Responsive design is definitely one of the buzz phrases in the world of web design at the moment. Everyone’s being told that their website should be ‘responsive’ and we’ve been working with a lot of clients recently to ensure their site is up to scratch. But what exactly is responsive web design and why is it so important for your business?

What is it?

In essence, responsive web design means ensuring that your website has been designed to look great and be easily viewed and navigated from any device, be it desktop PC, tablet or mobile phone. Behind the scenes, we adapt the layout of the page so the content displays and flows elegantly irrespective of screen size.  We also optimise the menu system to work in the most efficient way possible for the screen it’s being viewed on.

How does it affect me?

There are two main reasons why it’s important for your website to be responsive. Firstly, 55% of web page views now come from mobile devices (source: We Are Social Digital in 2017 report). A responsive design helps to ensure that your site is easy to view on any screen so visitors from mobile devices don’t have keep scrolling left and right or increasing parts of the screen to read it. In other words, it’s all about creating a great user experience for potential customers visiting your site.

Source: We Are Social Digital in 2017 Report, wearesocial.com

The second key reason for ensuring that your site is responsive is your site’s search engine rankings. Google now penalises websites that are not designed to be mobile friendly so if your site doesn’t make use of responsive design, there’s a very real risk that your potential customers won’t find your site on Google, irrespective of the device that they’re using.

We always ensure that our websites use the latest technologies and meet current standards, so over the last couple of years all our websites have been designed responsively. If your website was built more than two years ago however, the chances are it isn’t responsive so it might be time for a fresh lick of digital paint to improve your visitor experience and Google rankings.

Responsive design isn’t just a design fad that will go out of fashion – it’s a crucial part of making sure your website is an effective marketing tool.  Just like visitors give up on a website that’s slow to load, they are now ditching non-responsive websites in favour of websites that are easy to use on mobile devices.

If you’d like a chat about making sure that your site is bang up to date, or to find out more about how we can help with great responsive web design for your business, please get in touch – we’d love to have a chat!