There is Only One Web

Many potential clients who come to us at Mint Social talk about wanting to launch a new “mobile website” and create a strategy for the “mobile web”.  According to a 2012 study by google smartphones have the highest number of daily user interactions compared to tablets, desktops and laptops.   With the increased reliance of smartphones and tablets to accomplish tasks,  smart businesses know that they must deliver their content in a mobile and tablet friendly user experience to stay competitive.

The error that many businesses make is that they silo their content delivery by creating one mobile website, one desktop website and even a tablet website to communicate the value of their products, services and brands to consumers.  This creates 3 times the maintenance cost, 3 times the publishing effort and 3 times the headaches when things go wrong.  The truth is that there is not a mobile web and a tablet web and a PC web, there is only one web. Savvy companies are increasingly tapping into this truth and deploying a fresh web content delivery strategy known as responsive design.

According to smashing magazine, responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from their laptop to iPad, the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. In other words, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences. This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market.

While there are a myriad of reasons to consider updating your web presence with a responsive framework, here are a few of the most compelling:

1. Google says so. In 2012, Google recommended that websites employ a responsive framework because their bots only have one url to crawl making it much easier for them to find and index your content.
2. One website—One search strategy.  Rather than taking the risk of search engines thinking your mobile site is “duplicate content” you have one page and one set of meta data to build your SEO strategy around.  This boosts the weight of your links.
3. Increase eyeballs by reducing bounce rate. Here are some stats for you to consider.
   1. 28% of all internet traffic was on mobile devices in 2013 and it expected to eclipse desktop searches by the end of 2015.
   2. 61% of users come back to google to search a site that is easy to read.
   3. 90% of people are switching to multiple screens to browse the internet.
4. Long term Resource savings. While it can be a little more resource intensive up front, designing your web strategy around a responsive framework can save you boat loads of time and money over the life of the website. 
5. Easier to integrate the Social web.  Since the majority of people access their social media apps such as  facebook , twitter and Instagram via their smartphones, making your content easy to share on these devices can boost your social marketing ROI.

Adding this all up it leads to a compelling case to consider a responsive redesign in your web strategy for 2014.

As of 2016, this article could not be more relevant. Mobile-first responsive design is the new requirement with all websites. We have over 8 years invested in our mobile-first website strategy and you owe it to your online business to understand how these changes will impact your business.