Responsive websites are a necessity in today’s digital marketplace. That isn’t surprising when statistics state that 51% of time spent online in the United States took place from a mobile device, rather than a personal computer. Your website should be mobile-friendly and responsive any time a user visits. Otherwise, you’re turning business away at the first click.
What is Responsive Web Design?
Though it is a common business marketing term, many small business owners still wonder what a responsive website really entails.
A responsive website, aptly named, means that the site’s web design has been developed to adapt and respond to the different forms of technology that your audience uses to view your site.
If you’ve ever opened a website on your mobile phone that seems to have you scrolling horizontally more than vertically, leaving you piecing together cut-off sentences and large photos, you’ve viewed a website that is not responsive. On the other hand, a responsive web design ensures that your visitors have a seamless experience while on your small business’s website.
What Are the Benefits of a Responsive Website?
Strategic business marketing includes many tactics to help your small business reach your goals, both online and offline. Responsive web design is a key tool, offering many valuable benefits to your online marketing efforts.
Faster Web Pages
Countless statistics indicate that internet users’ attention spans are becoming increasingly short, with more distractions than ever pulling your audience away from your site. With responsive web design, your site will be optimized. Optimization and faster webpage loading times mean that your website users will be able to more easily navigate your site, rather than getting frustrated and clicking away.
Higher Conversion Rates
With easier navigation and shorter loading times, website visitors are more likely to stay on your website and find information easily. Once your visitors are able to find your services, they are much more likely to decide on contacting you. Furthermore, a responsive web design ensures that your website remains consistent and recognizable for return customers who are using different devices to find more information about your business.
SEO Ranking
Undoubtedly, you’ve heard the term SEO. Though the term can seem vague at times, the important aspect of SEO to remember in terms of your web design’s responsiveness is that Google prefers those who have a mobile-friendly and desktop-version of their site. Even better, if your site can configure to all the tablets, large phones, and everything in between, your website will be ranked even higher in search results. Better SEO means better traffic to your website!
Less Website Upkeep
Rather than choosing a responsive web design, many small business owners choose a website with a mobile version and a desktop version. A problem arises with that solution. With the changing sizes of mobile phones and tablets, only two versions of a website prove to be a challenge. With a responsive site, an optimal layout is available for any screen size, thanks to fluid grids. Less time spent updating the sizing and layouts to keep up with technology trends means more time on what you do best!
Determine Marketing ROI More Efficiently
A responsive website provides an additional benefit to your small business’s analytics and reporting. Rather than managing multiple versions of a website, a responsive site allows you to track your audience, conversions, and traffic sources much more simply. Similar to Google awarding you through better SEO ranking, Google Analytics now caters to the responsive web design model to deliver consolidated information that gives you the whole picture on your marketing results.
A Unified, Memorable Brand
One of the key benefits of a responsive website is the ability to design one site that is applicable to all internet users. As a result, a single design delivers your brand’s look, personality, and voice in a unified fashion. Though this may seem surface level, business marketing best practices indicate that a unified brand builds loyalty and recall, which then directly converts to repeat customers.
Effortless Business Marketing
At Outreach Local Marketing, we believe that with a responsive website, your small business will be a marketing machine! Our process for website development centers around Google best practices, taking keywords, SEO, social media, and content into consideration. In the end, our goal for your responsive web design project is to create a website that ensures your business is putting your best digital foot forward. Forty percent of internet users have stated that they exclusively search on their mobile phones, so don’t let your small business fall behind the times!
About the Author
David Gersh is the founder and president of Outreach Local Marketing, a digital marketing agency based in Westlake Village, CA. Through his agency, he helps local businesses build a marketing machine that attracts leads & customers by implementing a strategy first marketing approach.