Whether you’re a business owner or the Director of Marketing at the helm of a business, you have lots of people, projects, deadlines, and decisions vying for your time and attention. Of all the plans, programs, and ideas you put into place, few affect your bottom line more than your company’s website. This branch of your business’s success encompasses many integral components, including:

• It’s content,
• User-friendliness,
• It’s inbound marketing strategies
• It’s ability to adapt to whatever device your potential customers and repeat visitors are using.

Also referred to as Responsive Website Design (RWD), this necessary feature of a website’s design has become one of its strongest underpinnings. Here’s what you need to know so that your website has this solid foundation as well:

What (exactly) is Responsive Website Design (RWD)?

A RWD refers to a website that is specifically designed to easily, correctly, and readily adapt to the allotted viewing space of whatever device, or platform a visitor is using to check out your website! These devices include desktop and laptop computers, tablets and smart phones, smart TVs, e-book readers, game consoles, wristwatch phones, and whatever other cool tech device that is being launched as you read this!

What’s the big deal about RWD?

You’ve created and are maintaining your website not only to attract new visitors (who will ideally transform into loyal customers), but also to establish your business as the “go to” expert in your industry. If today’s tech users aren’t able to access your website via their device of choice, or if the visitor experiences difficulties reading and/or navigating your site:

• They won’t stay,
• They won’t invest in your products and/or services, and
• They won’t return.

In an April 2015 article on International Business Times, it was reported that “One in five millennials no longer uses a desktop computer to go online, relying exclusively on smartphones and tablets to get on the Internet.” The article further shared that “among all Internet-connected Americans, mobile usage has now surpassed that of desktop,” and that this complete shift in technology usage is having a profound “effect on how Americans shop, the way new Internet services are developed, and how marketers advertise to consumers.”

So, what’s the big deal? If you are hoping to attract and retain today’s internet shoppers, your website must be accessible to those consumers via their choice of tech devices to find you.

What’s so great about RWD?

For consumers, RWD’s allow for super easy reading and navigation with minimal demands for having to resize, pan, or scroll to the website page they want to peruse. RWD’s readily respond to any movement the consumer makes without affecting functionality or the aesthetics of what they are viewing. As a result, RWD becomes frustration-free for the shopper, making it very likely he or she will return to your website often. For businesses, RWD requires simply one website design, enabling that one website to adapt to the screen the consumer is using without compromising any quality of viewing! You don’t have to worry about creating different websites or platforms to meet all the devices your visitors are choosing to use; instead, it’s just one! You need one URL, single content, one code, and media queries that all lead to one website design accessed by multiple devices.

How does RWD work?

RWD first targets the width of each user’s web browser to determine how much space is available on a particular device and how it should ultimately display the website the user is accessing on the device. Then, RWD enables breakpoints to be set up to define specific ranges that define specific displays. RWD easily adapts different layouts to the user’s specific viewing environment.

Why implement RWD?

Three simple reasons: First, RWD will save you money by no longer having to maintain a static site. Second, it will improve Search Engine Optimization so that your website can compete with other similar businesses in your industry. Lastly, perhaps most importantly, it will allow for better performance for everyone accessing your website via any device.  A beautiful website with well-written content and stunning graphics doesn’t mean much if few people are able to view it without a hassle via their electronic device of choice.

Today smart phone users check their phones an average of 150 times per day! To make your website smart phone-friendly to these avid users and potential customers, contact us at WebTech for a creative, and effective marketing service that not only specializes in creating one-of-a-kind website identities, but also thoroughly understands how to design those unique websites that are responsive for all new, established, and potential visitors to your site.