Is responsive web design your top priority this year? If not, you must get in touch with the upcoming design trends in 2014 by adopting this popular design technique.
I have compiled a list of the top 5 reasons why you should switch to responsive web design as sooner as today!
1. Google’s Recommendation
Nothing can beat our reason number one. In, 2012, Google strongly recommended the use of responsive web design and presently deems it to be the best practice for smart-phone optimized websites. Responsive websites have one URL and the same HTML. This lets Google easily crawl and index your website content. This reason alone should make you sign up for responsive design now!
2. Lesser Bounce Rate
If a user reaches your website but returns back immediately to the SERP, Google will not consider it to be the best match for the user’s requirement. Researches have revealed that a walloping 28% of all internet users used their mobile phones to access the internet in 2013.
Moreover, by 2015, mobile web browsing is likely to takeover desktop internet usage. A responsive design is sure to cut down your bounce rate as the CSS values keep changing with different devices.
3. One Website → One SEO Campaign
Are you managing two separate SEO campaigns for both, your main site and your mobile site? Technology is all about making your life more convenient while achieving time bound results.
You can put all your SEO efforts into a single website. All your Link Juice is directed towards one website to make it rank better. No need to promote individual websites for your desktop and mobile at the same time. This will definitely give you an edge over your non-responsive competitors.
4. Responsive Design = Redesigning + Long Term Maintenance
Many businesses are still relying on a mobile web site only. However, a mobile web design has several maintenance issues attached to it. As technological trends are drastically changing, a mobile web design will need to be updated and maintained more frequently than a responsive web design which is low maintenance yet has a longer life.
The combination of media queries along with fluid grids give your web design sustainability. A user may keep updating his device with time to time but your website will rarely need any frequent updates to keep up with the changing devices of your users.
5. Guaranteed Return on Investment (ROI)
All the factors elaborated above have one thing in common, and that is to yield maximum ROI.
A non-responsive web design is likely to put your business down as it will not be able to compete with your rival websites that are responsive. To expand your business, it is necessary to reach more people than your rivals. A responsive design will make sure you have a larger audience increasing your chances of conversions.
Get Responsive → Get the Right Response
The statistics for responsive design in 2013 make it crystal clear why every business must adopt a responsive web design trend. Device capability detection and selective loading of content & media with better speed will make responsive web design the most important web design trend to be adopted this year.
This is a good article. Those are 5 great reasons! especially the first one, lol – if Google says something, then we’d better do it!
That’s something that I hope the world focuses on more as time goes on, currently we seem to be in this weird position where we’re all still learning the whats and the hows of mobile and responsiveness.
Yes, Tom. You are right. Gotta do what Google tells us to do. Thanks a lot for your comment.
Nice Infographic. ND GOOD ARTICle 🙂
Thanks, I am glad you liked it.
We could not agree more – and especially reiterate numbers 1 and 3, as they feed directly in to all other points made. One SEO campaign saves time and money, and guarantees your site is streamlined across all platforms.
Great post here!
Cassandra
Isadora Design – Handcrafted Web Design Company
Cassandra, that’s exactly my point. A single SEO campaign is sure to save a lot of precious time. Thanks a lot for your feedback.
Quick question. How can google tell if the website is mobile friendly? Is it by looking at the css for different layouts for different devices?
Frank, as mentioned in the first point of the article that responsive design carries a single URL and HTML. This makes easy for Google to crawl and analyze the responsive design elements.
Inspite of preferring the responsive structure, if you are using a mobile website then you might know that it will access with a different URL like “m.yourwebsite.com.” So the basic concept is that Google can easily analyze either the website is being accessed with a single URL or multiple.
I still haven’t learned Responsive, but I’m there.
Luis, keep reading out posts and you will definitely get the hang of it 🙂
No doubt about why we have to use responsive web design in 2014? Completely agree with those above 5 reasons why to be responsive.
I think using a responsive theme for any website is a must of the digital age. My clients are still in love with, in my opinion out dated website technology and it takes a lot of convincing to make them go responsive.
I think the first reason in the article is a good point and Google is right, if your visitor can’t view your website properly they are going to bounce and that is bad for them, you and your websites reputation.
Number 5 is a valid point as well, if your visitor can’t do a simple click to call, or find directions on your mobile website, you have already lowered your ROI. Just being responsive will help mobile users turn into customers
Cheers
Dan
Really its a wonderful article how to increase the good website ranking, website traffic and to improve the bounce rate of the website.
http://www.61designStreet.com
Very Creative Infographic, featured here : https://theneodesign.com/creative-best-infographics-for-designers-and-developers/