Mobile Use Trends Shape New Web Development Demands
It is well-known that mobile device use has soared in the last few years. As we have discussed here before, this has led to numerous studies, discussions and predictions about what the future has in store for websites. Mobile users spend their time browsing websites, playing games, shopping, texting and more on a wide variety of mobile devices, making the demand on website development shift and rise as well. People not only use mobile devices to browse websites more often, but also expect accurate and immediate results on those mobile devices. According to a recent study by Google, “29% of smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs (e.g. they can’t find the information or it’s too slow)”.
As a result, websites now need to be significantly more ‘mobile friendly’ than they have in the past. In fact, Google even changed their search algorithm to take into account how ‘mobile friendly’ a website is when determining how to rank websites on results pages. This means that your website now needs to be considered ‘mobile friendly,’ or you could risk being placed lower and lower on Google’s results pages. To accommodate this demand for websites, a wide variety of mobile compatible or optimized website types have been created ranging from Responsive to Adaptive designs. Each different website type has its own pros and cons depending on a company’s industry, size, and needs.
For example, Adaptive website designs are essentially two websites in one. You create a website that will function on laptops and computers, then you build a second mobile compatible website based off of what you already have. This makes it so that users are guaranteed a website designed for most mobile devices. But it does not guarantee a good experience for all of the different kinds of devices out there, like tablets, that might have significantly different screen proportions.
On the other hand, Responsive design websites are well-liked because they adapt to the size and quality of a user’s screen. If a user is on a phone, the website will scale down to the phone screen’s specifications. If they are on a large laptop or tablet, the website will scale up to meet that screen. This type of design offers a seamless transition between devices and can provide an excellent user experience. But it can also be a large web development project because you are not just adding a mobile compatible template to your original site, you are designing one giant website.
In the end, it is clear that building a website can be a long, expensive, and stressful project to take on if you aren’t a website design expert, no matter which ‘mobile friendly’ design you choose. If your company is looking to keep up with the new mobile usage trends by building or redesigning your website, you might want to consider hiring a professional company to do it for you. Direct Placement, LLC is a digital marketing company dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes grow their online presence. We offer a variety of services ranging from Website Design to Search Engine Marketing, and have a knowledgeable and experienced staff ready and waiting to help you achieve your business’ goals. Our website design packages are affordable and customizable to your business needs. We even have low price turnkey website templates that can give your business website the professional look you need quickly. Contact Direct Placement today to learn more about how we can help you transform your business online. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger for more regular web design and digital marketing content.
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