Posts Tagged ‘.mobi’

The mobile web is getting bigger by the day. It is expanding a lot faster than most of us even want to think about. On top of that more and more people are getting mobile devices that can access either full blown browsers or just some type of mobile interface. This is just one reason to have a mobile interface for your website.

From what i have seen on other sites and such is that more and more people are accessing “simple information”, as i like to call it, such as news, weather, sports, entertainment ect. Basically the stuff that you either watch a news show for or listen to the radio. Another growing trend is directions and navigation through a cell phone. Whats next? Finding their favorite blog or website and reading it.

iPhone 3G

These just hint at what may be in store for the future. Now most people can argue that mobile browsers are getting powerful and you are essentially carrying around a portable handheld computer. Now this might be true but there is always room for speed and performance on these devices. Try accessing a website that is full of ajax or javascript on a cell phone, no matter the make model or brand. This is why it is important to have a mobile version of your website or blog.

With more and more people looking for information on the go a mobile alternative will never hurt you. Some positives of having that alternative are ease of access, mobile search, and even simplicity. These things coupled together with only make it a necessity to have this feature for your readers and you alike.

If you own a wordpress blog/website i made a post the other day about making it a mobile site as well as your normal blog. Now this literally takes less than 3 mins to set up and will not hurt you in any way. All it does is detect a mobile browser and displays the mobile version of the website. It even has a feature to allow the full website with the click of a button. So how can you go wrong with this?

I am not trying to start a .mobi war at all. In fact you really do not even need .mobi for this at all. Though i do think it has its place in the mobile world, all i am saying is that if you run a website you really should make it mobile as well. Especially if the website is accessed on the go or is updated frequently.

Alright i know that the presence of the mobile Internet is growing by the day. As some of you may know i was out and about this weekend and i just happened to visit Domaining.com on my Centro and found that there was a mobile version of the website. Kind of made me happy at the same time was a little stunned. I made a post about this on the blog and i got a comment from Mark Fulton from DotSauce.com letting me know about a handy plug-in for wordpress that makes the blog mobilized.

So that brings us to the question: How to make your wordpress blog mobile?

1. Download MobilePress plug-in

2. Install MobilePress plug-in

Seriously its that simple and easy. Now your site will be mobilized. You can even set how it is viewed in different mobile browsers from anything from an iPhone to Opera Mini. On top of that you also download and customize any theme.

MobilePress in action on an iPhone

I think this is a very important and must have for any wordpress blog no matter the popularity. With the increasing number of people browsing through mobile devices you could potentially lose readers that on consistently on the go. So get on over and get this installed.