If you’re still using a desktop website and a mobile website, the time has come for upgrading to a responsive design. If you’re a Turbify Store (formerly Yahoo! Store) and haven’t updated your website to a responsive theme, the time has come – and it’s easier than you may think.
Users of Big Commerce and Shopify are most likely using responsive design as most of the core themes on these platforms are newer – but merchants that have been online and selling for many, many years are most likely still using desktop and mobile websites.
If you’re on Turbify, there’s never been a better time to go responsive and ditch the mobile website.
What is Responsive Design?
Let’s first learn a bit more about what responsive design is. A responsive design is an approach to web design that makes all web pages render to a proper size based on the device that is viewing the page. So for simplicity’s sake, this means that no matter what device a user is using to view your website, your website will conform to the device of the user.
This means you no longer have 2 sites operating with the purpose of this same goal. Google and the search engines like it because they are indexing only ONE website, versus TWO.
So let’s assume you are still operating a website that was redesigned around 2007 (pre responsive design). In order to meet the consumer’s mobile demands, you most likely opted for a mobile website. A mobile website helped bridge the gap between desktop and responsive design. It gave your mobile users the ability to browse your website on a mobile device, but it does only that. The same experience that your desktop users receive does not carry over to the mobile device. It’s kind of like just giving your customers a special “order form” to use if they wish to shop on a mobile device.
Mobile websites also frustrate Google, mostly because a mobile website in theory is a separate website. Now, this is not the end of the world, because Google is smart. Google knows that your mobile website and desktop website are two different websites – but why not operate only one website? It’s 2018. If you are using a service to provide you with a mobile website, this is also a good opportunity to just save that extra money. If you go responsive, you will not have additional costs to maintain a mobile website.
What Solutions Are Available to Me?
Earlier this year, Turbify released new responsive themes. These themes are well documented and well designed, allowing companies like Your Store Wizards to migrate your existing look and feel into one of the new responsive themes.
If you operate a simple, small store that has not had a lot of customization over the years, you can most likely migrate your own store to a responsive theme on your own. But, if your store is older, and has had a lot of customization – the customization won’t carry over to the new responsive theme.
This article on Turbify’s support community explains the process. Turbify has created three responsive themes (of which all three can be extremely modified). It is important to remember that a responsive theme is essentially “framework” and can be customized.
What Can I Do?
If you have a simple store with very little customization, it is possible to migrate to a responsive theme yourself, but if your store has been around a number of years, and has a lot of customization, you should have an expert do it for you.
These are the three themes you can choose from.
Fanal – A modern, responsive theme for a small to medium-sized business selling housewares, furniture or like items.
DiVitto – A modern responsive theme that is best suited for electronics or consumer items.
Sambee – A modern responsive theme that is a more general eCommerce layout.
If you decide that you don’t feel that going responsive on your own is something that is right for you, but like to update to a responsive theme and would like Your Store Wizards to provide you with pricing, please contact us using the form below!