The days of Internet browsing on PCs is quickly ending.
Tablet and mobile use is on the rise, along with a host of other bizarre browsing options that pose a serious challenge to website owners. It’s not enough to just have a site; your site must be prepared to accommodate the trends of a fast-developing mobile marketplace.
THE MOBILE ERA
Responsive web design is an essential part of creating a user-friendly mobile web experience.
The tech-savvy millennials of today’s generation aren’t used to browsing on desktops. Users these days check their email during class, browse online shopping while waiting in the grocery checkout, and research products while standing in-store.
Many sites have a separate, mobile page to accommodate this trend. This can be frustrating, though. Any changes made to your main site must be done alongside its mobile partner. Multiple sites mean that you have multiple pages being indexed by Google, and your traffic will likely be split between the two. Crafting your page to be responsive out of the gate lets you contain everything on a single page that is clean, organized, and fully functional for mobile use.
EFFECTS ON SEO
Responsive web design contributes to your SEO value. With only one page to index rather than two, Google has an easier time collecting data about your page. It also reduces the likelihood of on-page SEO errors. Not to mention that responsive websites, which generally offer a streamlined user experience, will receive more page hits and conveys authority and quality to your audience.
DEVICE COMPATIBILITY
Responsive web design truly shines when you consider the bizarre new Internet browsing options being made available to us.
- 80 percent use smart phones
- 47 percent use tablets
- 37 percent have browsed via video game console
- 34 percent have used smart TVs
- 9 percent have used smart watches
Good luck finding standardized screen sizes across all these different devices. Responsive web design, being based on screen size itself rather than device, ensures that your site will always display correctly across each unique product. This will pay off now, but is also an investment in the future. Our love affair with non-traditional Internet browsing isn’t leaving any time soon.
SINGULAR GOALS
As we touched on above, responsive web design is all about simplicity. It’s designed to make the browsing experience simple for your users, but developers can benefit from the simplicity as well.
Having a single page URL lets you focus your marketing on a single campaign. All of your traffic can be directed to single landing page, regardless of browsing device. This is also true for social sharing metrics, your online Google reputation, and just about anything else that applies to your page’s domain. Single is simple.