In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, ClearBrand is featured as one of the Top Web Designers in Colorado Springs. Check out their profile!
Having a Website Is Great. But It’s Not Enough.
You know your business needs a website. So you throw something together and launch.
But traffic isn’t great. Your bounce rate is sky-high. And sales aren’t coming in.
Have you checked your website’s responsiveness?
A responsive website is one that adapts to different screen sizes, changing the design to fit into the new layout: The text is easy to read, images fit the width of the device, and there’s no need to scroll sideways to see it all.
This shift improves the way your information is displayed, optimizes loading speeds, and enhances user experience. Which means more leads and higher conversions.
The Way People Shop Has Changed Significantly In The Past 10 Years
Consumers today are more informed than ever. They read about a product or service, check out competitors, compare value, and do more pre-purchase research than ever before.
And consumer behavior has been shifting towards mobile devices as they become more powerful and easier to use. According to Google’s own reports, more than half of all searches are done on mobile devices as of 2016.
In fact, 83% of US shoppers confirmed that they conducted an online search before they went to a store in 2019.
A Desktop-Specific Website Hurts Your Business
While many businesses used to have a separate website for mobile and desktop, this is a waste of money and time:
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You’re left covering expenses for two sites.
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Any update or change needs to be implemented twice.
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Traffic is diverted into two streams.
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It’s hard to keep a cohesive user experience.
You’re better left putting your resources towards a site that looks good across different layouts instead of having two separate websites.
What does this mean for you?
Well, for starters, your website better look great on a small screen.
When a visitor checks your website on their phone, you have about 3 seconds to convince them to stay. If your website takes forever to load, doesn’t display all the information, or shows a tiny desktop screen (you know the one), they’re out.
A mobile-optimized website improves your traffic, helps customers find you more easily, and increases your leads and conversions.
A Non-Responsive Website Hurts Your SEO
When your website isn’t responsive, it looks off on different screens. Your visitor has to scroll to find buttons or zoom in to read the tiny text. And images get all jumbled as they swish around on the screen.
That first impression your visitor gets is already hurting you: A high bounce rate tells Google that your website isn’t worth the hype. So you fall down in the ranks.
And that’s before they even know what you’re selling. So they don’t buy.
Plus, Google “rewards” responsive websites: By implementing “Mobile-first indexing,” Google is signaling to everyone that mobile will continue to grow.
Mobile-first indexing means that Google prioritizes mobile-optimized websites for its crawling, indexing, and ranking efforts: Your website ranks higher than a competitor’s simply by being mobile-friendly.
This shift in Google’s ranking system goes to show that users prioritize their smartphones. And you need to do it too.
Obviously, you still need great quality content. But this is a push in the right direction.
People Are Buying on the Go
According to Google, more than 70% of people who conduct a mobile search are likely to buy on the spot if they can check out through the company’s site or app.
Every Google search is a problem. And your website is meant to solve this problem for the user.
No matter whether you own a restaurant or a coaching service, your visitor is looking at you because they want to buy.
If your website is mobile-friendly, this is great news for you! When they click on your site and find everything they need to know, they’re more likely to buy on the spot.
A Responsive Website Loads Faster
A responsive website is built to work across different screens. This means cleaner code, optimized images, and overall faster load time.
A fast loading site means a better user experience and makes it so that your user stays in your site longer, looking around different pages, interacting with your brand.
Your responsive website is also less likely to have repeated content, broken links, and other pages that shouldn’t be there.
Which also makes Google crawling easier. When Google can easily crawl your website, you’re more likely to rank in search results, improving your traffic and widening your reach. Which means more leads. And sales.
Mobile Devices Changed the Way We Surf the Web
A non-responsive website negatively impacts your traffic. And your business as a result.
Optimizing your design to fit across a range of screens helps your users find you and interact with you because you’re showing up in the space they are.
Stop scaring customers away with bad web design.
Follow the trend and optimize your site to get more traffic (and sales!).