In 2015, the number of people who browsed the internet from mobile phones surpassed the number of people using desktop systems for the first time. Clearly, this has massive implications for the way your website should work – and yet, amazingly most business websites still aren’t mobile friendly.

That represents a big opportunity for your business.

By spending some time to ensure your website design delivers a good experience for mobile users, you can make the most of the mobile trend and put in place the building blocks of a good mobile friendly website for your customers. A great place to start is by reading our eBook: "How to Have a Mobile Friendly Website".

What is responsive website design?

You might have heard a few technical terms being bandied around when talking about designing websites for mobiles or smart phones. “Mobile friendly website design” is one, and “responsive website design” is another. But what does responsive design mean? 

Simply put, with responsive design your website is coded so that it automatically adapts to suit all devices. It literally ‘responds’ to the size of the screen your website is being viewed on.

Try it yourself with the Crockford Carlisle website now, simply by grabbing the corner of your browser window and changing it to a smaller size. You’ll see that all this web page’s elements rearrange themselves to better fit the smaller browser window. Clever stuff eh?

Crockford Carlisle’s web coders are highly experienced in responsive website design. With a bit of clever coding they call “hide when small”, they can even instruct your business website not to display certain elements of your home page when viewed on mobile.

For example, you might have a large header image that looks beautiful on desktop, but distracts mobile viewers from finding the essential information they’re after. Our coders can instruct your website not to show the large image on small screens, ensuring a better user experience. 

You can begin to see why responsive website design is far and away the most popular, widely used method for designing a mobile website. Here are some of the top reasons you should strongly consider making your website responsive.

1) Mobile internet usage is increasing all the time

If your business’s website isn’t yet mobile friendly, you’re not alone. Many businesses are ignoring the opportunity that responsive design presents – and it’s a big one. Consider these statistics:

• More than 20% of all Google searches come from a mobile device
• More than half of all local searches are carried out on a mobile device
• Up to 25% of Australian internet users only access the web on a mobile device or smart phone
• Are you sending regular e-newsletters (eDM’s) to your customer database? Of course you are! (it’s ok, Crockford Carlisle can help if you’re not). Note that 25% of all emails are opened on mobile phones, and 10% are opened on tablets.
• 61% of people have a better opinion of brands when they offer a good mobile experience.

2) It’s all about creating a great user experience (UX)

According to Google’s research, if a potential customer lands on your website and can’t find what they’re looking for straight away, there’s a 61% chance they will immediately leave and go to another website (most likely on of your competitors).

On the other hand, if a potential customer has a positive experience on your website, statistics show they’re 67% more likely to buy a product or use a service.

Using responsive design to cater specifically for the large (and growing) mobile audience is good business sense. 

3) Want more return from your blogging and social media? Focus on mobile

Recent studies show that 55% of social media consumption and blog reading happens on mobile devices. So if you’ve been making an effort to include regular blogging and social media posts in your inbound marketing strategy (No? That’s ok, Crockford Carlisle can help you with that), you must consider what experience people will have when they reach your site.

If mobile browsers click on links to your content (great!) but end up having a “mobile unfriendly” experience, all you’ll achieve are high  bounce rates (people leaving your site without doing anything), low conversion rates, and frustrated browsers who have a bad experience with your brand.

4) Responsive website design helps improve your SEO

Google themselves have confirmed that their search algorithms give greater weight to responsive websites over sites designed specifically for mobile.

With just a single URL, your responsive website will be easier for Google’s bots to crawl, helping to reduce the chance of any on-page SEO errors. That’s why responsive sites typically perform better and are easier to maintain than separate, mobile-template sites.

5) Customers on-the-go won’t wait long for your website to load

If a potential customer has to wait too long for your web page to load, it’s very likely that they’ll leave your site before they have a chance to be impressed by your content.

As a guide, your mobile content “above the fold” should load in under a second, and the entire page should load in under 2 seconds. These speeds usually won’t be possible if you’re relying on loading a desktop website on a mobile device.

To find out how your current website performs on mobile devices, visit https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

To use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. It will even give you valuable insight into what changes you should consider to increase your mobile site’s speed.

6) Responsive design “future-proofs” your website

It’s clear to see that in the future, ensuring your website gives visitors an excellent UX will be crucial to your business’s ongoing success. That means having a mobile friendly website isn’t just a nice option – it’s a necessity that will have a big impact on your business’s growth.

By opting for a responsive website design, you can make sure that no matter what size screen people view your website on, it will display properly.

So if the future sees your customers browsing your site on wearable devices, Google Glass, watches, or other devices, your beautifully coded responsive website will still deliver an enjoyable experience.

Want more advice on the best way to build a responsive website for your business? Give Crockford Carlisle a call now on 3891 3800 and find out how we can help.