This week we are going to cover 4 Reasons your site needs to be responsive.

What’s up Fish Fans! My name is Marcus. You’re watching Marketing Madness, the Blue Fish vlog!

To start, let’s define responsive websites. A responsive website is one in which the site morphs based on the size of the screen a person is using to visit the site. Navigation might change, layout of the content might change. The site makes itself easier to read and navigate based on a smaller screen size. This is not to be confused with the practice of having a desktop version and a mobile version of your website. That is no longer appropriate. If you are on a desktop watching this, go to your website, grab the right hand edge of the browser and resize it by dragging it to the left. By doing this, you should see changes in the website as the available space gets smaller.

Now it is no secret that more and more people are using their phones to research information and places to purchase from. Looking at our client base, we see an average of about 50 percent of website traffic now comes from mobile. When you look at the data, it's not hard to see why your site's mobile experience matters.

Most people have made the switch to sites that are responsive. But for you stragglers out there that don’t quite understand what the hub-bub is all about, this video is for you.

Reason #1 - Mobile-friendly sites increase sales.

Sites that are responsive see higher sales than those that don't. Imagine you're in line for lunch and you jump online to buy a product. If you navigate to the site on your mobile device, and it doesn't work very well, you'll probably lose interest and move on. You may try and revisit it later from your desktop. Or not.

Reason #2 - Mobile-friendly design makes a website more accessible

The last thing a business owners wants is to throw up walls in front of people that are interested in purchasing their goods or services. So if someone is searching, and manages to find your site, only to realize it's impossible to read, how do you think they are going to react? If they're like most users, they’ll navigate away and try another link, or give up on it altogether. Mobile-friendly websites, that are more accessible make sure that you miss fewer opportunities with people that are looking for a reason to buy from you.

Reason #3 - Mobile-friendly design improves your Google ranking

Google likes to keep their algorithm for ranking a big secret so that SEO providers like Blue Fish can’t game the system. But it is no secret that having a responsive website that is mobile-friendly is a big factor in your Google ranking. The mobile experience on your website is definitely a factor in how your site shows up in search results. And we all want to rank higher, right?

Reason #4 - Mobile-friendly design that are well thought out, builds credibility.

Users tend to make very quick decisions about an organization. If the website you are presenting to them makes them thing it was developed in the 90s then they are probably not going to get a good gut feel and are going to move on. If your site functions well and presents in a modern way, your potential customers are more likely to take you seriously.

So if you are still sitting on a website that is not responsive, look into getting an update. There are at least 4 very good reasons to do so.

Well, that’s a wrap for this week! I want to thank you for checking in. Make sure to hit that like button. And if you have any questions or comments leave them down below. If you want to talk about how Blue Fish can help you grow your business just send us a message and we’ll get the conversation started!