Responsive web design is crucial to the success of your website, now more than ever before. If your website is not responsive, this can mean the loss of a potential customer. It can also cause Google to rank your website lower, making it less visible. By ensuring that you have a responsive web design, you’re making it easier for people to view across all sorts of different devices. This can help your business, both in ranking your website higher in search results and in potentially gaining more customers.
Here, we will go over what responsive web design is and some of the ways you can determine if your website is not responsive.
What Does Responsive Web Design Mean?
If you have a responsive website, that means that it readjusts depending on the device you’re using to view it. If your website is not responsive, that means that it looks the same regardless of whether you are looking at it on a desktop computer or a tablet or a smartphone. You want a responsive website, because if your website is not responsive, that can cause problems with its functionality, how easy it is to navigate, and how readable it is.
This could result in potential customers clicking away from your site in favor of one that is easier to read, navigate, and use. When customers click away like this, this also causes Google to rank your website lower. In short, if your website is not responsive, it’s not working for you, and can end up losing you business.
Signs Your Website Is Not Responsive
If your website is not responsive, there are a few telltale signs that you can watch out for.
#1. The Browser Size Has No Effect
If your website is responsive, it should rearrange itself as you adjust your browser size. As you make your browser smaller, it should stack itself more like a mobile site, and then stretch back out as you make it bigger. If it does not do this and making your browser smaller just cuts off parts of your website rather than rearranging it, it probably is not responsive.
#2. It Has A High Bounce Rate
If your site is designed well, people should stay on it when they click onto it. If they hit the back button soon after clicking onto your site, this causes your bounce rate to increase. This can be due to a number of factors, from an excessive amount of pop-ups to too many ads to poor web design. It could also be because your website is not responsive and is frustrating for people to use on any device that isn’t a desktop computer.
#3. It’s Slow
Websites should load quickly. People do not have the patience to wait for sites to load anymore. If your website is not responsive, that means that it will load slower on platforms other than the one it was designed for. If your website is slow, you will want to go to a web designer to fix it so that it can work for you again.
#4. The Design Elements Aren’t The Right Size
What looks good on a laptop likely won’t work well on a phone. You need the design elements of your site to be a good size across all platforms. If your text is too small for people to read, your pictures are either huge or are tiny, or your site’s buttons aren’t clickable, this will drive potential customers away, as your site is hard to use. A responsive website adjusts the design elements according to the device it’s being viewed on.
#5. Google Says It Isn’t
Google has a handy testing tool that you can use in order to tell whether or not your website is responsive. All you have to do is input the link to your website and then test the URL. It may take a bit for Google to find your site. Once it does, it will tell you whether or not your website is mobile-friendly.
What To Do If Your Website Is Not Responsive
If your website is not responsive, you can fortunately fix this in order to boost your website’s ranking and the likelihood of gaining new customers. You can do this by hiring a professional web designer to fix your website for you.
Performance Driven Marketing offers professional web design services. We know how important responsive web design is, which is why we ensure that every site we create meets the current standards. Contact us today for your free consultation.
