If your website is not catering to mobile users, you’re missing out on a majority of your potential customers.

Mobile usage is no longer an exception. In 2018, it is absolutely the rule. And playing by this particular rule requires all businesses, large and small, to implement responsive website design (RWD).

Responsive design refers to your website being coded to conform to any size screen, regardless of the device being used. So, whether your site is being accessed via desktop, smartphone, tablet, television, or Tamagotchi (OK, probably not that last one) – your user’s experience will be a positive one, helping to increase engagement and conversions.

Sure, some outfits still use mobile templates, which require the creation of separate, mobile-only sites and URLs. But this practice is a drain on time, effort, and resources.

Responsive design is more frequently used – and considered by many to be the better option, by far. Not only that, but Google prefers it.  Making your site easier to index means your search engine ranking won’t suffer.

If that’s not enough to seal the deal, consider these four crucial reasons that you need to make the switch:

1. Mobile Usage is the Reigning Leader of the Pack

As mentioned, mobile is the new normal.

Pick a statistic, any statistic:

• Approximately 57% of all Internet traffic hails from mobile
• Consumers spend up to 5 hours a day on their smartphones.
• Mobile is the main means of search, with almost 50% of buyers using smartphones to begin their quest.

In short, if your website is not catering to mobile users, you’re missing out on a majority of your potential customers.

2. Responsive Design Makes Mobile Users Happy

Squinting at screens to read content on a non-responsive site, while attempting to pinch in on the information they’re searching for can make mobile users downright cranky.

In fact, according to Google’s Think Insights, there’s a 61 percent chance that visitors to a non-responsive site are going to abandon it for another experience. Not only that, but happy visitors are also 67% more likely to make a purchase or engage in a service provided by your company.

What’s more – if you’re an avid blogger with a robust social media presence, your site should naturally attract more mobile traffic. In fact, almost 80% of social media usage comes from mobile devices. So make sure you have a responsive site to avoid high bounce rates and boost those conversion rates.

3. Mobile Users Have a Need… a Need for Speed

Google has decreed that website content above the fold on a mobile device should load in less than a second, with the entire page loading in less than two.

Today’s consumers live in an insanely fast-paced world, where scores of information are available almost instantaneously at one’s fingertips, and competitors to your business are just as swiftly located.

Again, if your users have to wait to access information, they’re more likely to get restless and head elsewhere. Don’t ask them to sit idly by while the desktop version of your website loads. They won’t.

Unsure of your mobile site’s speed? Put it to the test online.

4. Responsive Design is Adaptable Across All Future Platforms

Here’s the best part: responsive design templates are based on the size of the screen being used, not any one device.

Moving forward, whether someone is viewing your site on an iPhone, an Android, a computer monitor, watch, or whatever IoT device the future has in store for us, your content will be equally accessible, attractive, and engaging.

But, wait – what if responsive web design isn’t a possibility for me?

Google also supports a configuration known as dynamic serving, which provides different user-specific HTML and CSS codes on a single URL. Typically used by massive sites to effectively showcase all of their content on various mobile devices, dynamic serving offers a seamless user experience, but also a higher price point.

Ease of use is of the utmost importance in today’s mobile arena. If you have yet to implement responsive design, IMPACT Marketing & Public Relations can help you catch up to the rest of the world.