The Mobile Friendly Project
Published September 2, 2010 | 
- Image via Wikipedia
You may have noticed that I have been… maybe obsessing is too strong of a word… paying a lot of attention to mobile web developments lately. There is a good reason for this, plus its led me to build a new site… Which is good news for you. Here’s the story…
I was doing some research for a new article a few days back (August 30th to be precise) and was looking at keywords and what domains were available for them when I happened upon an excellent top level domain name for the mobile market. The keyword “mobile friendly” gets more than twice as many searches as “mobile ready” and the dot net name was available for it. Being a good marketer, I snatched it up and quickly put up a new site.
OK… This where it gets good for you.
Basically, I am going to outline from start to finish over the next thirty days the processes that I go through to make this site successful. You will be looking over my shoulder, so to speak, as I build this site into a money maker and receive step by step updates (and a bunch of other goodies) so that you can create your own.
So, let’s get started…
Why did I choose the mobile web niche?
It was a bit of luck, really. I know this niche is just starting to get hot, so I was already doing research and writing articles about it. When I discovered there was an excellent name with not much competition, I had to create the site. It was an AHA! moment… Plus the niche will be exploding in the next 12 months… guaranteed.
After registering the domain and adding it to one of my hosting accounts, I installed WordPress. To WordPress I added the Suffusion theme and an assortment of plugins including the WordPress Mobile Pack… Kind of pointless to have a blog about mobile friendly web sites and not being mobile friendly yourself.
I created a header and background image, it was the middle of the night and I wanted it done quickly so I did it myself instead of waiting for someone else to do it the next day. I then customized the Suffusion theme and added the header and background images.
I next added an article to the site and added my main keywords and meta description to the Suffusion theme. Another reason that I like this theme is that it is SEO friendly and doesn’t require you to add in a plugin for SEO purposes. A big plus there.
I did a little looking around on Clickbank and found some suitable items to promote through the banner ad zones that I had set up on the site earlier during my customization. I then went to a couple of my CPA networks and browsed for some additional items to promote. Affiliate monetization done.
Since that time I have added a few more articles and did some tweeking to make the site more productive. I’ve added in a special report as an enticement to join the sites mailing list, set up the autoresponder and created a few backlinks. I also added a product of my own to the monetization process for those 100% paychecks.
Today I added a couple of backlinks from a some of my Blogger blogs after adding a new article. I then created an article for a social networking site that includes backlinks to the Mobile Friendly site and to the sign-up page for the free report.
Tonight, I’m going to rest… Its been a long four days and I need to get busy on my next steps in building traffic for the Mobile Friendly site tomorrow. Also tomorrow, I will give you a link to a PDF file that shows all of the plugins that I am using on the site and what purpose each of them serves. Until then… Just about forgot…
Check the new Mobile Friendly dot net site to see what I have done so far.
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I love this of looking over your shoulder while you do this – I’ve always known that this blog is the right place to be, and this just proves that you’re thinking several steps ahead of the curve. So glad to see and learn from this.
Nice-looking new site, particularly the background. You know, I – and I’m sure quite a few others – would LOVE to know how to quickly create a custom header and background that doesn’t violate copyright anywhere. I know i can pay $37 to either have Semmy do it quickly or get Xheader Pro, etc., but I’m always interested to hear of other options.
Having previously discussed how Socrates compares to standard wordpress, I must admit I’m left wondering what your overall favorite theme is by now, as you seem to like different ones in different situations or for different purposes. There were one or more free themes from another site you’d mentioned previously as well, and I’m also wondering what your take on Alvin Phang’s Atomic Theme compared to Socrates is and now Suffusion as well, etc. Some additional insight here would be appreciated.
I see that you’re REALLY ahead of the curve with a 2D barcode – a QR code – and would love to know how and where to get one of those, in addition to some insight on how and where to use it. My understanding is that those are really designed for the purpose of placing on physical objects in the offline world so that when people – hopefully prospects – photograph it with their cell phone, it takes them to your website. I’m thinking coffee mugs, t-shirts, and business cards, etc., but I’m also wondering whether it would work on bumper stickers, or if the distance would be too great.
I see that you’re promoting:
1. uBuildApp – don’t know if that was the same one I mentioned awhile back – but am wondering what conclusions you’d reached on creating one’s own mobile app for their blog, and
2. Mobile Marketing Exposed by Simon and Jeremy, the makers of Memberspeed – which to my knowledge, STILL isn’t mobile-friendly after a major update. This is exactly what I was referring to in a previous post. Interesting that they see the potential of this, yet their premier script still isn’t in line with this. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great script with great potential, but this just has me so frustrated….
I have a couple of low-cost programs that I use for creating graphics. One is called the Web Graphics Creator, available from Laughingbird Software for around $40. The other is an eCover creator that I picked up somewhere (This is the same product from a different vendor with some bonus graphics) for $27 that transforms your flat images into boxes, books, cds, membership cards, etc. There are also a couple of good free image editors out there in Gimp and Paint.net that are pretty comparable to Photoshop (except for the price tag… ouch!).
As far as copyright goes, there are tons of stuff in the public domain that you can find around the net. Wikipedia (Wikimedia) is a good place to find some, or just do a search for “(your keyword) public domain pic” or something similar. You can also look for Creative Commons licensed images that allow commercial and derivative works. There were some nice PLR graphics packs floating around out there that I picked up over the years but have not really seen too many of them lately. Check with giveaway events, you may be able find some for free.
Themes… There are so many out there, that when you find something that works for you, go with it. I used Suffusion on a clients site and really liked its flexibility and that is why I chose to use it for the new site. I looked at Alvin’s theme when it first came out but cannot really remember too much about it at the moment. I’m not really thinking too straight at the moment as college football started this weekend and my trip to Norman was not too pleasant of one, even though we won the game. I told Castiglione to can Stoops and hire Gary Patterson a couple of years ago… I’ll have to get back to you on themes later.
The items chosen for monetization weren’t picked for any particular reason, they just happened to be what was available on Clickbank and Share-a Sale. I haven’t had time to review any of them very closely.
There are many custom scripts out there that are not yet mobile friendly. There are add on services that you can find that will generate mobile friendly versions of your website and transfer mobile users to them when they visit your main site. Price varies greatly… I have a couple of non-blog sites that are not too mobile friendly myself… but I am working on them.
I don’t believe the app builder is the same as the one you mentioned earlier. Creating apps for mobiles can be very profitable. As far as developing one for your blog, I think it comes down to cost/reward. How much is it going to cost to build the app and what are the benefits it is going to provide you. If it creates a significant increase in your sites traffic and/or sales, its probably a good investment.
There is a product out there on one of my affiliate networks that is less expensive than uBuildApp, but they did not have any graphics available to use or offer the additional services (like hosting your app) that uBuild does.
The 2D barcode is an optional part of the WordPress Mobile Pack that it will generate automatically, I just haven’t enabled it on all of my sites. Even though WMP is supposed to automatically detect a mobile device and switch your viewer to your mobile site, it is possible that it could miss detecting a new or obscure device, so having the barcode on the site enables for easy switching.
I suppose that you could save the image to your computer and then add it to your biz cards and other offline promo materials. I do believe you are right in thinking that a bumper sticker would be too far away to be effective… unless the person was walking through a parking lot somewhere.
Oops, I missed a word. It clearly should have started off “I love this IDEA of….”. This is what happens when you’re up typing another 12-page manifesto – er, blog comment – instead of sleeping! I’m buying a new bat-perch tomorrow to sleep-hang from, after I pick up my cape from the dry cleaners….
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There are some good tips below. I need to redesign the site a while. I am going to start from scrape now I’m certain.
With all of the mobile devices on the market and the many more coming out each year, it only makes sense that you have a website that is mobile friendly. Over ten percent of my traffic to this site comes from mobile devices each month, so without having a mobile option, I would be, potentially, losing out on six to ten thousand visitors per month.
Wow ~ Very Good stuff ~ Please keep it up !
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