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Why go mobile
1. Why Go Mobile?
Tips & Techniques to Mobilize Your Site For Greater Reach
Terrance Gaines
Show Me the Blog, October 2012
2. • Why you’re site should be mobile-friendly
• Different methods to mobilize your site
• How to decide which method is best for you
What You’ll Learn
3. Terrance (BrothaTech) Gaines
•Tech Blogger
•Freelance Tech Contributor
•Technology Concierge
•…and I fix cracked smartphones!
About BrothaTech
4. Percentage of People who ONLY browse the web
via a mobile device worldwide
• UK 22%
• US 25%
• China 30%
• South Africa 57%
• India 59%
• Egypt 70%
Source: http://ondeviceresearch.com/blog
Image via: sarah2066 on flickr
Mobile Is Huge!
5. In the US/UK, over 90% of phones are
internet-ready
Mobile is fast becoming the primary
way people browse the web!
Have Access, Will Travel
6. • Take advantage of increasing numbers of people
browsing the web on mobile devices
Why Go Mobile #1
7. Why share your site’s content?
Promote & expand your brand
Engage & interact with readers
•Convert to followers/customers
Sharing is Caring
9. People are Lazy
•Don’t want to pinch and zoom
•Want to read and keep it movin’
Make your content the star of the
show
Content Is King In Mobile
10. • Take advantage of increasing numbers of people
browsing the web on mobile devices
• Make it easy for visitors to access/interact with
your content
Why Go Mobile #2
11. Get the most out of your mobile device
•Respond to/moderate comments
•Make quick site changes
Mobile Productivity
12. • Take advantage of increasing numbers of people
browsing the web on mobile devices
• Make it easy for visitors to access/interact with
your content
• Make it easy to manage your content
Why Go Mobile #3
14. Native App
Drawbacks:
•Expensive
• Hire designer/developer
• Multiple versions for
multiple platforms
•Another “thing” to manage
How Do You Mobilize? – Native App
15. Mobile-Friendly Site
Features:
•Easy to Setup
•Less expensive
•“Plug and Play” Can use in
conjunction with current site
setup/design
•Compatible with multiple platforms
•Can include ads
How Do You Mobilize? – Mobile Friendly
16. Mobile-Friendly Site Option #1: Plugins
Manage Mobile version right from blog dashboard
Get right to the content (no pinch & zoom)
WPTouch Plugin http://techb.ro/WPTouchPlugin
Homepage Content Comments
21. 3rd Party Template Drawbacks
Lives outside of your site
•Another site/service to manage
Freemium model
•Pay/Subscribe to get full feature compatibility
22. Responsive Web Design
• Mobile compatibility is built right into the site
• No separate plugins, templates or apps to manage
• Site naturally adapts to multiple
screen sizes
• Consistent branding & user
experience across devices
• Visitors have access to a
larger range of site content
How Do You Mobilize? - Responsive Web
23. Good Responsive web design: http://hanselman.com/blog
Consistent branding and best user experience across all
devices and screen sizes
24. Responsive Web Design Options:
• Option 1: Pay a web designer to implement responsive
web design when building your site
• Drawback: May cost extra
• Option 2: Use themes that include responsive web
design
• Drawback: Do It Yourself?
• Drawback to Responsive Web Design?
Will have to start from scratch!
How Do You Mobilize? - Responsive Web
25. Native App
Pros:
•Fully Customizable & Interactive
Cons:
•Expensive & a lot of management
Mobile-Friendly Plugins and 3rd Party Templates
Pros:
•Free or Cheap & Easy to Implement
Cons:
•Limited personality & Have to pay for extra features
Responsive Web Design
Pros:
•Brand consistency & No extra mobile management
Cons:
•Will have to redesign your current site to implement
Mobile Options Recap
26. How to choose which option is best for you?
Do you have a bottomless budget and mobile developers in
your rolodex?
• Native App
Are you in the process of redesigning your blog?
• Responsive web design
Are you in love with your current blog design?
• Mobile-Friendly Plugin or 3Rd Party Template
So many Options!
27. No matter which option you choose…
Make sure your site’s content is the star of
the show…even on mobile devices
Content is King…On Mobile Too!
Speaking of smartphone, Show of hands Who has a smartphone? Who can’t leave the house without a smartphone That’s just in this room
Constantly consuming content on a mobile device Check your stats on where your visitors are coming from Wonder why BlackBerry is still hanging around? BB is huge in other parts of the world.
Everybody can view your site on a mobile device as long as it’s connected to the web Flip phones Feature “dumb” phones All phones are internet-ready
In other words, more traffic. More people are going to visit your site if they can quickly access it via mobile device
You have a message that you want to get out to the world That’s what we use social networks for: Get your content where people are Messing with their phones…which is what a good portion of you are doing now - Get people talking about your content
Everybody is sharing something on Social networks - Every tweet, status update, has a link - Urging traffic back to a website
When people “take the link bait” they expect to quickly read/scan read your content Don’ t want to keep moving around your site to read the content and hopefully comment and share I will forget to remember to read your link later
The easier it is for people to browse your content on their mobile device, the more likely they will read more, comment & share
Why not make it more easy for you to tackle certain functions on your smartphone? Respond to/moderate comments Make quick changes You spent all that money on a smartphone and data plan, why not use it to be more productive?
Quick exercise How many of you have actually looked at your site via mobile device? Read posts Responded to a comment How mobile-friendly is your site
Native App: developed in native code, and submitted to Appstore marketplace to add to their catalog of apps. Native App Pros: Pretty: Sky’s the limit on the amount of personalization you can achieve Interactive: Can build in many features to keep users engaged Bragging Rights: How many people do you know who can say “I have an app”
Native App Cons: Can be expensive - Have to hire designers & developers. Have to create multiple apps for multiple platforms You have to dedicated time and resources to a native app, long after the app is created How many people contracted an outside designer for your own site? Same obstacles (pro or con) are inherent when creating a mobile app
Mobile-Friendly (uses the web to access mobile site content) Easy to setup Less expensive Add to current site design (Plug and Play) Compatible with mobile sizes Can include ads (mobile advertising) Google Adsense & Admob Since most people have access to your website on their smartphone, why not give them a mobile version of your website?
WP Touch plugin for WordPress Manage mobile version right from blog dashboard Puts your content front and center Easy commenting (depending on commenting option) Most mobile-friendly plugins also let you copy/paste ad code from services like Google AdSense and Admob
Blogger includes mobile templates - No installing plugins: active in settings and personalize
Drawbacks (WordPress) Limited personalization (Lack of Style) Will look similar to other sites with the same plugin “ BGR” site has ads that are clickable
Mobile-Friendly Site Option #2: Third-Party Templates More customization features than plugins. Templates work for multiple blogging platforms More compatible for different kinds of websites Blogs Ecommerce Portfolio
More customization options See changes as you go NO CODING
Lives outside of your site Another thing to manage – When you make changes to your site’s info (about, contact, etc) you have to also emulate those changes on mobile template Versus mobile plugins automatically reflect most changes Freemium model Pay to get all the cool features
Responsive Web Design (Wikipedia) an approach to web design in which a site is crafted to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices
You’ve worked so hard on the design/branding on your site, why not make that branding visible no matter what device you use. Still have access to mobile features Sidebar content (ads, social widgets, affiliations, etc.) Best user experience on any platform
How many of you have bought, installed, and personalized your you blog theme? Purchase theme Install and activate on your Blog Personalize with theme options Process is the same with themes that include responsive web design Check your current parent theme framework for responsive template (Thesis, Genesis, Themeforest) Google search The only problem with implementing Responsive Web Design is you will have to redesign your current blog/website to implement May be a challenge if you’ve already spent a lot of time to develop your current site
Native App Pros: Fully Customizable & Interactive – No limit to the amount of functionality you can build into a native app Cons: Expensive & a lot of management – You have to manage updates, upgrades, and multiple platforms separate from your site Mobile-Friendly Plugins and 3 rd Party Templates Pros: Free or Cheap & Easy to Implement – Doesn’t cost much or take a long time to implement. Have your mobile-friendly site up in minutes Cons: Limited personality & Have to pay for extra features – Your site is more likely to look like other users with similar options Responsive Web Design Pros: Brand consistency & No extra mobile management – Control the look and feel of your site across all devices Cons: Will have to redesign your current site to implement
Features, widgets, and ads are nice, but the content should be what attracts visitors to your site. The easier it is for visitors to digest your site’s content no matter what device they are using, the more likely they are to return
