15 Tips for Responsive Web Design – SEOcycle

Is your website delivering for your business?

Every modern business needs an up-to-****, highly-functional website to be competitive. Even if you are a sole trader with a small local business, the benefit of having a small website of just a page or two is imperative. Just as our parents and grandparents sought the services and products they needed via the Yellow Pages and similar, the internet is today’s go-to for consumers seeking solutions. Without a website, your business is essentially invisible.

But not all websites are equal. Several factors contribute to the success or failure of a website, and one of these is how well a website will function across an array of devices. This is referred to as its responsiveness.

What is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive web design refers to the ability of a website to respond to and function with the capabilities and needs of the devices on which it is viewed.

In the past, websites were developed to function on desktop devices alone.

The average person now spends several hours every day accessing and engaging with digital media via smartphones and other mobile devices.

Responsive website design automatically adjusts the appearance and functionality of the website to suit different screen sizes and viewpoints – the site responds differently for different devices. This enables the audience to browse the website from any device, whether Android or iOS, and the site will load and function perfectly.

For example, a website will usually have a horizontally aligned menu for navigation on a desktop computer, whereas for a smartphone, it will need a vertically aligned menu. It also needs to be easier to read, with larger text relative to the page for a smaller mobile screen.

Why is this so Important?

Modern online audiences access the internet across a wide array of devices – with different screen sizes, configurations, etc. Regardless of the device used, the audience justifiably expects the websites they visit to adjust accordingly and function perfectly.

Your business MUST have a responsive website to compete.

Marketing researchers have reported that:

• A majority of total online traffic comes from mobile devices.
• More than 60% of users will not recommend a business if its website functions poorly on mobile.
• More than 70% of B2B searches are conducted via smartphone.
• Today’s consumer interacts with brands via mobile more than twice as much as in-store, in print media, on TV, etc.

Furthermore, responsive web design is a strong SEO indicator – and this directly impacts your online visibility.

Tips for Responsive Website Design

1. Understand how your audience uses mobile devices
2. Plan your design from the outset
3. Consider your mobile design approach first
4. Make navigation a priority
5. Favour minimalist, clean designs
6. Add a responsive framework for simpler sites
7. Base your design on fluid grids rather than pixels
8. Introduce breakpoints
9. Use a viewport
10. Optimise fonts and responsive typography
11. Optimise images and other media for mobile
12. Optimise touch-responsive clickable buttons for small screens
13. Ensure buttons and popups don’t block page content
14. Use micro-interactions
15. Enlist the help of a professional web development and web design team with in-depth SEO expertise.

Choose SEO for Affordable Web Design

SEOcycle is a Sydney-based provider of affordable bespoke web design and web development. We have worked with many clients throughout Australia and internationally, creating responsive SEO-optimised websites that convey their brand, showcase their offerings, and drive traffic and conversions.

One of the things that set us apart from our competitors is that we are not just an ordinary web development company. We are also an expert SEO provider, and this positions us uniquely to deliver superior websites that are designed with SEO principles in mind from the outset. If you decide to embark on a targeted professional SEO campaign in the future, your website is already optimized for functionality, navigation, and more.

Furthermore, should you require writing or blogging services, we have in-house professional, experienced, tertiary-educated content writers for whom English is their first language.

See a few examples of our previous web design work here.

Contact us now to explore how we can help you with responsive web design and much more.