Responsive Design Or Mobile Website Which Is Best For Your Business

There is no denying the fact that mobile traffic has surpassed the internet traffic over the past couple of years. People are doing everything using their mobiles and if you have a dedicated site that is solely designed for the mobile use, you are surely going to have an upper hand over the competition. Google has also now rolled out its Mobilegeddon algorithm, making it all so easier for the mobile platform. So, is it the end for the desktop websites? Do you have to rely completely on mobile platform, ignoring the desktop sites completely? Not exactly.

We, mobile sites might be the latest trend and craze, but there is still a huge chunk of population out there who likes to do everything from their laptop or desktop. Responsive design might not be one-size-fits-all solution and it depends a lot on the nature and state of the business you are running and the audience you plan to target. In this article, we are going to show you the pros and cons of both and which one you should opt for.

Responsive Design

For those of you who are not familiar with this term, it is an abbreviation that is used to denote a web design that runs smoothly on both, desktop and mobile using single website (single URL & single HTML). This includes adjusting the components of the website as per the platforms and thus it offers its users a connecting experience. Here are some of the advantages responsive design has on offer.

1. As one layout is used for both desktop and mobile platform, it is cheaper to develop and maintain, thus making it the first choice for anyone who is looking for a cost effective option.
2. If you are looking forward to have a brilliant SEO objective, then you will also save a lot in this as same content can be used on both the platform, eliminating the need to develop and maintain different set of analytics.
3. The link quality of the page, as the code can be simply embedded with the legacy code at the backend, will remain intact throughout.
4. You just have to test the website once and if it runs fluid, you can be sure that it will run the same on the other layout as well.

Well, the responsive design also has its own sets of cons as well.

1. When you use the same website for both the platforms, it results in low bandwidth website loading time.
2. Many components have to adjust as per the mobile device making the alignment of the layout look a bit untidy at times.

Mobile Website

As the name suggests, this website is solely dedicated to the mobile platform and is a trimmed down version of the regular website that is used for the desktop layout. As the layout is designed after taking several limitations and opportunities of the mobile platform into consideration like screen size, bandwidth, and interaction, it gives the users a very fluidic and responsive experience on any mobile device. Here are some of the advantages of mobile website.

1. As the layout is specifically designed as per the mobile, the loading time is very fast.
2. It offers a far better UX experience as compared to a responsive design.

As the other platform, the mobile website also comes with some of the cons.

1. As you need to design a dedicated platform for the use on mobile, it results in higher maintenance costs as you have to use separate HTML codes and not to mention the extra server space requirement.
2. Unlike the responsive design where you could use the same SEO for both the platforms, here you have to run a separate SEO campaign for the mobile website. Things, at time, get a little complicated and prone to errors for which you may require experts’ assistance.

So, after looking at both the options in detail and studying the advantages and disadvantages, it may be safely concluded in the end that you need to have a separate platforms for both, if your business requires you to reach people using both the platforms. As none of them offers ‘one fits all’ solution, it is always better to go for the platform that is best suited for your goals and budget. If you have a website already made, then integrating a mobile website in the same might be a bad idea. If you are making the website from scratch, then going for a mobile App might be a very bright idea, considering the demand of users and market. Many brands and Ecommerce platforms are shifting to mobile Applications for their business that gives them a lot of flexibility to connect with wide spectrum of audience around the globe.