Why Does My Website Need to Be Responsive?

People have been talking about responsive web design for years now, but what exactly does it mean? And why does your website need to be responsive? Read on to learn what a responsive web design can do for your website (and what not having one might be costing you).

The “Why” Behind Responsive Websites

Back in the day, we all played Oregon Trail on the same size screen. There were minor variations, but for the most part, every computer had a standard size screen. At that time, it made sense for websites to be designed as static pages that always looked exactly the same — no matter where you were viewing it from. Since then, things have changed drastically; we now have smart phones of all sizes, tablets, wi-fi enabled TV’s and more. Now, your customers are looking at your website from every screen size imaginable.

What is a Responsive Website?

A responsive website is laid out like a grid. Rather than shrinking everything down on a smaller screen, it will instead push certain items below other content to make viewing easier on smaller devices. For instance, imagine that you have a blog with a header across the top, your written content on the left, and a sidebar on the right hand side. A responsive website would automatically push the sidebar content below the written content on smaller devices so that readers don’t have to squint to read your post. Similarly, an online store that is responsive would be able to display multiple items across on a desktop, but would only show one item at a time on a mobile device.

What To Do If Your Website Isn’t Responsive

If your website isn’t responsive, your readers or customers probably aren’t able to view it easily on their mobile devices and/or tablets. Because more and more internet traffic is coming from these devices, you are definitely losing out on views and sales if you aren’t mobile-friendly. The good news is that a responsive website isn’t that hard to get. Many DIY web designers have set them up themselves, and if you need a little help, we have plenty of great responsive website designers in our directory. Make your website responsive today and start seeing the benefits of a site that works well on any device.