Build Responsive Website in a Mobile World

According to a study by the Pew Internet, more than 90 percent of all Americans use mobile phones, and more than 60 percent of all adult mobile phone users access the Internet via their smartphones. The numbers are increasing by the day. So in this mobile world, does it make sense to build responsive websites? Should you not have your team of designers and developers work on a website for mobile devices? Actually, no. It makes absolute sense to continue building responsive websites even if the world around is going mobile. For the reasons explained below.

You Are Short on Resources

Businesses have the choice of building a website for desktop PCs and laptops and a separate one to be displayed on smartphones and tablets. But building two different websites means having to commission twice the amount of work to your designers and also pay more. What is more, having two different websites means that your team has to do double the management work. Your SEO analysts too have to carry out separate optimization exercises for both the websites. Most small- and mid-sized businesses do not have the resources to build and manage different websites for different devices. Building a responsive website that adapts to the specifications of the device it is being displayed on is the most cost-efficient solution in such circumstances.

You Want Quick Results

Designing and developing a website for PCs and laptops and then building a mobile version of it will take more time than creating a single responsive website. What is more, managing and optimizing the sites for the search engines will also turn out to be time-consuming. Google's spiders too will have to crawl your sites twice (because your sites have different URLs) to hand you the ranks. This means that the results of your SEO efforts will show up late. Do you have the time to wait? If you want quick results—your website developed and deployed quickly and SEO results showing up immediately—you will have to go in for a responsive design.

Not All Mobile Websites Appear Identical on Different Devices

It is not guaranteed that the mobile version of your website will appear identical on differently-sized smartphones and tablets. Your efforts actually turn to naught if your mobile website fails to deliver satisfactory performance to users with different handsets and tablets. Do you really want to take this risk? Going in for a responsive website does away with this alarming possibility.

Google Says So

Why should you stick to a responsive website? Because Google says so. And what could be more compelling as a reason than the diktat (of sorts) from the search engine giant? Google recommends that businesses go in for a responsive design because then the spiders have to crawl only one domain. Additionally, not having its traffic information dispersed across several domains boosts the SEO prospects of a responsive website.

Choosing to execute a responsive website lets resource-crunched businesses reap quick and robust SEO results even in the mobile environment without needing to invest a fortune in the developmental efforts.

Apart from the above-mentioned reasons, building a responsive website turns out to be cost-efficient in the long run. So businesses should continue building responsive websites even though the world is going increasingly mobile.