Responsive Design Archives - Page 2 of 2

How Responsive Web Design is Capable of Boosting your Profits

Written by wfootD on May 16, 2016. Posted in Responsive Design, Uncategorized, Website Design, Websites (General).

You may very well be familiar with the concept of responsive web design whereby your website becomes easy to navigate if you are using a smartphone. Well, even though Google now insists on you having this version if you do not want to be hit by a ranking penalty, there are still a number of other reasons as to why you should seek to use this kind of web design for your business. However, we are going to focus on one key area here, how it is going to be able to boost your profit.

1. It shows you care.

The first reason why it is going to boost your profits is because research has shown that 48% of individuals who were surveyed said that if a website was not effectively mobile ready then they were of the opinion that the company did not care about them. This then made them feel as if they should go elsewhere to a company that wanted their message to be read by everybody and anybody. In other words, virtually 1 in 2 people would go elsewhere with this damaging your profits.

2. The statistics do not lie.

According to an Econsultancy survey report, 62% of businesses that were polled saw a rise in their profits simply by introducing a responsive web design. Now, this is no coincidence and indeed it shows the power and we are not even talking about a slight increase in their profit margins either as the average was an increase of more than 60%.

3. Some companies report a higher increase.

While over 60% sounds impressive, what is even more impressive are the figures that were attained by some companies just by introducing a responsive web design. For example, Webundies.com reported an increase of 169%. Think Tank Photo saw an increase of 180% and their sales via mobile devices, which also includes tablets, were actually higher than those by a desktop or laptop computer. However, the most impressive statistics comes from O’Neil clothing where they saw an increase of over 300% on Android devices and over 112% on Apple devices after introducing a new responsive web design.

4. Brand awareness is going to increase.

We have shown how companies report a huge increase in their sales just by making sure that their website has a responsive design included in it, but other studies have shown that it is not just the profit margin that is going to increase but also general awareness of your brand. Indeed, a study conducted in the UK showed that, on average, there was an increase in brand awareness of some 30% and that is important. Why is it important? Simply because if people are aware of you existing then they are more likely to buy from you at some point in the future.

5. Mobile usage is only going to increase.

There is a reason why Google have introduced changes to the way in which they rank websites when searches are carried out via a mobile device and that is because of the fact that they are aware of the increase in the number of people using these devices. Just as you were aware of the way in which you needed to have a website due to missing out on a huge market called the Internet, the exact same thing is happening with responsive web design and your website being viewed on mobile devices. If you miss out, then you are going to be losing a lot of business.

6. Conversion rates are increasing.

When we talk about conversion rates, what we are referring to is the number of people that actually purchase something on a website per 100 visitors. Now, it is impossible for you to get anywhere near 100% as that just does not happen and you might be unaware of just how low the percentage actually is. However, conversion rates with both smartphones and tablets are catching up with conversion rates for laptops. The latest stats showed that laptops generally converted at 3.11% while tablets were 2.59% and smartphones 1.01%.

What we are trying to show here is that there is a real need for you to be aware of why you must have that responsive web design for your business because you are missing out on a huge percentage of the market and those individuals will just go to your competitors. Now, we are not saying that you will have the same percentage increase as the likes of O’Neil, but generally speaking there is no doubt that your sales will increase and, as a result, so will your profit margin.

This is an area that is rapidly evolving and with us becoming ever more reliant on this type of technology, and the way in which we are always on the go, there is no doubt that not taking advantage of this would be an absolute sin.

Is Your Website Viewable With Every Type Of Device?

Written by wfootD on June 20, 2014. Posted in Responsive Design, Uncategorized.

In years gone by you only had to think about how your website was viewed from a desktop and Internet Explorer. However, things began to change when other browsers started to appear because then you had to make sure that it was suitable for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and so many others, but compared to how your website has to be viewed today even that was relatively easy. Now, it is not just different browsers, but you also have to make sure that your website can be viewed from desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablet computers and in some instances that can be an absolute headache.

Why things can be different.

There are several reasons as to why your website can be viewed differently depending on the device that is being used, but the main reasons include the size of screen altering the clarity as well as the power in the device and how it processes all of the information. When cell phones were first able to be connected to the Internet, remember the excitement of WAP, it took forever to download and view a website. This was because the processor in a cell phone was minuscule compared to that in a computer and that was why the mobile website extension was created and websites were stripped down to mainly include information and nothing else.

Even though the likes of smartphones and tablets are far more powerful today than ever before it is still important that the actual design of the website itself reflects the need for it to be displayed on different devices and not just a desktop or laptop. Failure to check this can have serious implications for your website and business.

What can go wrong?

A number of things can go wrong when your website is not compatible with different devices, but the main thing is that everything can be thrown out of order. Navigation bars can move, pages break, images move or vanish, and text can all be out of order. Your website can look completely chaotic and what kind of message are you then sending out to people that are faced with that when they land on your website? Surely it is pretty obvious as to why that just cannot be allowed to happen?

Why your website has to be viewable on these devices.

It should become immediately apparent as to why your website needs to be viewed on these devices. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people that have a mobile phone use it as their main way to search online and that is a huge market that just cannot be missed out. You will also be aware of the increase in popularity of tablet computers as you see people on them all over the place due to their portability as well as the increase in number of wi-fi hotspots.

This all adds up to a lot of people that you just cannot afford to ignore and you have to look at how they themselves would view you as a business if your website was not up to scratch. Quite simply, when they use their device to access your site they expect it to work smoothly and to provide them with the information that they are looking for. They understand that on cell phones the website is stripped back, but with advances in technology if your website does not work properly on these devices, then they are hardly going to spend any money with you are they?

Instead, they are going to view you as being lazy, not caring about your potential customers or clients, unable to keep up to date with technology, and there will be nothing positive about you as a business in their eyes. By simply not having your website working on every possible platform it can ultimately lead to you losing out on a lot of business and these people will just go to your competition allowing them to get stronger while you get weaker.

What you need to do.

If your website has not been updated for a number of years, then it is not going to be compatible for these different devices and you need to change it immediately. Modern designs are responsive, so they contain coding behind the scenes that change the site even just slightly in order to make sure that it can indeed be viewed on different devices without it having a negative impact on the viewing experience of the user.

The best thing that you can do is of course to check your website on a range of devices and see if it looks good or absolutely terrible. You are also best to get a professional web design company such as Webfoot Designs to take a look from a technical point of view and get a report as to what needs to be done to bring your website up to date. In some cases it only requires a series of slight changes to the design to make everything run more smoothly, but for some people a complete overhaul of their website is the only solution

Get some expert advice on what to do next and justify the cost by thinking about all of those people that do not use desktops or laptops to view your site and what they are thinking when they get there. Can you afford to potentially lose those customers?

Contact Webfoot Designs today to bring your website right up to date.