Persuasive Website Design: Part 8 of 8
Principle #8 – Responsive Design
Are you reading this blog on your laptop, desktop, iPad, smartphone, Kindle or other devices? What browser did you use—Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or other? In our era of multiple devices, incorporating RESPONSIVE DESIGN is an important aspect of your overall website design to ensure the best visibility regardless of what device your audience views. Is your site ready?
Responsive design means that your website “responds” to the device that it is being viewed on and adjusts accordingly to make it easy to see and navigate your site. Nonresponsive websites don’t adapt; they simply look smaller and have less reader visibility on the device it’s being viewed on. And, as of April 2015, nonresponsive sites could actually reduce your visibility in other ways, too—on major search engines.
Google, one of the largest search engines in the world, released its preference for mobile-friendly websites, stating that it now boosts the rankings for responsive web pages. While Google offers some helpful suggestions to optimize your site, some other considerations to keep in mind include:
- Remove Home Page Sliders. The ever-popular slider on the homepage is old news. Studies have shown that viewers only look at the first slide, so the rest of the slides are often missed. Instead, you should replace sliders with one strong image (example).
- Minimize Pull-down Menus. How easy is it to put your finger just perfectly on those little pull-down options when looking at your smartphone? Not very, so pull-down menus should be used sparingly (if at all) on your website. Instead, use links within the text or just at the top navigation bar to keep things simple, effective, and easy.
- Optimize Images. Visitors don’t want to wait a long time for your site to load on their devices. In fact, according to Kissmetrics, 47% of visitors expect a website to load in less than two seconds, and 40% of visitors will leave a website if the site isn’t fully loaded in three seconds. Proper use of images will ensure your site’s fast loading time, which is where professional help can come in handy. Designers can size your images so that no extra loading time is needed.
The bottom line is that your customers want things to be easy—very easy. Ensuring that your website is easily viewed on multiple devices, has logical and user-friendly navigation, and loads fast is an extremely important strategy. It will keep your customers and potential customers happy and coming back. In the next few days, take a look at your website on different devices and see how yours measures up in the responsive design category. You can even test your website. I’m interested in your findings, so please share your results below.
There’s a ton of ever-improving information about responsive design, but if you’re confused or simply don’t have the time to sort through all the best practices, contact me and I’d be happy to help get your site ready for optimal viewing on any device.
WOW! We made it! I hope that you have enjoyed the eight segments that highlighted the overall design and content principles that can work together to create a powerful website that attracts visitors and encourages desired action. By strategically implementing these suggestions, you can improve your website, taking it from good to great!
If you’d like to know more or discuss your specific situation, I’m happy to offer a FREE 30-minute consultation. Simply email me at alizah@epsteincreative.com and reference PROMO CODE: PWDB2015.
If you missed any of the segments or would like a refresher, you can find them here.