Google recently announced that its search engines will give higher rankings to websites that are mobile-friendly, or websites that can be viewed easily on mobile phones and tablets. Mobile technology has grown exponentially in the last few years. Over half of all web traffic comes from mobiles and tablets today. Most importantly, today’s users expect your website to be mobile-friendly.
Before you get your website redesigned, there are a couple of things you need to know first. For one thing, there is a difference between a mobile-friendly website and a responsive website, although they both perform the same function for the most part. Technically, a responsive website is mobile-friendly, but a mobile-friendly website is generally not responsive. Let’s break it down.
A mobile-friendly website is essentially a separate copy of your site specifically designed for mobile devices. The only good thing that makes mobile-friendly better than responsive is that you can create a unique experience for your users. Mobile-friendly sites are common in larger, user heavy websites run by multinational companies like airlines and hotel chains. Many companies might build multiple mobile-friendly sites for every type of mobile device on the market.
However, the big downside to mobile-friendly websites is that it can get really expensive to build, which is why this is usually an option for large multinationals that can afford to do it, and usually not small businesses or nonprofits. Mobile-friendly sites usually have their own sub-domains, which will not count towards the amount of traffic coming to your primary domain. Also, because technology is always changing, devices become obsolete quite often, and the high cost of maintenance and revamping mobile-friendly sites for new devices coming onto the market can be daunting.
This is why we strongly suggest making your website responsive.
A responsive website adjusts to different browser screen sizes, rather than to different devices, without compromising the quality of the content and site design. An example of a responsive site is, well, our site. Try resizing the browser on a computer and notice how the images and text flow into a vertical scroll. Then try viewing it on a mobile or tablet. Responsive websites are future-proofed; no matter what device comes down the market, it will respond perfectly in the browser. A responsive website doesn’t need a separate domain either, which will better support web traffic reporting. A responsive website is also a better return on investment for your website and your company’s marketing strategy.
If you have any questions on how to make your website responsive, contact Global Wire Design.
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