#kateswanberg

Here are some fast facts for you:

90% of people use multiple screens sequentially

66% of smartphone and tablet users are frustrated with page load times

3 out of 4 mobile searches trigger follow-up actions (i.e. continued research, making a purchase, visiting a store, visiting a retailer’s website, calling a business, sharing information)  

What does all of this mean? Product managers need to go responsive to be ready for their consumers in 2014. 

People use different devices for different goals, and to satisfy your users, your content should work well across various devices. Your content needs to adapt to different screen sizes across smartphones, tablets, laptops, and any other type of mobile device.

Responsive web design allows your website to adjust and perform optimally for whichever device accesses it. This new type of web design became a necessity as mobile usage increased—and it’s becoming more and more crucial every day.

Here are 10 ways responsive web design separates you from the competition:

1. Enhanced UX (User Experience)

With responsive, your content works with any screen size. When one user shares your content from their mobile phone, another user can seamlessly open it on a tablet, laptop, etc. Users can view the same content across all platforms. Compare this to a native mobile app, which displays different content and doesn’t provide the same user experience. It also forces users to access the website on a different platform or URL.

Responsive websites allow for easy reading and navigation, with the hassle of constantly resizing, panning, and scrolling. As a result, users are much more likely to share content with friends.

2. Mobile vs. Desktop

What percentage of your website traffic is from mobile devices? Forty percent? Fifty? Whatever the percentage, it’s likely a large chunk of your overall website traffic. And if you aren’t using responsive web design, that large chunk of users is getting a below-average experience from your website. With responsive, you can cater to these users and win them over from your competition. 

3. Quicker loading time

Even if your site takes only a few extra seconds to load, users will click away and go to your competition. But with responsive, your website will load fast and you’ll keep users engaged with your content. You’ll provide a great first impressions to users on every device and platform.

4. Boost your SEO

Google LOVES Responsive—in fact, Google itself actually recommends it! If visibility in the search engines is an important part of your business strategy (and it almost always is), then responsive design is essential for you. Because responsive sites use only one URL and one set of pages, it is simpler for Google to crawl and index your content—so you can maintain your backlinks and authority. Compare this to a mobile app, which exists in a closed environment and can’t be indexed by search engines.

5. Generate and Convert Leads

You can boost your SEO through responsive web design, and this helps you generate more traffic from potential users to your website. But how can you get those users to stick around and check out your products and services? When your site is responsive, users are less likely to leave. They get the content they’re looking for, and stay on the page (and this further increases your search rankings). Responsive helps you generate more qualified traffic, and increases your chances of converting them into users.

6. Simplified Analytics

With a single responsive site, you don’t waste time tracking user journeys, conversion paths, funnels, and redirections between your sites. Behold the beauty of analytics tools: tools like Google Analytics are optimized to handle responsive reporting. You’ll know what’s working, and what’s not, and you’ll be able to make the necessary changes without spending hours and hours tracking users through multiple sites. You’re more equipped to make fast adjustments than your competition.

7. Save time and money on mobile development

Generally, it takes less time to create a responsive design than to create an additional stand-alone mobile site or native app. You can deploy your responsive site faster than an app or mobile site, for a fraction of the cost. And when it comes to testing, you won’t have to spend loads of money testing across multiple websites and devices—which means lower support and maintenance overhead.

8. Keep your website relevant over the long-term

Do you want longevity for your website? Responsive design is the way to go. It’s the best way to make sure your websites looks great on all mediums—even those that don’t exist yet. While your competitors’ websites struggle to keep up with new mobile device trends and screen sizes, your website performance will be optimized for the long term. When you build responsive, you’re prepared for the future.

9. Easier to maintain

Need to make a change? With responsive, you can make changes from one centralized place. You don’t have to waste time contacting multiple vendors and developers—less ongoing maintenance is required. Imagine how easy it will be when you only have to update one platform through your content management system! This will save you tons of time in the long run and help you avoid the headaches of working on multiple versions of your site.

10. Users won’t miss out on content (they want the same website experience) 

Responsive design fluidly changes in relation to screen size. Across different devices, the same content is provided, just in a different size. This benefits you because you don’t have to duplicate content across different screen types, and your users don’t miss out on any of your great content. 

Conclusion

With responsive design, you’ll stay ahead of the trend and gain an edge over your competition. You’ll boost your search rankings, and convert more of those leads. You’ll also save costs on maintenance, and your website will be easier to maintain.

Mobile is taking over, and responsive design is the best way for you to cater to mobile users.

Do you have a responsive website? Are you thinking of creating one? Want to find out how we can help you build a great responsive website? Tweet us or shoot us an email at [email protected] and let us know!

Want more great tips on responsive web design? Check out our recent Slideshare on the topic here or subscribe below for bi-monthly updates!

The word “scalability” is often thrown around like a buzzword needed to explain growth.

However, “scaling” at a company versus being part of a “scaling process” can be two very different things. I work in a startup atmosphere. Even though the company I work for is six years old, it is very much still a startup while still being a large company and here’s why:

Like a startup, we are always growing customers and team members

There is plenty of room for professional growth

There is hope for something larger ahead

When I was looking at where to work after college (and after several amazing internships), I found myself inspired by Sheryl Sandberg and thinking about which “Rocketship” I could join.

As the Marketing Coordinator for Koombea, a web and mobile development agency, the term “job scalability” not only applies to our company but many of our clients who we build apps and software for. Our clients are often other startups you may know of as well as large companies like Aetna, Samsung and Motorola. All companies in business want to do what’s best in the most innovative way possible. So “scaling” is something I think about everyday.

So, what’s it like being in a rocketship fresh out of college? On the one hand it’s very exciting. On the other, it can be stressful as you try to learn on the job as fast as you can.

While Koombea is a large company, our marketing department operates very independently and agile to meet various product needs, both Koombea-originated or client-initiated. On a daily basis I coordinate events between San Francisco, New York and Barranquilla, Colombia which is (despite being from Chicago) where I am currently located, along with our VP of Product Marketing, Ellie Cachette, and VP of Business Development, Nicolas Costa.

When I was looking at the right “rocketship” to join, I never thought so early on in my career I would be given so many responsibilities so soon and get to experience every piece of action I was interested in. This is something that can be overlooked by recent graduates; not taking into account the value of the work experience you will get.

On any given day, I can be helping coordinate social marketing items, producing content, managing Webinar series, tracking analytics and A/B testing website changes. There is a constant optimization of workflows and visual content and our output has to play with the big guys, including some of our Fortune 500 clients. We’ve had to be “agile” and flexible so often in our department that we’ve referred to ourselves as using “Agile Marketing”. Otherwise, all our changes just wouldn’t make sense to anyone other than a development team. We are agile in the same way when we advocate for MVPs and development. I guess you could say we walk the walk when it comes to what we preach.

WHEN DOES YOURS STOP?

One of the greatest things yet challenging things about being on a “rocketship” is that your job never stays the same. Which means it’s very rare that the line can be drawn between what you should and should not do if asked. Everyone in a scaling company plays a part in getting things done, as a team. Even job titles become blurry and you have to be okay with that. My official title is “Marketing Coordinator”. However, at any given day I can be the Executive Administrator or Sales Coordinator or Marketing Manager, depending on the situation. I’ve helped create one-pagers for sales, product backgrounders, assisted with prospects and leads, reviewed sales analytics, global sales meetings and monthly reports. See what I mean about job scalability? At a growing company, you dip your toe into a little bit of everything.

WANT A SEAT?

For anyone daring to enter the startup force after college, they should be prepared for any other kind of work at a startup or small business. You won’t be doing work for only that one department. Teamwork is the biggest quality needed in a work environment – it’s a give and take relationship and that’s exactly what you’re signing up for.

WHY SCALABILITY IS GOOD

Scalability is one of the ways that companies can ensure and protect themselves for success. For people who like to spend time in many roles or departments, this can also be an added benefit to joining a startup, whereas some structured companies may not like the idea of you spending your time in other departments. Getting this type of experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity. There’s always something new and exciting to look forward to each day, and the work isn’t tedious. A scalable profession is a good one.

I’m finding that the daily inspiration that comes from working around founders and that being in a “rocketship” environment isn’t only about the direct skills you learn, but also being constantly around dreamers. Sometimes scaling, I am learning, has more to do with expanding a dream than building one.