TL/DR: You need to make your website a responsive one or don’t bother.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the entire world has gone mobile. You’re probably reading this on your phone right now. The majority of internet users and perusers are doing it from a device that is not a desktop. So it’s important that your website (whether you’re building it or you’ve hired out) is mobile friendly aka: has a responsive design.
Definition of Responsive Web Design:
“Ensuring web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes from minimum to maximum display size to ensure usability and satisfaction. Basically, it should move and do all of the right things no matter how you’re looking at it from no matter which device.” -Wikipedia
Responsive design is user friendly design
No matter what you’re offering online, from products to classes to blog posts, if your website isn’t built to be responsive you’re missing out on lots of potential users. Folks decide within 50 milliseconds whether or not a webpage is worth staying on (according to a post from CLX.com). That means if your website isn’t built for a mobile user to access seamlessly, you’re going to lose them before they’ve had a chance to begin.
Don’t lose potential customers, clients or readers
Unless you’re a wildly successful online company (and if that’s the case what are you doing here??), it’s unlikely that someone will overlook the shortcomings of your subpar mobile website to do or buy what they want from you. We’ve all been there, we head to a familiar online store to find something and the only reason we’re able to navigate the website is because we know the brand or store and can finagle our way around to finding exactly what we want. But if you weren’t familiar with the brand or shop, you’d probably leave as quickly as you arrived in search of something easier to navigate.
Responsive design is the requirement
Of course you’re allowed to build your website however you want, there are no online officers coming to give you a ticket for a crappy website. You can make your website ugly, user unfriendly, and unresponsive, and nobody will come after you. However, your website will be nowhere to be found amongst search results. Part of how search engines rank websites is speed and responsiveness, and if you’re not meeting these requirements, your website has no chance of standing out.
Responsive design isn’t going away anytime soon
With developing technology, there are tons of different screen sizes and capabilities when it comes to mobile devices. Between phones, tablets and differing desktop sizes, having a responsive design will ensure that your website is capable of keeping up.
Build your website with responsive design or find someone to help you.
It’s best to build your website with responsive design right out of the gate. If you’re building your website on your own and you’re not sure how to make it responsive– we can help. And if you’re working with a web developer who isn’t sure of how to make your website responsive (or they do it poorly) OR they’re charging you extra for it, it’s time you find a new developer, fast. At SuCoWeb we’re big on making websites responsive and doing it well, so let us know if you need a helping hand!
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