Responsive Websites: why are they important?
Having a website that looks flawless on all devices is key in this digital age.
When we talk about search engine optimization, the first thing that comes to mind is having an optimized website or the acronym "SEO". Since 2015, Google updated its algorithm to penalize the positioning of websites that were not prepared to offer a good experience from mobile phones, this forced anyone who had a website to also develop a specific version for mobile.
As a consequence, the costs of developing and maintaining websites are increased since for example, a company that wants to position itself or maintain its position would have to design two versions of its website. Now, if your website is responsive, the above does not happen and we will explain why.
Before getting into the benefits of a responsive web design, it is important to understand that whatever decision is made when developing and designing a website must be based on our targeted audience. Research should be available at all times to support the choices we made.
In the words of our UX/UI specialist Jesica Titaro,
Do our own research, ask, listen; and more than listening, seeing how people use a product and/or service is what will make us who we want to be and what mark we want or choose to leave.
Responsive website
Many confuse "responsive" with "mobile" but it is important to note that it is not the same thing. In the case of responsive design, we have a single website that can be adapted to all kinds of devices, from desktop computers with large monitors to mobile phones, tablets and others. Instead, creating a mobile site means designing a stand-alone website from scratch, whose content and format are specially adapted to work better on mobile devices.
When designing a website that is responsive, we must take into account the following:
Mobile-first: Despite the fact that web traffic is higher every day on mobile devices, it is important to have a research that tells us from which devices the users for whom we design connect. If in fact, we are talking about mobile device users, it would be ideal to start a development from the smallest screens to the largest ones, in this way the content will be better adapted for our audience.
Change of appearance in the elements: There are elements that will be displayed in a mobile way and in another way on the computer, therefore, when designing a responsive web, important decisions must be taken as to which components to hide or in what way show them, among others. The size of the buttons or inputs in a form, for example, must also be considered, since the interaction from a desktop version (mouse) is one thing and from a touch device is another.
Improve search engine positioning: Search engines like Google or Bing penalize websites that are not adapted with a responsive design.
Advantages of having a responsive web design
- You will attract more visitors: globally, more than half of web traffic comes from mobile. Assuming that our audience is part of this group of people, if your website is not displayed properly from mobile devices, your visits will be affected.
- Optimized user experience. the responsive design offers an optimized experience for all users, regardless of the device they use, and that results in benefits for the brand. According to Google Think Insights, if a user has a positive experience with your site, the chance that they will become a quality lead is 67%.
- It will help you improve your branding. If a user tries to access your website from mobile and does not have a satisfactory experience, they will get the impression that your brand is outdated and your company does not care about customer satisfaction.
Today, most of the people use a variety of devices with different screen sizes and resolutions; as we mentioned before, the most important thing is to understand who your users will be, carry out a study on the devices with which they normally access the web and based on that, make a decision regarding the type of site you want to develop.
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