Make Responsive Your Resolution!

The New Year is just around the corner. With the season in mind, it's a great time to start making some resolutions to improve your business in the New Year. As we are sure you are already aware, mobile usage is becoming the norm in terms of how users are accessing information online. This means businesses who are catering to their growing mobile audience, in addition to their standard desktop audience, will have a leg up.

Responsive design is the answer to this growing demand. It allows users to access your website in easy to view format regardless of the device or screen size they are browsing from. Responsive design improves usability for all users by serving each visitor a website version most compatible with their current screen size.

If versatility alone hasn't quite sold you, keep reading. We've outlined 5 benefits you'll enjoy once your website goes responsive.

1. Users have a better experience on your website. We mentioned this earlier, but to elaborate, designing a website responsively provides the best possible experience for the user. No matter what device they’re accessing your website from, users will be served a variation which is compatible with the screen size they are using. From tablets and mobile phones to desktop computers, your users will be served your website in a format that is easy for them to read and navigate.
    
2. Updates take less time. Currently, many businesses have two websites: a mobile version and a desktop version. Since these are considered two separate websites, it takes more time to develop them. On top of developing two separate websites, you must also maintain both websites, updating the content within each one separately. With responsive design, you will only need to deal with one website. This means less work and time will be required for development and ongoing maintenance of your website. All edits for all versions can be made at once.
    
3. Google likes responsive design. Since search engines, Google especially, are increasingly taking user experience into account when determining who to place where in search engine results pages, going responsive can actually help to increase your online visibility. By using responsive design, your website may enjoy some added Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits. Google favors and rewards those who are making an effort to provide their users a better experience by going responsive and may rank you higher than a competitor who has not yet made the switch. Not to mention, having one single URL makes it easier and more efficient for search robots to crawl your website.
    
4. Say goodbye to pinch, zoom, scroll. Responsive web design is a seamless solution for a market that demands personalization. Regardless of screen size, images load quickly and to an appropriate size, content is easier to read, and the buttons standout and entice users to browse all your website has to offer.
    
5. Responsive design adapts to future devices. One of the biggest benefits of responsive design is that since templates are designed based on screen size instead of device, your website will display properly on all devices, even those that haven't yet been introduced! As future devices are rolled out, your responsive website will continue to look beautiful and function properly.