There was a time when websites were viewed from a computer connected to a land-line, and only when phone lines were free. Today, your agency’s website can be accessed almost anywhere, at any time, and on multiple devices. From smartphones, to tablets, and to everything in between—your site must be compatible.
It’s a mistake to think that a website displayed on a laptop will look the same on a mobile device. Your agency’s website needs to change depending on the device used to view it. This is called having a responsive website: a site that molds itself to fit how it’s viewed.
What it means
A responsive website adapts to the screen used to view it. This means the layout of a site will modify itself depending on the screen size—including changing the orientation and making menus/navigation accessible in different ways. This isn’t the same as building a mobile website: the big difference here is that it’s all one site, with multiple layout options.
Making your website responsive is easy for developers as it simply requires creating a different style sheet for each page. No change in information or content, just tweaks in how it’s displayed.
Why it’s important
A 2014 Hubspot article touched on a few of the reasons why your agency needs a responsive website. According to Hubspot, 25% of all internet users go online using a mobile device and more than 20% of Google searches were done via mobile. This is a large chunk of users you’re missing out on without a responsive website. In addition, Google penalizes non-responsive sites in its search algorithm. That alone is incentive to update.
Being responsive also means your agency’s website will be ready for future devices. Ten years ago, you didn’t know you’d need to be ready for smartphones – who knows what will be coming next? By creating a responsive design you can simply add-on a new layout to adapt to the latest technology.
Get on board!
If you don’t have a responsive web design, you’re due to get up with the times. Contact your web developer to get the process started, or if you’re hosting in-house, get your web team on the case. There are multiple online tutorials and sample layouts to get started.
SIS is keeping up
Here at SIS we know and are responding (pun intended) to responsive web design, which is why we moved our Partner XE to be mobile-accessible. Our latest Partner XE 2015 has even more added features to improve your agency’s workflow efficiency. Find out more by visiting our website or contact us at [email protected].
