The Importance of Responsive Website For Your Small Business

As more and more people use tablets and mobile devices to access the web, it’s crucial for small businesses to have a responsive website. Below are few important reasons why responsive web design is important and why small business owners need to update their website to make them mobile-friendly.

Growing Number of Mobile Users

In a world where there are more mobile phones than humans, it is critical for a website to be made with mobile traffic in mind. As the numbers of mobile users growing, you can no longer neglect the website that hasnt’ been updated and not performing well.

With so many people accessing their email and surfing the web on their phones, small business owners must ensure their websites look and function as great on mobile devices, as they do on regular desktops.

And with so much competition online, you can no longer afford to lose new visitors because your website is extremely slow to load or looks broken on smaller screens.

Improved User Experience

This brings us to the second important reason why small businesses need to have responsive websites. User experience. Responsive websites are specifically designed to look great on screens of all sizes. Whether you see it on your tablet or your phone, the website layout adjusts to different size screens and will remain easy to navigate and read no matter what devices it’s being viewed on. The users are more likely to stay on your website if it looks attractive and easy to use. No one wants to waste their time waiting for the website to load. Make sure you offer the best user experience no matter what device your visitors use to access your website.

Attract More Mobile Shoppers

Online shopping has exploded in the last few years. As security and technology matured, people’s became more confident shopping online. A large portion of sales is now attributed to mobile users and the numbers are likely to grow for a long time.
If you’re a small business you need to make sure your website is ready for online shopping. If your website is difficult to navigate your products hard to see, the visitors will simply leave your website and find another place to shop. Having a responsive website will guarantee shoppers will have a better experience and stay longer on the site resulting in more sales.

Higher SEO Rankings

It’s no secret that Google prefers mobile friendly websites when it comes to displaying search results.  In recent years Google rolled out new algorithm updates giving preference to mobile friendly sites.
So if your website ranked well before, but is not responsive, it can now lose its ranking and Google will downgrade it.

If you are a small business owner, organic traffic is extremely important. Once your website is penalized for not being responsive, you’re risking losing a very valuable organic traffic.
With so many businesses being dependent on organic search results, it’s crucial that your website gets updated in order to stay competitive. Having a responsive website will improve your chances of showing up in the top search results.

To see if your website is mobile friendly, use this handy Google Mobile-Friendly Test Tool.

Cost Benefit of Responsive Web Design.

Often many businesses owners hesitate to upgrade their website due to the false belief that the redesign can be very expensive and time-consuming. It’s true that hiring a large web design agency to build a responsive website can be very costly. Luckily, there are other less pricey options available for small business owners wanting to update their website.

Hiring a local designer or a small web agency can be one cost-effective way to make your site responsive. Often freelancers have much lower overhead costs and can charge less than a typical web design agency.

Another option one might want to consider is to use online website builders such as Squarespace or Wix. These builders offer an easy way, even for a novice to setup and develop a responsive website in a short amount of time.

Finally purchasing and installing a mobile-friendly WordPress theme can be a very attractive and inexpensive option for small business owners. Also, if you decide to purchase a premium theme, many websites can install it for you for an additional small fee.

As a small business owner, you simply can’t afford to have the website that’s outdated and not performing well. If you care about your business, one of the best decision you can make is to upgrade your website and make it mobile friendly. Having a responsive, well-functioning website will ensure you will stay competitive online for a long time to come.