Mobile Web Design – 7 Ways To Create A Mobile Version Of Your Website

Do you currently have a mobile version of your website?
Do you want to attract more visitors?
Do you want to make more sales?

If you answered yes to all 3 questions seriously consider creating a mobile version of your blog or website. If not you’ll be leaving a lot of money on the table. The adoption of smart phone technology is rapidly increasing. More and more people are using cell phones to quickly access websites on the go. Shoppers are increasingly using smartphones for price comparisons, finding local inventory and making online purchases. Some people predict the number of smart phones will surpass computers. Many online businesses are taking the time to make their sites cell phone friendly. Now is the time to create a mobile design of your current website so that visitors will have fast and pleasant experience. It will improve your website’s effectiveness.

7 Ways To Create A Mobile Version Of Your Website

1. Google’s Mobile Conversion Tool
http://www.google.com/gwt/n

This is easiest and fastest way to format your website for moible viewing. Simply enter the URL of your website, check the option for ‘No Images’ then click on the “GO” button. A mobile version of your website will appear.

2. Mobify
http://mobify.me/

Mobify creates a mobile version of your website through a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). The setup is easy and you’ll have your own mobile website in minutes.

It also has a Mobile Commerce platform to easily convert your e-commerce store into a mobile version.

3. EasyMobilizer
http://easymobilizer.com/

This works on your current domain. You simply paste one line of javascript code between the HEAD tags of your website homepage. The service charges USD $7.65 per Year.

4. Phpmobilizer
http://code.google.com/p/phpmobilizer/

This php script automatically converts your existing site to a mobile website. The beauty of this method is that is runs on your own server. First create a subdomain (ie m.domain.com) then just drop the files into the subdomain folder for automatic conversion. Add one line of PHP code to your main site if you want automatic redirection to the mobile site when someone accesses it with a mobile device.

5. Mobile Redirect Script
http://www.pcmechanix.ca/mobile_redirect.htm

This method uses a php script. Simply cut and paste the php script code to the top portion of your html code. Your page must have a .php extension to work correctly. Make sure you replace the URL with your own website address.

6. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly in Two Minutes (Mike Industries)

Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly in Two Minutes

This method also uses a PHP script and your site must be hosted in an Apache environment (ie Linux servers). You set up a domain mirror using a subdomain then create 2 PHP files that you upload to the root of the server. Next you add a few lines of code to your .htaccess file and also upload it to the root of your server.

When accessing your subdomain with a cell phone browser you’ll see a mobile version of your website.

Note: If you have HTML pages on your site that aren’t PHP, you can force them to be interpreted as PHP files by adding this line to your .htaccess file: AddType application/x-httpd-php .html .htm

7. WPtouch (WordPress Plugin)
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style theme, complete with ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and BlackBerry Storm/Torch mobile devices.

The theme enables you to switch between WPtouch view and your site’s regular theme.

Tools to test if your website is mobile friendly

http://preview.offermobi.com/preview/search/
Checks different brands and models of cell phones.
Ex: Apple – iPhone

http://mobiready.com
Checks both a score (from 1 to 5) and in-depth analysis of pages to determine how well your site performs on a mobile device.

http://instantmobilizer.com/test-your-site.php
Creates a graphical display how your site appears both in a mobile browser and a computer browser.

Conclusion

Web accessible mobile devices are rapidly increasing therefore make time to create a mobile friendly design of your current website. You’ll have the satisfaction of capturing more visitors and sales and being one step ahead of your competitors.

Related Articles
http://www.searchengineguide.com/ross-dunn/how-to-simply-create-your-own-mobile-web.php

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If you need help creating a a mobile version of your website please visit:
Mobile Web Design

Herman Drost is the CEO of Website Design Maryland