Going mobile? Here’s what you need to know.

Your insurance agency website is an important part of your image. It’s often the first opportunity to convey your professionalism and present your value proposition. Your insurance agency website should reflect the quality of your organization. Proper website design is part of the foundation of your marketing efforts.

There are many types of websites and website platforms available to agents and brokers. These range from simplistic build-your-own template sites, to HTML/PHP sites, to platforms and open-source websites. With portable devices rapidly becoming a pervasive tool for Internet searches, agencies must ensure their websites properly format for all mobile devices, including smart phones, tablets and laptops.

Two of the key approaches to this issue include responsive web design and adaptive web design. Responsive web design (RWD) allows a website to fluidly change to fit any screen or device size, while adaptive web design (AWD) is able to focus on the user instead of the browser. Leveraging a predefined set of layout sizes, AWD adapts to the detected device. Both methodologies allow websites to be properly viewed on mobile devices. The approaches differ in that RWD relies on flexible and fluid grids, whereas AWD relies on predefined screen sizes.