What’s Better for Your Business: A Mobile Site or an App?
It seems like every day I encounter small business owners and developers who are having trouble deciding which would be better, a mobile site or an app.
Earlier this year, the general consensus was that apps were the way to go, with very few people recommending mobile sites instead. Apps were still shiny and new, and iPhone commercials led the way. Most people reasoned that since you could see a website on an iPhone, there was no need to do anything differently. Read more »
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My friends and mentors Jason Fladlien and Wilson Mattos make a lot of software for WordPress, and I’ve bought most of it. Not only that, they are world class sales pros, and really know how to put on a webinar.
Now they’ve created a product that uses WordPress to make simple mobile sites, and that could be just what you’re looking for as a mobile marketer, mobile developer, digital media agency or web developer.
Please join me for the mobile webinar and see for yourself if this would be a good way for you to add mobile marketing and mobile sites to your repertoire.
Bonus: mobile sites made with WordPress are a great small business alternative to pricey apps.
Do you have a mobile site? Does it appeal to others? If so, you could find it as a Mobile Site of the Day at our sister site, MobileSiteoftheDay.com.
This will eventually be a paid service, but during the beta period submissions are free. Here’s the criteria:
- Sites must be family-friendly and safe for work
- No weapons, hate speech, violence, etc.
- Mobile sites will appear at the sole discretion of the editors. No guarantees are made as to publication
- No press releases please, just a URL and description of the site
Submit your mobile site to MobileSiteOfTheDay.com/contact.
Good luck and let’s see some great mobile sites!
Attention Mobile Developers, Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
As the mobiEnthusiast, I purchased my first mobile (.mobi) domain name in 2007. It was an exciting day, and I had a vision for how the world would be able to access the internet from their phone and not be tied to a computer. I thought hard about the kinds of sites that would be worthwhile for people, and what kind of information they would need. Then I stopped in my tracks. I didn’t have the technical skills to pursue my passion for the mobile web.
Flash forward to 2010. I have more development skills, but my design skills are still lacking. My favorite development platform is WordPress, and yet, the options for mobile web have still been limited for most people by a brick wall of a learning curve for xhtml, php and css. WordPress is first and foremost a blogging platform, and so by definition, it is going to show dates for updates and require constant attention to keep it fresh for the search engines.
Finally, last month, I found a developer who has the experience to use device detection and the design skills to make the site look current. As of April 2010, there is a new WordPress Mobile Theme that will allow you to make a full mobile site without the constant updates required for blog posts. If you are a mobile domain name investor, this is a no-brainer. Yes, this is an affiliate link, because I believe so strongly in the product that I think my readers ought to have it, too. If you know me, I am very picky about what I will promote and make sure it works.
I worked very closely with the developer and have tested it myself on one of my sites that is in development. This is a very exciting day for people who want to build full websites for phones who are short in the technical and design skills department.
I’ll keep you posted.
Wordpress Mobile Pack Returns
[Note: most links in this post are not mobile friendly]
Here’s a shoutout to James Pearce and Andrea Trasatti for making a fantastic mobile plugin for WordPress (and another for Drupal) and for getting said WordPress mobile plugin returned to the download section of WordPress.org. Let’s give James his due (and traffic) and let him tell you about it in his own words on Tripleodeon.com.
Incidentally, James is updating the plugin, so watch for it in the next few days. James and Andrea, you rock!
Just in time for Black Friday shopping (the day after Thanksgiving when many stores have sales), the US PIRG presents ToySafety.mobi.
According to the site,
ToySafety.mobi is your mobile source for Toy Safety information and is published each year along with U.S. PIRG’s annual survey of toy safety “Trouble in Toyland.”
ToySafety.mobi gives shoppers and parents advice about choking hazards, noise hazards, and other considerations for selecting toys. There is also a contact form to report an unsafe toy to be added to the database.
The outbound links on the site are helpful, but not all are mobile friendly, such as the official US Government’s recalled toy database.
© 2009 mobiEnthusiast.mobi
BuckleUp.mobi has one objective: to convince people to fasten their seatbelts every time they get into an automobile.
If you have ever been to a funeral for someone who died in a car accident, it is a terrible loss. If a teen is involved, it somehow feels like life has cheated us out of the potential that “could have been” as well as the love we feel for a friend or family member. If a police officer later reports that the deceased wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, the “should have, could have, would have” drama often gets played out in our imaginations.
BuckleUp.mobi has information about seat belt usage, including videos of crash test dummies that are graphic in nature about what can happen in a collision where seat belts are not worn. There is a special section just for teens who are likely to make fun of each other for wearing seatbelts. Drivers under age 21 are less likely to wear seat belts and more likely to be in an accident than older drivers. Finally, there is an interactive poll to post how often the reader wears a seatbelt – when I looked, it said just 77% of respondents wear their seatbelt every time the get into a car. That’s not enough in my opinion.
Please share BuckleUp.mobi with someone you care about today.
This post has been submitted to Carnival of the Mobilists (not a mobile link), a weekly roundup of the top blogs around the web that cover mobile from all angles, from hardware to apps to mobile website. Please check out what my mobile colleagues have to say by visiting today.
