Create a Mobile Website Using Top Mobile Solutions in 2012

Posted By C.Lucia 3/05/12

We have reached a mobile era and it’s here to stay. If you want to remain visible and competitive in today’s market, having a mobile website is a must. Here are a few things to keep in mind when optimizing your site for mobile:

• Don’t simply have a slimmed down version of your site, but rather create a mobile site that has an “app” feel to it and particular items and features that are useful to your targeted audience.

• You are limited by a small screen and sometimes bandwidth so be concise with your content to enhance visitor usability.

• Focus on key concepts and features.

• Include social networking buttons to open new avenues to your target audience.

Creating a mobile friendly version of your website does not have to be an overwhelming task, many companies offer versatile platforms to help meet your business needs. Below are some of the best mobile platform offerings I’ve found based on versatility, plans available, and price accommodation.

MoFuse is an extremely popular mobile website builder with good reason. They offer both “Build it Myself” and “Build it For Me” plans to choose from based on the size and demands of your business. Your sites are optimized for speed and all images are re-sized automatically. MoFuse sites are optimized for iPhone and over 5,000 other mobile devices. The MoFuse solution offers excellent customization and many features for mobile sites including excellent customer support. MoFuse’s mission statement: “to make the mobile web affordable and easy for any business to build and manage a mobile website”.

Wirenode has an easy to use mobile website creator using mobile widgets for versatility, RSS mobilization, Google Maps, click-to-call and lots of unique designs. Using the dashboard you can track analytics, upload images, and preview your site on an emulated phone. With Wirenode’s easy to use interface you can customize your mobile site with simplicity.

goMobi offers over 500 icons in both color and black and white to help set up your mobile site. On your front page, you can easily use a creative icon to link your contact info to so it’s easily found. With goMobi you get access to the Setup Assistant putting you in the control seat of your site’s look and content. Sites can be changed at any time and set up in no time. Hosting is included in the plans which vary in price and features offered. They have eCommerce features as well. If you want goMobi to create your mobile website for you professionally, there is a one- time $295 fee. It is one of the lowest prices around, but they produce excellent quality results. They use mobile SEO techniques as well and make sure your mobile website gets “out there” and noticed.

Magento Mobile offers multiple solutions for businesses of all sizes to meet your specific needs through Magento Connect. Great extensions provide various themes such as the default iPhone theme, visitor usage analytics, social media marketing, and some valuable integration tools (such as WordPress and Drupal integration). Best of all Magento Mobile is a free platform you can download to your Magento website. Magento Connect also provides resources for small business going mobile through Magento Go where you receive premium hosting, 24/7 support, powerful marketing tools and more, all at an affordable cost.

WPTouch Pro is a WordPress plugin that is a very powerful mobile website creator with automatic resizing and a wide variety of themes (should you want to change your present one). You get free choice of your logo mobile website setup. All the formatting is done by the plugin to fit mobile and tablet devices automatically. WPTouch comes with a Web-App mode so it is IOS compatible without the need for Safari. Visitors can bookmark your site and it will be seen in standalone mode. It has too many features to list. It is an exciting plugin for WordPress users due to its ease of use and customization capability.

These are just a few of the great companies out there offering mobile solutions. I focused on these companies because I believe they go above and beyond the average or specialize in a particular area. Creating a mobile website does not have to be a difficult task. All of the above platforms have free trials and WPTouch has a free version as well so you can give them a test run without any commitment. Shop around, compare, and have a testing device so you can make sure of the integrity of your site as a mobile friendly version. Mobile’s here to stay so get creating!