This is the age of handheld devices; laptops and desktops are now losing their preeminence in the world of business. It is no surprise that most of your competitors have made their websites mobile friendly. So, what options do you have to still stay competitive? Well the simple answer is that you too need to have a website that is mobile friendly. It has been conclusively proven that more and more consumers are conducting their searches on mobiles. You cannot ignore this ever increasing customer base. There are some businesses that prefer to have a separate website for mobile users and we definitely think that this is a good idea but you also need to consider how responsive design will address your problem.
So, what really is responsive design and how does it work? Well, in short it is a web design technique that allows a website to be viewed on hand held devices like smartphones, iPads, tablets, conventional desktops, and laptops. The design is such that the website resizes or reformats itself depending on the device it is being used. However, here you have to take into account one very important factor and that is prioritizing content on the website.
A smartphone user might just want a phone number while a tablet user will need more content and would generally conduct his or her purchase from the comfort of the couch. An ideal responsive design incorporated website will prioritize buttons like click-to-map and click-to-call for smartphone users while for the tablet user it will make the shopping cart experience easier.
The next question that you will be confronted with is whether you will have to redesign your website right from scratch. The good news is an emphatic ‘NO’, you don’t have to redesign your website. A professional web developer will be able to make your existing website adaptable to both gadgets. However, there will be some costs involved in making this change. Your site will not need a new URL for a mobile site. By incorporating a simple auto redirect code into your desktop site users will be redirected to the mobile site.
The cost involved will depend on the developer and the agency you approach. However, it is money well spent. A responsive design will definitely help you connect with your customer base and reduce your expenses on maintenance. And last but not the least money spent on keeping up with the trend in the market definitely pays in the long run.