Design Responsively

Designing Responsively:
Why Businesses Must Take Their Websites In A Mobile Direction

by Joe Marcallini

U.S. consumers are spending two hours per day on their mobile devices. That’s 8% of their entire day. Are they finding your business? If your website isn’t built for their device types, you are probably missing out on the revenue they bring to the table.

We get it: Websites are expensive, and there’s nothing worse than building a brand-new one to find out only a year or two later that you need to update it to keep up with the latest technology.

That’s why we recommend responsive design for your next upgrade. These enhancements offer several benefits that make a big impact online for small businesses.

Tailored experiences

All customers want to feel like a website was built just for them. They want to find specific information quickly, efficiently and with the help of enticing visuals. Unfortunately, this experience varies from device to device. The same consumer is looking for the same information in different places on a mobile phone than on a desktop computer.

A responsive design allows small businesses to build websites that not only effectively format content to improve readability but also strategically place information for the consumer. As consumers navigate to a website, appropriate, device-specific style sheets are pulled by their browsers, formatting the brand’s online resources effectively. These minor design changes include readable font size, targeted navigation, and imagery selection and placement and greatly contribute to an enhanced visitor experience.  

Increased local traffic

Consumers make more than 50% of all local searches from a mobile device. When seeking information this way, they often want to make a purchase soon and are looking for a place nearby at which to purchase it. Many of these searchers are already on the go, and consumers don’t have the time to complete their search again from a desktop computer to find the information they seek now.

Whether these local searchers seek information on a Microsoft Surface, an Apple iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy or even a Kindle, they expect to navigate through a website easily. If they reach a roadblock, they’ll hit the “back” button and click on the next link in the search results. By simply updating your website with a responsive design, you can more effectively persuade these visitors to stay and, hopefully, convert.

Halved effort

To help bridge the gap between their existing website solutions and the growing technology needs of consumers, many businesses elect to build mobile websites.

This, however, creates additional problems. In most cases these websites must be run on separate content management systems, requiring marketers to deploy content twice and doubling the formatting and editing efforts. Obviously this also doubles opportunities for error.

A responsive web design allows a website’s content to be housed in one centralized place and does all the device-specific formatting work for you. This allows marketers to spend their time and resources on more important tasks, such as outlining strategic online marketing campaigns.

Search engine optimization benefits

Even worse, two distinct websites create another competitor in search results: the brand itself! Instead of attempting to ranking  for the same keywords on multiple platforms, small businesses can focus on building one strong strategy for implementation in one place.

As a bonus, Google actually prefers responsive web design. Because it provides users with an enhanced experience, it’s better for the overall online experience. The search engine rewards businesses catering to their website visitors, and this translates to better rankings.
Fifty-seven percent of consumers won’t return to a website if they can’t view it on their mobile device. Don’t miss out on more than half of your potential customers by failing to meet their technology needs. During your next website update, take the extra step to enhance it with a strategic responsive web design.

As SteadyRain Partner and head of mobile strategy, Joe Marcallini leverages a wealth of experience for SteadyRain clients in mobile app development, responsive design and mobile marketing strategies. SteadyRain’s team of mobile strategists and developers can help you build a website meant specifically to entice website visitors and persuade them to convert. Contact Joe at: Joe.marcallini@steadyrain.com; 314.446.0728.”