As we head into the changes coming to mobile websites and accessories in 2014, the big buzzwords this year are “responsive websites”. With the number of different sized mobile screens now – everything from flip-top phones to iPads – the need for a website that can adjust in size to all of them is becoming more important. While mobile websites have been around for some years now they were often plugins added to the main website or even separate websites. This created a headache when it came to maintaining data as it meant changing both sites. In addition, these mobile site were not adapting to the various mobile screen sizes.
Enter responsive websites. While adapting these new templates or custom designs means redesigning the entire current website, it should be able to last for years without further renovations to the basic design. Amber Alvi has recently very succinctly outlined the reasons for switching to a responsive website. Here is part of her article, “Top 5 Reasons to Adopt Responsive Web design in 2014”.
1. Google strongly recommends it as it is easier for the search engines to crawl over one site, not 2 put together. “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. There will be less bounce rate. It is estimated that right now 28% of searches are done from mobile devices. When someone goes to a site and can’t see it well (the printing is too small from a regular website), that person is going to go elsewhere and leave your site.
3. One website needs only one SEO campaign, not one for the main site and one for the mobile site. “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. The responsive design will mean low maintenance and a longer life before another design needs to be adopted.
5. Better ROI (Return on Investment). “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.”
To read the original of this article, click here.
So where can one find these responsive websites? Of course contacting an established web designer and viewing the finished websites is one way. For the “do-it-yourselfer”, Google has lots of help offered from responsive website free templates to responsive website tutorials and examples.
I’ve chosen two examples here that are well-known but very different companies. Unfortunately they will not resize on this page, but please try them on your mobiles: http://disney.com and http://theglobeandmail.com
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It seems that the benefits of using an established template with this new technology makes sense. Perhaps starting with a template that the web designer could supplement is another alternative. This is the wave of the future, not a passing fad, and the sooner your company or group adopts one the better it will be to increase traffic to your website.
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