Everyone is talking about the importance of having a responsive website, but what are the real world implications? Here’s everything you need to know:
Back in the day computer screens used to all be a very similar size. However, times have changed and now your website can be brought up on anything from a 2 inch screen on a mobile phone to being blown up on a 90 inch projector.
But how often does this happen in the real world? What effect can a non-responsive website have on your company? This is what may happen to you if your website can’t cope with the demands of modern technology:
Big Bounce Rate
One of the first things that you will notice with a non-responsive website is that your bounce rate will shoot right up. That’s because people are landing on your site and are leaving without interacting with anything there. With a non-responsive website this most commonly happens because:
- The site doesn’t load correctly
- It takes too long to load
- Navigation doesn’t work
- Site appears cluttered
- Site is non-compatible with device
- Poor usability
What are the real world implications?
Quite simply, you will lose out on sales. Potential customers won’t be able to access your site due to compatibility issues. An increased bounce rate will make your site look less relevant to Google and other search engines which means you may not rank as well in the results.
Your Website Won’t Rank for Mobile Searches
The biggest issue you will face with a non-responsive website is that you won’t be found easily on mobile devices – including tablets. Considering that a growing percentage of web traffic comes from smartphones and tablets, this is a huge number of potential customers that you will miss out on. While having a mobile site can help, a responsive design ensures that it works well regardless of the size of the screen and will rank for all mobile searches.
What are the real world implications?
Your website won’t show up for mobile search, which can mean that you miss out on a huge chunk of relevant traffic. This can be particularly harmful if you are a local business.
Slow Loading
Many non-responsive websites can be very slow to load on certain devices, especially if they are trying to pull through high resolution images, videos or complex themes. This will have a direct effect on your bounce rate, but will also damage the usability of your website. Your users may be looking for something specific but experiencing long delays while trying to find the product – this can cause them to give up and look elsewhere.
What are the real world implications?
You’ll find many abandoned baskets as people will become fed up waiting for the webpage to load. In addition to this, you are likely to see a huge decrease in the number of completed sales and may experience a large increase in people phoning or emailing rather than dealing with the website.
One Website for Everything
Some businesses create two different websites in order to accommodate mobile traffic. While there are certain benefits to doing this, you can experience difficulty with duplicate content, mixed brand messages and even confusion over whether they are the same business. From an SEO perspective, you will have to build each website’s authority individually which can drastically increase the amount of work that needs to be done. With a responsive website, it is just the one site eliminating any confusion and the need to build up authority for two separate websites.
What are the real world implications?
Having one really good website is a much better idea than having two mediocre sites. You will eliminate any confusion between the two and can easily build your authority from an SEO point of view. Not only that, it is much easier to keep track of a single site than have to ensure that everything looks, works and ranks as it should on two separate sites.
If you’re looking for someone to design the perfect responsive website for your needs then get in touch with Graphic Alliance today. As a full-service digital design agency we are able to create the perfect internet platform for your business to grow on – get in touch with us today to find out more!
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