What Are The Hazards to Changing Over to Responsive Web Design?

[gfiedel]

We have recently re-programmed our website to Responsive Web Design. All the URLs have remained the same, all the content is unchanged. We have this new version sitting on a development server and are finding ourselves hesitant to make the changeover. Our rankings are great currently, and our question is whether or not there are any risks that we will incur by making this change. We would appreciate any advice on how to implement this change safely. Or if that's it's even possible to insure that there won't be ranking losses.

[gfiedel]

Wow! Thanks, Jeff. Can't tell you how much we appreciate your efforts here. It's great to have the wider based testing in addition to our own. Thanks also for your footer suggestion. We always used to have footer links and when we changed over to WordPress, because our menus are html now, we dropped them. But you offer a great reason to put them back in. We need to make a widget spot for that and I am considering some text changes for the Home page, so we won't be launching the Responsive site until those are completed. Thanks again!!!

[customerparadigm.com]

Gina -

I've attached a few screenshots showing how the site displays in different widths.  The site performs pretty well in the different widths, as you can see.  The portfolio page works well, as does the contact information page.

I'd recommend putting in a footer navigation, as a mobile user who is on the bottom of the page might want to navigate that way instead of trying to scroll back up the top of the page.

The menu seems to work well at the tablet size and the smart phone size as well.

Personally, I think that the new responsive site layout is much better than the existing site.  The live site has huge, dense blocks of text that make my eyes gloss over, overwhelmed by the volume of content.

Hope this helps!

-- Jeff

fat-eyes-desktop-version.jpg fat-eyes-tablet-version.jpg fat-eyes-iPhone-Version.jpg fat-eyes-phone-layout-menu.jpg

[gfiedel]

Thanks so much, Peter. We actually do have a redesign percolating but that's for later and not to be mixed up with this switch to Responsive. ;o)

[gfiedel]

Hi Jeff,

Here is the link to the dev site: websitetestingserver.com/fateImportant to note is that I just learned that the dev site isn't fully up to date with our current, live site: http://www.fateyes.com.

For instance, the blog directory is several months behind and some of the thumbnail images are missing. This has to be corrected. Not sure why they didn't bring it all over. So before we replace it, it will be fully updated and reviewed. Also, the social counts are missing and/or off but I imagine those will correct to the live site once the transfer is made.

Not sure if this renders your taking a look ill-timed and if it would be better to wait until I can have the guys get it tip top. Please let me know what you think. Thanks again!!! Your help is much appreciated.

[crackingmedia]

Hi Gina

I agree with Jeff's comments. If it's a good design and works well then both your current and future customers will all benefit.

Peter

[gfiedel]

Thanks so much, Jeff. I would love to post the link and have you take a look. That would be a terrific help. I don't have the address but as soon as my partner gets back in, I'll ask him for it and post it here.

[customerparadigm.com]

We've recently launched a number of responsive designs for eCommerce companies.

I'd love to tell you that there is zero risk in launching with the new site from a rankings perspective, but because you kept all of the content and the URL structure the same, you've mitigated a lot of the risk.

Google has come out in the past and said that it prefers a responsive design framework, as opposed to an m-dot mobile site + a desktop site, as it doesn't have to worry about duplicate content.

That said, most of the risk is going to be based on how well the responsive site actually performs when a user is on a desktop, tablet and phone.

If the design works well, and isn't confusing to the end user, then go for it.

But if the design is buggy or looks a lot worse (due to the limitations of responsive design), maybe do a bit more testing.

If you'd like, post a link to the site and I'm happy to take a look at how it looks on different devices...