As you may have already seen, since April 21, 2015, Google is penalizing websites that aren’t mobile-friendly.

Call it mo-pocalypse. Call it The End of the Old Web. Call it whatever you want – we’re not that worried.

Why not?

Here’s why not: we’ve been developing responsive websites since we started offering those web development services nearly three years ago. That’s right – before search engine giants started considering it in their site rankings.

Good Web Design Is Responsive Web Design

We’ve stopped emphasizing the word “responsive” so much. It’s a sign that the standards of modern web design have progressed to include the definition of “responsive web design.”

Web design is responsive web design. When we make a website now, we design it to work on all devices.

We’re living in an age where, if a new website doesn’t work well on all devices, it is considered broken.

When we’re starting to build features for a new website project, one of our first questions is, “How do we make this work on all devices?” It’s a good question to ask for multiple reasons.

First, it challenges us to find the very best solution to the problem. If a solution involves making an interface that performs great on a huge desktop screen but couldn’t possibly work on a small mobile phone, we’re forced to reevaluate and prioritize the importance of the product.

Second, it makes us hyper-aware of the end product for consumers. It forces our team to include user experience as a priority when developing the result. We want users to be able to do everything from any device.

Users Want to Do Everything

A link you’ll often see at the bottom of “mobile” websites is this: VIEW FULL SITE.

You’ll never see this on a website made by us. That’s because we believe that users want to do everything on mobile devices.

Let that sink in.

Ever consider avoiding a fully-responsive website because “the users will never want to make that transaction on a mobile device”?

Think again. There will always be a valued customer lying on their couch, hoping to make a reservation on your restaurant’s website. There will always be an important client wishing they could submit an important proposal on your website from their iPad because…well, just because.

Why do we treat people with mobile devices as second-class citizens? People walk around with these amazingly-fast, technologically-capable computers in their pockets – yet they sometimes still get served the watered-down “mobile website” experience.

Google’s not the only one who thinks you should have a responsive website. Everyone wants your website to be mobile-friendly – doing otherwise is a disservice to them.

So, to recap: What do mobile users want to do on your website?

It’s no secret that we think building good websites is important. We do it every day. So how do you take your valuable business and make it work for all consumers on the Web?

The first step is to find out what your customers want to do on your website. Basic user experience research will help with that.

The next step is to build a product that works on all devices. While that’s easier said than done, we are here to help you.

It would be beneficial for us to say, “if you want your website to work well and load quickly on all devices, you’ll have to pay extra.” We don’t do that, so don’t worry.

We never charge extra to make a new website design responsive, mobile-friendly or performance-minded.

What are your thoughts on making websites work on all devices? Let me know in the comments!

Until then, Happy Mo-pocalypse!