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The rise (and importance) of responsive websites

By Lucinda, on 31 July 2012 | Category: 0 comments

15% of US internet users have said they’d watch the London 2012 Olympics on their phone*, Amazon are rumoured to be developing 5 or 6 more tablets and 28% of internet usage is from a mobile phone**. Yes, it’s 2012 and the world is truly digital BUT is your website ready?

The increase in digital has seen a rise in the demand for responsive websites and we’re no exception at Optima with customers increasingly requesting responsive websites.

What is a responsive website?

Responsive websites use CSS to adapt to different screen resolutions (sizes) depending on what device you’re browsing on. So, if you’re using a smartphone to browse the internet, a responsive website will resize to the screen dimensions of an smartphone and so on.

The advantages of a responsive website

1. Usability – With so many devices out there the chances of customers browsing your website from a desktop are pretty slim. Unfortunately a lot of websites aren’t optimised for the array of digital devices and varying screen sizes out there. This means mobile and tablet surfers suffer poor browsing and navigation experience where they have to zoom, pinch and scroll across pages. Responsive websites solve this usability problem by letting ALL of your users access and browse your website with ease from any device.

2. Reputation – Your company website is your best representation and shop window to the world so it should come as no surprise that the quality, professionalism and usability of your site influence your reputation. 

3. Cost – Because a responsive website is just one website that resizes depending on what device it’s being viewed on, it doesn’t require as much technical expertise as building a separate mobile website so it’s a lot more cost-efficient.

4. Sales/Traffic – Approx 1.2 billion people use mobile devices to access the internet and by 2015 it is expected there will be more mobile internet users than desktop and laptop users. Our customers’ Google Analytics are already showing the increase is real. With this rise comes an increase in transactions on smartphones and other devices so it makes sense to have a responsive website to ensure you capture and keep as many visitors as possible.

How do I get a responsive website?

In addition to smartphone and tablet optimised websites, we can build a range of responsive websites that are well-structured, robust and fluid; just take a peek at Sleaford Quality Foods and The Collection! Yep, they’re ones we built earlier. In fact we’ve been designing responsive sites and fitting Google Analytics and basic on-page manageable SEO as standard to all our websites for two years. So, if you’d like a free quote for a responsive website, please contact our web design team on 01522 522773 or fill out our contact form.

Source: *Emarketer.com  **GPMD