Ask anyone how they connect to the Internet today and you will receive one of two answers: smartphone or tablet. Even laptops are lagging behind sales of mobile devices as the #1 method to access websites, which brings us to the relevant subject of responsive web design. According to Forbes, “Responsive websites simplify internet marketing and SEO...by developing and managing content for multiple websites, businesses with responsive sites can take a unified approach to content management because they have only the one responsive site to manage"

Since nearly 70 percent of people surveyed say they are much more likely to make a purchase from mobile-friendly responsive websites, savvy businesses should realize that the time to transition from a traditionally developed website to RWDs is now. Neglecting to take the initiative before the competition does will not only take a big bite out a company's conversion rates but will also reduce digital marketing ROIs for businesses relying on one non-RWD website.

Briefly, the term responsive website design refers to a site incorporating the ability to adapt to specific screen resolutions. More precisely, RWD allows for a 1291 pixels wide, four-column layout on a screen capable of projecting a 1025 pixel width into two columns. Essential to the success of RWD is something called CSS3 media queries, which allows the site owner to gather information about visitors and utilize this data to apply appropriate CSS styles.

Statista estimates that five billion people will mostly rely on their smartphones to access the Web. That is a lot of potential customers surfing the Internet for websites they can view and interact with fully on a smaller screen.

5 Great Benefits of Responsive Website Design

1. RWD is much easier to manage because it's just one website that adapts to all web devices. In addition, websites featuring RWD components greatly increase your digital marketing ROI simply because you don't have to spend funds on maintaining several websites. Moreover, switching from one website to another while adding or removing content raises the risk of human error when placing data multiple websites. With a single Content Management System (CMS), you can update and edit from one entry point and streamline the process of managing a website optimized for high conversion rates and SEO.
2. Google easily claims nearly 70 percent of search market share. They have also stated that RWD is an "industry best practice" because all sites have the same URL and HTML, which facilitates Google's search algorithm as it crawls websites, indexes and organizes them into "good, better and best".
3. RWD eliminates the need for separate SEO and email marketing campaigns by making it acceptable to include mobile-specific keywords ("nearby" or "pizza in South Bend") in content viewed by desktop and mobile computer users.
4. Google's search algorithm takes user experience into consideration when ranking sites on queries. Factors such as time spent on a site, bounce rates, number of returning visits and percentage rates of exits are weighed when judging the worthiness of a website.
5. Google recommends it, and if Google likes something, you can be sure they'll incorporate the same "thumbs up" attitude towards that certain something in their search algorithms.

As budgets continue rising due to the breakneck advances in digital technology and your digital marketing ROI becomes an even bigger priority, upgrading your company's website to a responsive website is a must-do task for 2014. RWD will not only ensure your business experiences the full benefits offered by a responsive website but will also guarantee that new and existing customers experience the satisfaction of interacting with a site that readily accommodates their mobile device.