If your website isn’t responsive, you’re definitely in the minority, especially in a market like Los Angeles, where businesses are flooding the landscape. As of 2024, 90% of all websites – around 1.71 billion – have already embraced responsive design. And if that wasn’t enough, web design influences 94% of first impressions, and visitors take just 50 milliseconds to form an opinion about your site. (BusinessDasher) (acmDL)
But, what do we mean when we say responsive design? In short, making sure your website looks and works great on any device. Let’s dive into this a little bit further and see how it can improve your website’s overall performance.
1. Mobile Traffic Is Taking Over
More than 50% of all website traffic now comes from mobile devices, so if your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you could be missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers. (Google) Think about it from the user’s point of view: would you rather visit a website on your cell phone that’s not only aesthetically pleasing but actually works, or one that is literally just a miniature, hard-to-navigate version of the desktop site? If the answer is the first one then, why not give it to them?
Plus, in a city like Los Angeles where everyone’s always on the go, mobile usage is even higher, so making sure your site is at the top of its game is a great opportunity to drive traffic and leads.
2. Responsive Design Boosts SEO
This isn’t just about the user’s perspective – although it’s extremely important – it’s also about how you rank in search engines. Taking into account the amount of people who search things with their mobile devices, Google now uses mobile-first indexing. This literally means that it looks at your site’s mobile version first when deciding how to rank it in search results.
So, if you want to hold that #1 spot, having a responsive site is a crucial part of your SEO strategy. That’s why mobile-friendly sites tend to rank higher on Google, because it makes it easier for potential customers to find you! And the benefits don’t stop there: responsive sites also see 11% higher conversion rates compared to websites that aren’t optimized for mobile. (Hostinger)
3. Better Experience for Users
Now let’s talk about user experience, one of the most important things to look out for. Even if you have a top-notch marketing strategy and spent ages making your website look great, if your users don’t use it, you may as well have done nothing.
Like we saw before, a responsive website adapts to fit any screen size, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or desktop, and this is crucial for users. This is because it makes sure your visitors have a smooth and enjoyable experience, no matter where they’re looking at your website. Plus, people are far more likely to stay on your site if it’s easy to navigate, read, and interact with, and it’s not hard to think about why this is! No one likes a slow, clunky website, so visitors are more inclined to go through your site, interact with your content, and maybe even make a purchase if it’s an easy to use and responsive one.
In short, a seamless user experience is the key to keeping people on your site and turning visitors into customers.
In fact, 79% of users will leave a site if it’s not mobile-friendly or takes too long to load, so making sure your WordPress site is optimized for mobile not only improves user experience but also keeps your visitors engaged and reduces bounce rates. (Google)
4. WordPress Makes Mobile Optimization Easy
The great thing about WordPress is that it makes it super simple to create a responsive website. There are tons of responsive themes and plugins that help make sure your site looks and works great on any device, even if you’re not tech-savvy.
Plugins like Jetpack and WPTouch, for example, automatically adjust your site for mobile devices, which helps you make sure you deliver a seamless experience without much hassle. If you do have technical knowledge, however, you can also use CSS media queries to fine-tune the look of your site across different screen sizes.
Final Thoughts
For businesses in Los Angeles, where everybody is trying to stand out from the crowd, having a responsive WordPress website is crucial to staying competitive. And, with more and more people using their mobile devices to browse the web, it’s essential to not only make sure your site delivers a flawless experience on every screen, but also for setting up your business for long-term success.
If you’re ready to make your WordPress site fully responsive and mobile-optimized, we at EpicDevs can help. Contact us today to get started!