"End of the World" for Desktop'ers?

Well, today was the day! 21st of April... Google's "DEADLINE TO GET YOUR SITE RESPONSIVE..." (insert screams of terrified panic).

At least, that's been the buzz around the internet for the past 2 months or so (mostly sprouted by people who, like me, build websites for a living).

What are they even talking about?

With so much internet access by small-screen devices now, as well as widescreen desktop monitors, it has become quite important to provide viewers with a website that they can read and use easily regardless of their screen size. Mobile-Friendly is what we're on about here.

Google's latest changes simply mean that search results will now be optimised for the device being used to submit the search. So a search sent from a smart-phone will return relevant results that feature websites that are optimised for smart-phone viewing.

So is it fair-dinkum or what? 

Well,  yes. But it's by no means the "End of the World" if you're yet to update your site. Different businesses will be affected in different ways.  For example; hotels and restaurants that rely on mobile enquiries will need to comply as soon as possible in order to avoid a drop in traffic.  It should be noted though, that such businesses without a mobile-friendly website would have already been disadvantaged before the changes, because mobile users would have moved on anyway (because your website display was too small and hard to read).

Other industries that tend to receive enquires via desktop workstations will be affected to a much lesser degree.

How can I tell if my site is Device-Responsive?

Responsive Website Design (RWD) helps keep your viewer
engaged, and your ranking in Google for mobile searches.

Looking it up on your phone or tablet is really the only sure-fire way to tell (remember to turn around to check both orientations). There are various online 'test' services available, but they don't all work for every type of responsive site setup.

If your website is built after 2012, it's very likely to feature responsive template design anyway. Not all templates are created equal though. Some of the earlier versions were a little clunky and may not manage image resizing very well (or at all).

What's it going to cost you?

If your site is one that needs updating to comply and get device-responsive, there are a several ways to go about it. A relatively simple software-generated 'copy & conversion' for a few hundred dollars will work for many "old" html sites without changing anything.

If your website is a CMS like Wordpress or Joomla!, then a version upgrade of your website-platform with a new template will not only solve the responsive requirement, but your site will get great new modern look and feel too. And it might only cost a few hundred dollars as well.

To find out exactly what options there are for your website, shoot me an email or call me on 0415947832.

back to www.limedezign.com.au