Did you know that 53.4 million people in the U.S. own a smartphone? Smartphones allow users to access data from the web almost anytime, anywhere. This is exciting stuff! The exchange of information has never been easier. Because blogging is a guaranteed way to drive traffic to your business, don’t let your blog fall through the cracks; instead, make sure it’s set up to reach this fast growing mobile audience.
There are many ways to make your WordPress blog smartphone compatible. My company uses the WPTouch application. With WPTouch, viewers can easily scroll down a post list, read post excerpts, load more entries, search, bookmark a page and leave comments. Posts may be selected by title, category, or tag. As you can see above, WPTouch allows our images to scale down beautifully. In addition, all hotlinks work nicely and are easy to see. At the bottom of each article, viewers have the option to share posts they love using three grey icons: an envelope, a bird, and a bookshelf. The envelope allows viewers to email the post link to anyone on their contacts list. The bird allows viewers to tweet the post. The bookmark icon allows viewers to add the post to various social bookmarking sites.
Your blog is where your brand is created, expanded upon, and recreated. It’s the place where your business directly interacts with your customers, forging trust and growing your influence. Make your blog “smart phone worthy” and market to the growing smartphone audience today.
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This is a great reminder Catherine. I always make sure to reserve the “mobi” version of my domain name. I’ll be sure to check out the WPTouch application for my blog when I get a chance. How do the two work together?
Sherryl Perry recently posted..How Not to Behave When You’re in Business
Thanks for the information. I’m converting my blog from Blogger to WordPress and the WPTouch app will be very helpful as I reach the smartphone audience.
Catherine, Great blog. I’ll be in the market for a SmartPhone … one of these days.
Alice
Glad to have this valuable information especially since smart phone use is on the rise. With all the new “apps” it seems to be the new way to function.
Keyuri Joshi (on the ball parent coach) recently posted..Child Development Proactive Parenting Stronger Families
From what I understand Sherryl, apps like these replace the need to go with a .mobi version of your domain.
I use the WordPress plugin “WPtouch iPhone Theme” which formats your site with a mobile theme for the Apple iPhone.
Good reminder Catherine. Only after looking at Google analytics a few months ago did I notice people were viewing my blog on a smartphone. I installed WPTouch and the viewings have increased.
Susan Oakes recently posted..Is Your Marketing a Mishmash of Tactics
Very useful Catherine. Hence downloaded the WPTouch plug in. Let’s see what impact it will have.
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Hi Jeannette,
I call it WPTouch (for smartphones) because it works for both Droid phones and Iphones.
We’re talking about the same thing
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.
Thanks for the clarification Rick.
Cool stuff. I am going to add the plug in.
Rob
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I dont have a wordpress blog but I should check and see if square space offers a similar application. I know I can update my blog with my phone. I am not sure I could write an entire post on my phone.
Catherine,
Wow! 53 million?! I’ve noticed that it seems like everyone has a smartphone now. This is definitely something we need to know as bloggers. Thanks for sharing.
Chris
I really need to look into this. Is this a wordpress plugin or an actual third party app?
I think it’s amazing how accessible blogs are now. You can post to your blog or read a blog from anywhere.
Tammy Lessick recently posted..Olivia 2-in-1 Transforming Playset Giveaway
Hmm. Interesting bit here. Hadn’t even occurred to me that I should make at least some effort to accomodate mobile viewers. Looks like it’s time to add another to my long list of plug ins!
Hello, Catherine. Okay, you’ve nudged me, I will be sync-ing my smartphone with my blog routine in the very near future.
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