Why Responsive Web Design Matters Today

It was revealed in 2015 by ComScore that the number of mobile internet users all over the world neared 2 billion – surpassing that of desktop users! Another study by Statista shows that this year, about 40% of all global web traffic has come from smartphones, tablets and other similar devices.

Who is using mobile for web searching?

So to any SME that’s just starting out, your website’s mobility is something to pay extra attention to. You don’t want to miss out on all those potential customers who are killing time on their devices using Google or other search engines. Consider how often they’re used while travelling by bus or subway to work, watching TV or using an actual computer. You’ll want to show them your turf and keep them there. That’s where the need for responsive web design comes in.

In a nutshell, responsive web design or RWD is about getting your site’s entire layout to adjust to different screen dimensions. Whether it’s an iPhone 4 or Samsung Galaxy Tab, RWD helps the site look just as good and function just as well as it does on your PC. Smaller screens are purposed to display content as a single column while wider screens can do so with multiple ones. Any text is sized appropriately on each platform for easy reading. The same applies to links, as unreadable ones are likely to be un-clickable as well.

The mobile trend

Mobile devices are clearly “in” nowadays, and it’s part of the job running a business to adapt to trends. If you don’t, you’ll risk losing more prospects to competitors for reasons like a mobile-friendly site – where there’s no issue reading and browsing. Customers aren’t going to be patient or understanding. You should give them no reason to leave your site on their gadget frustrated, or worse, to check out another for the same needs.

Of course, it also helps to boost your site’s traffic through advertising on Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets. Since most internet users spend lots of time on these, it pays to get your business out there with sponsored posts or linked tweets. If you’re lucky, you’ll generate more visitors, but the work doesn’t stop there. You’ll have to ensure the site itself is user-friendly. Those who click are brought to a whole different digital property, so it’s a nuisance to face problems navigating it (especially after using those reliable social media apps).

Try looking over your site pretending you’re a first-timer. Does the overall design look clean? Is there a clear and impactful call to action present? Do you seem to get a totally positive brand experience? Find those out and if you’d like a second opinion on your site’s mobile quality, how about contacting us? We’ll gladly check it ourselves and give recommendations. We’ll help you accomplish the main goal: keeping visitors engaged. That’s how you’ll get clients.

Finally, let’s not forget the latest in Google’s ‘guidelines’ for doing SEO. Mobile-optimised sites are now getting priority in the rankings. Great RWD, as well as fast loading on mobile devices, will matter more than ever if you’re targeting page 1. Not quite convinced? In 2014, a study by ComScore showed Google Search was the fourth most popular smartphone app with about 70 million users. Imagine how many more there are now!

Our world continues to embrace these revolutionised mini computers, so they’re surely here to stay. If your team is yet to embrace the world of RWD and mobile web marketing, today’s the day to start.