Responsive Websites - four reasons your business needs one

All the industry commentators agree: owning a responsive website is a 'must have' in 2014. Any business serious about its online image will need to adopt this approach to remain current, relevant and accessible, but still too many Australian businesses are slow to meet the new demand.

The Australian public have a deserved reputation as early adopters of new technology. More than 10 million Australians already own a smartphone and use it on the internet daily. Add in the increasing use of tablets and the potential market this represents should be obvious to all.

So why is responsive design the answer?

If your website is still using traditional, PC-oriented design that was adequate even twelve months ago, there is of course nothing to prevent it being viewed on mobile devices. This will usually result in site visitors using those devices having a poor user experience, and leaving the site because it is too slow, hard to read, hard to navigate, and hard to find information. And that translates to a lost customer opportunity. Adapting your site for mobile devices leads to better site navigation, better information accessibility and overall improved customer experience. When a visitor is using a smart device, you have a better chance of getting that visitor to stay on your site if you have a responsive website.

A common response to this by many companies up to now has been to build a separate mobile-oriented site. However, this results in delay whilst the user is directed to a different, mobile specific website, often with a further delaying prompt asking which site they wish to use.

Responsive design means you only have one website, on one URL, with coding that adapts to any screen size no matter what device the site is being viewed on. Regardless of the device used to visit, the interaction is seamless and the responsive coding ensures that mobile devices load pages as quickly and effectively as traditional PCs.

A further advantage of the responsive design approach is affordability. Creating a responsive website by adapting your current site is almost invariably much cheaper than creating a (good) app. Creating a mobile specific site where you need a separate URL to access the site not only will cost you almost as much as your original site, but will leave you with the administrative headache of maintaining two sets of content!

Flexibility - a responsive website offers users flexibly to easily browse, shop and purchase your services or goods anywhere at any time. One of the big benefits of responsive design is that the size of the template is designed based on screen size not device. This means that no matter what size screen someone is using to view your website it will display properly. So in the future as new devices (TVs, watches, glasses, etc.) are being used for web browsing, your responsive site will still look beautiful.

Last but not least, Google’s Pierre Farr went on the record as long ago as 2012 to declare that Google prefers responsive web design. So a responsive website will also score highly with search engines.

Now that you're convinced you should develop your own responsive website, what's next? Find the right company to help you go in this direction of course. Epic Websites and Services have the experience and designers who can create a professional responsive website, that is designed for easy and simple usability and navigation.

Still not sure? Give us a call on 02 9918 0741 to discuss how we can help you reach over 10 million Australians!

Matt Cutts - on Older Established web sites & rankings movement

Matt Cutts -  Google’s head of search spam released a video on the 28th January 2014 answering a question about long term established sites and their ranking changing.He changed the direction slightly.

He changed it, I feel, in a very positive way and recommended that owners of sites that are 'established' i.e. have been online for a long time take a serious look at their site(s)

Particularly, pay attention and see if it was a bit tired or lacklustre, and then to consider if anything could be done to improve the look and feel to bring established sites in line with modern standards in this area.  This was a very positive way for him to emphasis the need to update, stay fresh, and make the site more interesting for site visitors and established clients.

His emphasis from that point of view was to see what you can do to help yourself keep your rankings and bring the site back up to a look and feel that is more in line with the new sites being created. Many newer sites having some stunning design features, which is where the question he was answering was originally pitched and are starting to infringe on the "established" domains in ranking.;

As we all know standards in the design of sites have moved very fast in the past few years. With the addition of all the different screens and sizes that sites need to be able to accommodate, it is a great time to update, get a fresh look and a responsive design site which will cater for all the new ways that the site is being viewed by your visitors.

Get your long term established clients looking at your innovation and being pleased to be associated with your business. Not to mention attracting new clients to your business. WIN WIN and you keep your rankings.