Service Providers

Responsive website design: Are you ready to respond?

Amanda White BlogThe mantra that mobile is the future has been around for a few years and your dealership should embrace it sooner rather than later. Search engines and consumers are gravitating toward the responsive design because it functions efficiently across all platforms — desktop, mobile and tablet.

THE NUMBERS GAME:

The U.S. has 200 million smartphone users and 80 percent of them are using the Internet. There is evidence that 90 percent of smart-phone users use their phone to research long term and higher priced purchases during their leisure. Via this statistic, a good majority of your target demographic is already researching why they should invest in the newest motorcycle from your dealership.

THE TWO BIG ISSUES:

  • Almost half of consumers using mobile devices have trouble viewing and navigating static, non-responsive websites.
  • The growing majority’s opinion is a company’s mobile presentation should be as good or even better than the desktop version.

THE SOLUTION:

Responsive design is the resolution to these two issues. A responsive design transforms, resizes and responds to the space it is called to appear on via a PC, phone or tablet. Not only does this create a positive user experience, but search engines, specifically Google, are privy to responsive design. Google has made it very clear since their April 21, 2015 announcement that they will favor mobile friendly sites in rankings. Additionally, they recommend using a responsive web design rather than a mobile-only site. They prefer a responsive website because…

  • Sites with higher traffic are regarded with greater credibility by Google and therefore, rank higher. When split between a desktop and mobile-only site, traffic is divided between the two options, lowering credibility, thus negatively impacting ranking.
  • Having all pages and files hosted under one domain makes it much easier for Google to crawl and capture content.

This is a new technology and there is still time to make the jump before your competitors do it first. Responsive websites are the future because mobile technology will only increase in reach and access. Globally, this year consumers using desktops to search online will increase from 1.4 billion to 1.6 billion, while consumers searching online using their smartphones will increase from 800 million to 1.9 billion. Along with the increasing access to cheaper and faster Wi-Fi, consumers will continue to depend on their devices for their buying decisions. Will your responsive website be there to influence their decision?

Amanda White is an account manager for PowerSports Network.

Website: psnsales.com

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