Businesses looking to create a positive reputation and strong online presence are aware of the fact that responsive web design is the key to accomplish desired goals. You might be offering a helpful product and services to your site visitors, but if the website design is not responsive then users will fail to access the elements. Most businesses today hire an award-winning website design company so that they can create and offer a highly attractive and responsive website design to their prospects.
Today every user searching for any kind of information and product looks to perform the searches from their nearest device. That is the reason why the number of mobile device users is continuously increasing. MaInly if your business falls in the health, financial or media sector then you might expect huge traffic on your website from mobile devices. Not only that but the ecommerce sector has also seen more traffic and conversion occurring on mobile devices.
That is the reason why it has become essential for businesses to create and offer highly responsive web design that makes it easy for mobile as well as tablet users to have the same experience as desktop users. But the question comes down to how businesses can make their web design responsive? If you are scrolling the internet to find the answer for the same then you have landed on the right article where we will offer you a detailed idea about how you can create a responsive web design.
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Table Of Content:
- An Overview Of Responsive Web Design
- What is Responsive Website Design?
- Why is responsive web design important for businesses?
- Tips to creating a highly responsive web design for your business
- Conclusion
An Overview Of Responsive Web Design
The days are gone when businesses used to focus only on offering static website design that appears good on desktop. Today internet users make use of different devices like mobile, tablet, desktop, and more to access the website design. Mainly with the increase in the number of mobile and tablet users it has become essential for businesses to create and offer mobile responsive web design to their prospects.
Every year the number of mobile users is continuously increasing. If you look at the number then in the year 2016 total smartphone users were around 3668 million whereas the year 2021 saw a huge growth in the number to 6378 million and by 2026 it is estimated to go above 7516 million. A report by Statista also states that in 2020 there were 4.28 billion unique mobile internet users which are considered to be 90% of the global internet users.
The reason why today most businesses look to hire an experienced website design company for their business is because of the increase in the multi-device culture. If you are running a static website for your business then it’s the right time to get your website redesigned by experienced professionals. Because if you fail to create and offer mobile responsive website design now then later on it will become difficult for you to create a strong mobile presence due to an increase in the competition.
Today every user prefers to access the website design from their mobile devices. Later on, if your website is able to convince them on a mobile device then they may plan to explore your website on desktop. But for that, your website design needs to be in a position to convince your mobile site visitor which can only be achieved when you offer a responsive website design to your prospects.
As the days are passing the online marketplace is becoming highly competitive. If your website is failing to hold mobile site visitors then your business might be on the edge of breaking its online presence and reputation. By creating a mobile responsive web design you ensure that users are easily able to access every small element in yoru website design and get the best website user experience. But the question comes down to how businesses can make their web design responsive?
If you are searching for the answer for the same then make sure you stick till the end of this article to explore some of the best practices you can consider while making your website design responsive. But before that, we would like to highlight some of the benefits that you will get when you make your website design responsive.
What is Responsive Website Design?
Before we highlight the benefits of having a responsive web design let’s take a look at the true meaning of what is responsive web design? It is an approach that makes the element inside the web design and the layout respond depending on the size of the screen. By making your website design responsive you ensure that your website is able to detect the resolution of the screen and make adjustments in the shape and size of the layout for better accessibility and user experience.
Your website must have different elements like visuals, text elements, CTAs, and many more. A responsive website design will help the user to easily access these elements regardless of the device they are using. When it comes to desktop view your website design gets full freedom to display various elements. But when it comes to mobile devices the view will not be the same as the desktop device.
By making your website design responsive, you ensure that your mobile site visitors are able to get the same experience as the desktop site visitors. This way you will not only be able to enhance your website traffic and user experience but also the website reputation and online presence.
If you are looking to measure your website UX effectiveness then make sure to check our blog on 8 Ways To Measure Your Website UX (User-Experience) Effectiveness
Why is responsive web design important for businesses?
Most businesses today focus on website aesthetics but very few care about creating a responsive website design optimized for accessibility. As we have mentioned earlier, the number of mobile users is continuously increasing, in fact, a report by smart insight states that the number of mobile internet users has outnumbered desktop internet users. If you are failing to offer a responsive web design then it will not only impact your website traffic but also your business revenue.
The conversion and user experience of the website are dependent on the responsiveness of your website. In 2015 google also announced that mobile-friendliness is soon going to be the primary ranking factor. Having an unresponsive website design can impact your website accessibility and business reputation. That is the reason why most businesses look to hire an experienced website design company so that they are able to get a highly responsive and conversion-centric website design for their business.
The website design you create and offer acts as the physical extension of your business and also helps users to get a better understanding of your business. If you are failing to offer a responsive web design then you might disappoint your site visors and end up losing them to your competitors. When your prospects visit your office or store physically then you are able to greet them and show them your business authenticity. But when it comes to websites you will not be present physically to showcase your authenticity but the responsiveness of your website design will help you to gain their credibility.
The more easily users are able to access your wordpress web design from different devices the higher chances will be to convert them into paying customers. By improving your web design responsiveness you will be able to give a reason to your site visitors on why they should return back to your website design to make their future purchase. Creating and offering responsive website design allows you to improve your website conversion, business revenue, and most importantly ROI.
Most of the time an unresponsive web design leads to a cluttered design that creates negative impressions about the website and business. Having a responsive web design can benefit your website and business in different ways. So let’s take a look at some of the points on why having a responsive web design is essential for website and businesses:
1. Mobile usage is at the peak
As we have mentioned multiple times that the number of mobile users is continuously increasing. A report by Statista states that nearly 58 percent of American adults are making use of mobile devices. Not only that but more than 55 percent of the traffic is generated from mobile devices. If you are failing to offer a responsive web design then you will be harming your website in a different way from getting less traffic to more bounce rate.
Not to mention but every user today has multiple options to select from, if your website design is not responsive then users will shift to your competitor’s websites without having any second thoughts. If you are ignoring to make your design responsive then you must know that every user is searching for different types of information on their mobile devices. If your website is failing to offer a responsive web design then your product and services will not be able to reach the target audience.
Most of the time users facing difficulties in interacting with your website design leave the website without even looking at what the business has got to offer. These types of practices lead to the poor reputation of the website as well as business. So if you wonder why you need to make your website design accessible then remember mobile usage is at its peak. If you need further assistance with website accessibility and responsiveness then you can also reach out to our highly experienced WordPress web design company for your business.
2. Improve website user experience (UX)
The website responsiveness and user experience of the website go parallelly. Undoubtedly there are a number of factors that impact the website user experience but the responsiveness of the website design always falls on the top of the list. Even if you are able to create a highly attractive website design that relates to user expectation but fails to make it responsive then all your efforts can go in vain.
If you want your site visitors to stay and learn more about your product/service and businesses then you need to enhance your website user experience which can be only achieved when your website is highly accessible and responsive. Users landing on your website should be easily able to access every small element regardless of the device they are using. Many times site visitors write negative receipts as they were having difficulties accessing the CTA, reading the text, accessing the images, and more.
These types of reviews will not only harm your website reputation but also lead to lower traffic and conversion rate. So if you wonder why you need to have a responsive web design then remember it helps in improving the website user experience.
If you are looking to improve your website user experience then we recommended checking our article on 10 Proven Tips To Improve Mobile Website UX (user experience)
3. Increasing the reach of website and business
Every business today looks to increase the reach of its website and product/services. While SEO and paid marketing is a way to reach a maximum number of users, SEO takes time and paid channels require a good marketing budget. Even if you are able to reach your target audience, responsiveness will play a key factor in deciding whether users will explore your product and services or not. By making your website responsive you will be able to target mobile users as well.
Today every user grabs their mobile devices to perform any kind of services online. They might be looking for your product or service as well. But to reach them you need to ensure that the design you are offering is highly responsive. Most of the time websites that are driving a good amount of traffic on their website from desktop ignore to make their web design responsive. If your website is falling in the same list then it’s time for you to make changes to your strategy.
If your website is ignored to make their design responsive then users won’t be able to find your business on mobile devices and with the increase in the mobile user, you can’t ignore it to avoid targeting mobile searchers. So by making your web design responsive you will automatically be able to increase the reason for your website and business.
If you are looking to increase the reach of your website then having a website that relates to user expectation is essential that is the reason why we recommend you to check our blog on User-Centric Website Design Guide: How To Create A Website Design That Relates With Target Audience?)2
4. Shopping on mobile devices is continuously growing
If you are an online shopper then you can ask the question yourself, when you plan to purchase any product or check the cost of the product you look toward mobile devices or desktop. Once you have the answer then it will automatically become easy for you to find why it’s essential to make your website design responsive. Today the internet has made it possible for users to avoid getting into their car and visit physical stores to make the purchase. Now users can easily purchase the desired product without stepping out.
Yes, it’s true that the earlier desktop was the primary source to make online purchases. But now ecommerce websites have started to offer different features like image zoom in/out that are encouraging more and more shoppers to make their purchase from mobile devices. Apart from that, mobile devices make it easy for the user to make a purchase. That is the reason why more and more shoppers are becoming addicted to shopping online.
Today nearly 70% of the shoppers make use of mobile devices to make their online purchases. If your website fails to offer a responsive web design then it will harm your website traffic and conversion. While creating a responsive web design you need to ensure that the product inside your ecommerce websites is easily accessible and viewable so that it encourages more and more site visitors to explore more about your website and business.
So if you wonder why you need to create a responsive web design then remember it helps in making your web design highly responsive. If you are looking to improve your ecommerce website accessibility then make sure to check our blog on Ecommerce Website Accessibility: 7 Proven Tips To Follow In 2021
5. Helps in improving your search engine ranking
Not to mention but website responsiveness has become one of the key ranking factors. Undoubtedly there are a lot of things that go into making a website SEO friendly but if your website design is not responsive then all your SEO optimization efforts can go in vain. Today, every search engine has made it essential to have a responsive web design for better ranking in mobile search results.
Most of the websites today are not aware of the fact that search engine ranking for desktop and mobile devices differs. That means if your website is ranking on the top in the desktop search results then it’s not essential that for mobile devices the ranking will be the same. To rank your web pages on the top in the search engine result page for mobile devices you need to ensure that users landing on your website are easily able to access every small element without facing any issues or we can say you can keep responsiveness as the first priority.
The reason why responsive websites are able to get a better ranking on the search engine result page is that Google always gives preference to websites optimized for responsiveness. Today Google looks to offer the best experience to their searchers and by making your website responsive you ensure that every user landing on the website is able to get the best experience. If mobile visitors feel satisfied and get a better user experience then google will always recommend your website to searchers by offering your higher ranking on the search engine result page.
Google is already working with ist algorithm to advance mobile searches. If you haven’t planned to make your website responsive then it’s the best time to do it by hiring an experienced website design company for your website and business.
6. Trim down Extra Cost.
Most of you might not be aware of the fact that there are businesses out there that have separate websites for desktop devices as well as mobile devices. By making your website design responsive you are not only making your website SEO friendly but also ensuring to offer a single website for all the devices. This way you are able to track down the extra cost the most of the website and business spend by creating a separate mobile website for their business.
By creating a separate website for mobile devices you will not only be paying the website development cost but there will be other post-development costs like website maintenance cost, SEO, and many more. On the other hand, by making your website responsive you will be paying these costs but for only one website. In short, you will be eliminating or trimming down the extra cost of development, maintenance, SEO, and more for mobile devices.
Undoubtedly you might be starting with a good budget that enables you to have multiple websites for your business. But if you are looking to survive in the long run then it’s always recommended to save the cost wherever your business can and by making your website mobile responsive you ensure to save extra cost for your business.
7. Helps in improving conversion and sales
Last but not least, responsive websites lead to better conversion and sales on the website. By now you must be having a good idea about why you need to make your website design responsive. But after this point, you will be convinced to make your website design responsive as soon as possible.
Running a responsive website design allows your website and business to create a positive impression and encourages your site visitors to explore more about your product and services. The better your site visitors understand the product/service you are offering, the easier it will become for you to create a conversion-centric website design for your business.
A responsive website design automatically adjusts its layout depending on the screen size to ensure that users landing on the website are able to get the best user experience. Most of the time site visitors complain about inaccessible CTA’s, unresponsive images, text, and more. All these negative impacts will not only increase the website bounce rate but also the conversion rate.
You might be spending hundreds and thousands of dollars in making your website reach the maximum number of audience but what if your site visitors fail to access the design you are offering. It will not only impact your website and business reputation but all your money and efforts can go in vain. That is the reason why you should always look to hire an experienced website design company that can help you to create a highly responsive website design that drives more traffic and conversion on the website.
By now you must have a detailed idea about why it is important for websites and businesses to create a highly responsive website design for their business. Next, let’s take a look at how you can create a
Tips to creating a highly responsive web design for your business
1. Make use of fluid grid
Earlier most of the websites used to focus on fixed-size pixels but with the increase in the demand for responsive websites, many businesses have started to adopt fluid grids for their website design. It helps web pages to shift their layout depending on the size of the screen. When it comes to fluid grid layout then all the elements inside the website are equally sized by the grid.
The reason why websites have stated to avoid lying to the whole website on the measurement called pixels is that it has got various limitations. The elements inside the website have a specific size that makes it difficult for mobile or tablet users to access the elements inside the web design.
The flexibility offered by the fluid design helps the website to resize the element and the whole layout depending on the dimension of the screen. It is based on the term of proportion not on percentage or pixel. The elements like text, visuals, CTA, and more are easily able to resize their height and width depending on the devices it is getting viewed on.
In short, we can say by adopting the fluid grid you will be doing half of the job by making the design responsive. The elements and the layout of your website will be able to shift their shape depending on the screen type. But for that, it’s always recommended to hire an experienced website design company that can help you to make your website design responsive using a fluid grid and other techniques.
If you are looking to know the best web design translate that can follow in 2021 then make sure to check our blog on Web Design Trends 2021: 10 Unique Design Trends To Follow In 2021
2. Adopt Flexbox layout
While the fluid grid is used by many websites the designers and web developers found that the fluid grid needs more improvement as it was not flexible or dynamic enough. That is the reason why they started adopting the flexbox layout which is considered one of the efficient ways to display multiple-element on any type of screen. It is a CSS module that is adopted by many designers and developers because it lays the elements even if the size of the element inside the container is not known.
The flexbox layout allows the element to fill the available space and shrink depending on the space available in the success. Apart from that, it comes with many unique properties like justifying content which can be edited with an HTML element. Well, flexbox layout is the advancement of the fluid grid but is considered a bit complex that is the reason why most of the designers still prefer to go with a fluid grid.
If you are looking to know more about how you can make use of flexbox layout in your website design then we recommend you to consult with highly experienced website design professionals that can help you to identify why and how you can make your website design responsive.
3. Adopt Flexbox Layout
Well, the above-mentioned fluid grid can help you to make your website design responsive but if your website is getting visitors from different devices then we recommend you use a flexbox layout. It is the advanced version of the fluid grid layout that enables websites and businesses to create and offer a responsive website design that drives more traffic and conversion on the website. Using the flexbox layout website can easily display multiple elements on any type of screen.
Most experienced website design professionals have already started to adopt flexbox layout for different types of websites because it displays the element even if the element size is unknown. Not only that but it ensures to fill the space and shrinks depending on the space available on the screen. All these play a crucial role in deciding how responsive your website design is for different devices.
Like we have mentioned earlier the flexbox is the advancement of the fluid grid but still many designers still prefer to go with a fluid layout because of the complexity in the flexbox layout. If you are planning to use flexbox design for your website then remember it comes with some of the attractive properties like justifying the content that can be edited with HTML element code.
The reason why today most businesses look to hire an award-winning wordpress web design company for their business is that they are aware of the fact that a professionally designed website can help them to compete in today’s highly competitive marketplace.
4. Use media queries
Both of the layout that is fluid and flexbox layout can do half of the job by making the element in yoru website design respond to different screens by changing its shape and size. But here is the take: if the website is getting accessed on a very small screen then the design running in two-three columns will fail to work on the smaller screen. That is the reason why it’s recommended to make use of the media queries. Now you must be wondering what is a media query and how it can help in making the web design responsive?
Media queasy is the fundamental part of the CSS3 using which you can easily make your website design adaptable to different screens. It is a simple filter that can be used on the CSS styles as it makes it easy for the web content to change its shape and size depending on the width of the screen. Sometimes you might have to make extensive changes in your website design so that it supports different screen sizes. If that is the case, then it is always recommended to make use of the media query on your website.
When it comes to implementing the media queries then we recommend you use @media to identify whether the viewport of the screen is too wide. For example, if the size of the screen is less than the width then the website will automatically eliminate the elements that may not fit with the screen. This way you will be able to make your website design more responsive and appropriate for different types of screens.
If you are getting your website designed or redesigned by an experienced website design company then you don’t have to worry about the website responsiveness as they will ensure that you get a website optimized for better traffic, conversion, and most importantly performance.
5. Allows your website design to be touch responsive
The next in the list of responsive web design checklists is making your website design touch responsive. By following the above method you might be able to make the element in your website design adjust its shape and size depending on the screen it is getting viewed on. But most of the time touch responsiveness becomes the main reason behind higher bounce rate and lower conversion rate. Today with the increase in the number of touch devices it has become essential to make the design touch responsive.
Whether it’s desktop or mobile or tablet users you need to take all the devices into consideration when creating a touch-responsive website design for your business. When creating a touch-responsive web design you need to ensure that the CTA and other icons in your web design are easily accessible.
Most of the time laptop users are able to access these elements but when it comes to mobile users they face difficulties in accessing these elements. That is the reason why it’s said when you plan to create a responsive web design then you need to keep touchscreen as well as mouse users in consideration.
Mainly with the increase in touchscreen laptop devices, it has become essential for websites and businesses to create and offer touch-responsive web design. When making your website design touch-responsive you can place the element strategy that encourages site visitors to take action on it. Most of the time users are informed about the product/services but fail to become the paying customer due to poor touch.
If you are asking users to fill the form on your website then you need to ensure that users are easily able to access every fiend. Most of the websites offer a dropdown menu to make the form fill-up process easier, so you need to ensure that users are easily able to select the option from the drop-down menu on their mobile devices. If you are getting your website design by an experienced website design company then you don’t have to worry about touch responsiveness as they will ensure that every small element in your website design is highly responsive and easily accessible.
6. Decide which element to showcase on small screens
Every website looks to add attractive elements like visuals, videos, and more to make their design more effective and engaging. While adding these elements can help you to make your design engaging but something these elements fail to load on some devices which can destroy your website user experience. That is the reason why you can restrict some of the elements in your web design from getting viewed on different devices.
It’s not essential that every element displayed in the desktop device should be replicated on mobile devices. When you plan to make your website design responsive you get full freedom to decide the element you want to display on different devices. Before doing that you need to identify the important elements that need to be present on every device. Because the goal behind creating a responsive website design is to offer a better user experience.
So even if you are eliminating some of the elements then the user will not bother because you will be able to offer the best user experience. But remember you are not missing out on the important element of your web design. You can even make changes in the menu option like most mobile websites make use of the hamburger menu rather than the traditional horizontal menu. The horizontal menu can make it difficult to access the other pages on mobile or other small devices.
In the same way, if your website design contains different visuals and videos which you feel are meant only for the desktop then you can restrict them from getting it viewed on mobile devices. If you are someone not so technical with codes then it’s always recommended to get help from an experienced WordPress website design company because a small mistake in the code and design can lead to major problems.
7. Optimize your media element for small screens
As we have mentioned earlier that every business today looks to add various media elements in their web design to enhance its appearance and make it more engaging. But when users try to access those elements from the small screen then these media elements become the primary reason behind the higher bounce rate. That is the reason why it is essential for websites and businesses to optimize their media element for the small screen. If you feel those media elements are not meant for the small screen then you can always look to eliminate them.
Most of the time the media element becomes the main reason behind higher bounce rate and lower conversion rate all because of poor website responsiveness. If you are looking to optimize your website responsiveness with a goal to make the design more engaging then it’s essential for you to optimize the website media element. This way you will ensure that users landing on your website are easily able to interact with the media element regardless of the screen they are using to access your design.
The media element of your website has the potential to make and break your website responsiveness. That is the reason why it is recommended to make use of the max-width property. When planning to create a responsive web design you can look into setting rules in your CSS like setting the width to 100%, using auto height, and more. If you are making use of any background images then you can set the size as “contain” so that it automatically adjusts when opened on the smaller screen.
So if you wonder how you can make your website design responsive then make sure to optimize the media element in your website design. Media element sizing is something not easy to the element that is the reason why we recommend you to get help from experienced website design professionals for your website and business.
8. Use of pre-designed responsive layout or themes
Most of the businesses today look to adopt wordpress due to the flexibility and ease offered by the platform. If you are making use of wordpress or planning to select one to build your website then you can look to select the pre-designed responsive website theme for better. WordPress offers you access to a huge library of themes that come with different features, in some cases, it is helpful as it allows users to select the desired theme for their website. But most of the time users get confused and end up selecting the wrong plugin for their website design.
When you plan to select a wordpress theme for your website then it’s essential to look at the features offered by the plugin. If the list does not contain website responsiveness then you can look for different themes for your website. Once you successfully find the responsive theme for your wordpress website then just have to customize the theme and make it live for your audience. WordPress offers both free as well as paid themes, so if you are selecting a free theme for your website then make sure that it’s responsive and works well for every device and screen.
9. Optimize your website typography for the small screen
Most of the time websites focus on making the visual elements responsive but forget about the typography they are using in the website. The typography you use in your website needs to shift its shape and size depending on the device it is getting viewed on. Many websites skip the typography part and focus on other elements when making their website design responsive. If you are doing the same then this particular point is meant for you.
If users are falling to engage with the typography then it will lead to lower engagement which will result in a lower conversion. In fact, we can say making the website typography responsive should be on the top of your list because it helps in persuading your site visitor to become your paying customer. Remember even if your website spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating attractive visuals but users are failing to engage with the typography present in your website then all your money can go in vain.
The visual you use in your website will allow you to grab the user’s attention but once your web page holds site visitors’ eyes then they will look to get every small detail about your website. That is when the typography of your website will come into play. To make your design effective on a small screen you need to ensure that the typography you select for your website is accessible to anyone and everyone on any device and screen. Most of the websites make use of the pixel to define the font size but you need to know that it can offer you benefit only when you are targeting a single device from your website.
To make your font size responsive you need to ensure that users are easily able to access your website design and the elements inside it regardless of the screen it is getting viewed. If you are looking to make your website design responsive then it’s always recommended to hire an experienced website design company for your website and business.
Conclusion
By now you must be having a detailed idea about how you can create a responsive website design. All the above-mentioned points will help you to make your website design responsive but sometimes the small element, mainly the media elements, becomes the primary reason behind poor website design and responsiveness. In today’s competitive marketplace if your website is failing to impress your mobile site visitors then you might end up creating a bad reputation for your website and business.
If you are making use of wordpress then you might have access to a number of responsive plugins that can help you to make your design response. But if you are running a custom-coded website design for your business. Then it’s always recommended to hire an experienced website design company that can help you to create a highly responsive website design for your website and business.
SFWP Experts is an award-winning website design company that is working with highly experienced website design professionals to help businesses create a highly responsive and conversion-centric website design for their business. If you are looking to have a website design that helps you in driving more revenue and ROI then it’s recommended getting in touch with our experts.