In the last few months, you may have noticed that some of your favourite websites have changed their look and the more observant of you would have additionally noticed how these sites have been built with mobile consumption in mind.

You’ve probably seen many an article in the last year highlighting the rise of people using their mobile devices to browse the internet or use mobile apps which require an active connection.  The internet is now big business on mobile – some regard it as important as call time and this attitude is reflected in pricing strategies of the major mobile networks as well as the introduction of groundbreaking connectivity technologies such as the eagerly awaited 4G communication standard.

If you already regularly browse the net on your phone, you may have noticed how most websites are not really built for mobile.  You’ll find that you have to zoom in and scroll across the page on every line of text – it’s frustrating and puts you off visiting that website on your phone again.

Many companies responded to this by creating a mobile version of their website which would provide a separate site which would automatically be accessed on mobile devices – however this usually incurred an extra cost and would require a lot more additional work with regards to making sure that both versions of your site were communicating the same messages.

The solution? – Responsive Web Design – abbreviated as RWD.

RWD enables you to create a website that will automatically optimise your viewing experience depending on the type of device or more accurately, the size of screen that you are viewing it on.

With the recent surge in tablet devices, RWD is becoming more popular than ever for those companies that want to make sure that their online communications channels are effective no matter which device they are looking at.

We reckon this approach is very suited to the hospitality industry.  Think about it, you’re in an area that you’re not too familiar with and you want to find out which bars are nearby and whether you can can browse their website to find out more information – a mobile friendly website could ultimately instigate a sale in this situation.  With other online strategies intertwined, we’re sure that it will make a difference and now is the time for you to raise the bar!

Popular web communications website; Mashable also believe that this year will be the one in which responsive design becomes mainstream – check out this article: Why 2013 Is the Year of Responsive Web Design

Also, you’ll probably find that as RWD becomes more commonplace, search engines such as google and bing will also amend their algorithm to provide results which favour sites supporting this approach, meaning that SEO strategies will integrate RWD into its thinking.

Also, I enjoyed this post by the next web which showcases 29 popular examples of RWD in action on some of the biggest websites out there – 29 new inspiring responsive designs on the web