Responsive Website Design: Why is it worth your investment?

Responsive Web Design is an approach of programming and laying-out a website so that it provides an optimal viewing experience for a wide range of devices (pc monitors, smartphones, tablets etc.). This means that the site has the ability to adapt to whatever size screen it's being operated and displayed on. That way you don't need to manage separate mobile, tablet, and PC versions of your initial site. Regardless of what device a visitor is using to access your site, they'll be able to see all of the content you have to offer and read it at the same time.

With mobile sales already overtaking desktop sales, it is predicted that mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage by 2016. As smartphone and tablet usage and adoption increases, so does the importance of mobile-optimized websites that provide a smooth and high-quality user experience. Responsive Web Design is arguably one of the best ways to deal with the issues that arise when designing for multiple devices, thus, in the long term, investing in responsive website design can be a smart decision.

The argument between whether to choose a responsive website or a separate mobile website is a highly debated topic. There are plenty of reasons to choose responsive web design as it is has become one of the best options for mobile service optimization strategies and a good investment for all types of competitive websites.

What makes RWD a cost effective solution.

Even though the cost to make a responsive website is somewhat more than making a traditional website, you get completely rid of all the expenses to duplicate a website for mobile devices and as a result that can cut total development costs. And it is obvious that developing two sites means having to host two sites as well, which means more expenses that need to be taken care of. With a responsive website being operated under a single URL you only have to host one website. In addition, a responsive web design lessens the total ownership costs by means of taking away the headache of monitoring all the different versions of a website. In other words, using RWD techniques for your website can save you a lot of time and hassle and even though the development price for a responsive website might feel costly, in the long run you will save money on fewer hosting and administration costs.

Google approves of it.

There is no doubt about the fact that Google is the most effective and reputable search engine in terms of customer or user preference in the world. This particular search engine not only recommends RWD as the best way to target mobile users, but also favours responsive-optimized sites when presenting results for searches made on a mobile device. On the other side, pages designed for only large screens may realize a significant decrease in PageRank in search results. This is especially true when mobile users seek local information and services.  Eventually, sites that can work on both mobile and desktop devices will outrank other sites that don't have this characteristic when everything else content wise is equal.