Since I re-branded my blog, me and my husband have done more research than humanly possible it seems like into what makes a successful blog tick.
From SEO to color palettes, there was one area that we felt like was lacking the most in the vast majority of lifestyle/mom blogs we ran into, and that was: Responsive Design.
Most themes that you buy when you first begin to set up your website come with this built in, however often times it doesn’t work.
Other times, the theme that you purchased does not come with a responsive design period. This is often the case with less expensive or free themes.
Either way, I can’t stress to you enough how important it is that you have a WORKING responsive design for your blog in order to get and keep users.
Why Do I Say You Need A “Working” Responsive Theme/Design?
What my husband and I have found over the years of building websites for people using themes is that, just because they advertise themselves as responsive, doesn’t mean they actually do it. Or well.
Often times we’ll find that when we go to look at the site on a mobile device, a menu will look wonky or spacing between lines gets inconsistent.
Sometimes the layout of your site will change around in a way that won’t make sense.
This is why, if at all possible, you should check your theme before buying it. Shrink it down to all possible screen sizes to make sure that it still makes sense for the user experience.
Why Is This Important?
Let me show you some numbers. According to Google Analytics,
48.6% of my users come from a DESKTOP computer
48.6% of my users come from MOBILE device (i.e. cellphone)
2.9% of my users come from TABLET (i.e iPad)
Now imagine my site only works on a desktop.
On a phone or tablet, the text is cramped, images don’t display correctly, my layout no longer makes sense.
I’ve basically just turned off over 50% of my users. No bueno.
Google Prefers Responsive Websites
Google has said very plainly that it prefers responsive websites.
When your site is responsive, Google is able to look at it as one entity. That makes it easier to pull up when it scrubs the internet for a result, as opposed to having to pull multiple versions of the same site, and then decide which one is the best result.
Also, responsive websites have faster load times, so that makes Google happy too!
The more happy Google is, the higher your ranking in their search results, which is great for you!
What To Look For
When my husband and I are looking for themes for a client, the first thing we do is live preview them. DO NOT buy any theme without doing this step first.
Then, once you open the preview for your theme, right click and choose “Inspect”.
From there, you should a little icon that shows a phone in front of a tablet. If you click that you should be able to choose which device you want to test the theme with.
From there, you should just scroll around, click around, be your themes toughest critic. There are too many themes out there who work well to be stuck on a dud. If everything looks perfect, then congratulations! You’ve found a responsive theme for your website!
This theme is The Voux by FuelThemes which you can buy HERE.
What Do You Do If This Went Completely Over Your Head?
Not everybody is a web developer, and I don’t expect you to be! Honestly, the only reason I know most of this stuff is because I basically have a senior web developer on call, but not everyone can say that! With that being said I have put together a FREE checklist of all of the things my husband and I check for when we build a website.
If you want to go even further, you can request a blog audit! With that, me and my husband will go through your website and send you a detailed report with screenshots of exactly the steps you need to take to fix errors that may be keeping you and your brand from your full potential!
This includes:
- The visuals of your website (images, color palette, layout of pages)
- Domain Authority
- Your Top Competitors
- Your SEO ranking
- Content Quality
- Usability
- UX (User Experience)
You will receive your audit in 3-5 business days, and also be able to schedule a one-on-one call to go over the results.
This package is on sale for $99.99 right now, and space is limited so please don’t wait to sign up! I truly want to help everyone be the best they can be!
I can’t wait to connect with you!
