for SEO

In June 2012, at SMX Advanced, Google’s Pierre Farr went on the record to declare that Google prefers responsive web design over mobile templates. Having one single URL makes it easier for Google bot to crawl your site as well as reduces the chance of on-page SEO errors. For these reasons, responsive sites typically perform better and are easier to maintain than a separate, mobile-template site.

5) You will stay ahead of your competition

Mobile Responsive Web Design is still relatively new, therefore the likelihood that your competition is using it will be slim. This will portray your business as being ahead of the game, cutting edge whilst thinking of your customers when using your site.

It is imperative that you stay ahead of your competition, therefore if more and more of your customers are using their mobile devices to search and make purchases online, this is a fantastic opportunity to gain a significant edge over the competition by having a mobile responsive site.

6) You will save money

The benefits of responsive design are also very economical. By investing in a mobile responsive website, you will only have to develop and manage one site and not build a separate mobile site, reducing your costs dramatically.

7) Your site will be ready for the future.

When your website is responsive to all mobile devices, it will be cutting edge whilst standing the test of time. You won’t need to go back and redesign your site when it becomes the industry standard.

According to Hubspot’s 6 Undeniable Reasons Why Your Website Should Be Responsive, the term ‘Responsive’ means it will adapt to all devices.

Hubspot continue with the importance of Responsive design for the future.

“One of the big benefits of responsive design is that the size of the template is designed based on screen size, not device. This means that no matter what size screen someone is viewing your website, it will display properly for that screen size.

So, in the future, as new devices (TVs, watches, glasses, etc.) are being used for web browsing, your responsive site will still look beautiful.

Moving forward, it will be extremely critical that your website provides mobile users an easy-to-use experience. Having a mobile website is no longer simply a nice feature — rather, it is now a necessity and literally impacts the growth of your business.”

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