Create a Mobile Website

Create a Mobile Website

Do you have a mobile website? Probably not. (Or else you wouldn't be reading this report right now, right?) Okay, well is your current website mobi-ready? Again, I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that most of our websites are NOT mobi-ready. I know MommysHelperOnline.com isn't as well as none of my other websites are either.

So, what does mobi-ready mean anyway? Being mobi-ready means that your website is able to be easily viewed via mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Are we missing out on a whole other market? I feel confident enough to say that yes, we are missing out. We are totally missing out on the opportunity to reach a whole new market!

Well, most of us are anyway. I'm not completely missing out anymore. As soon as I found out about mobile websites, I decided I had to learn more and get one myself! So I did. I spent a few hours one weekend creating my brand new website designed specifically for mobile devices! (Yeah, I'm a little excited to say the least!)

You can visit my new website online at http://www.iWannaWorkatHome.mobi Now keep in mind this site is going to look a little funky compared to what you're used to looking at. Remember, this site is designed for mobile devices such as cell phones, PDAs, etc. To get the "real feel" you'll have to use one of these devices to view it.

Now here's the good news for you ...
Throughout the entire process of building my site, I kept notes that I'm going to share with you on the following pages. I'm sharing this with you for free and the only thing I ask from you in return is if this report was helpful to you, share the wealth. Tell your friends where to get their own copy. And secondly, if you decide to use any of the resources listed in the report, please use the links within the report so I get credit for them. Oh and a comment on our blog at: http://www.2wahms.com/162/create-a-mobile-website would be a nice gesture too ;-)

< So, let's get down to business ...
The creation of my mobile website was super-simple and free. You can do everything else for free but, as with any website, if you're serious and you want to make money (yes, I said make money, you can with your mobile site too and I'll tell you how later!) Anyway, if you're serious then, as usual, I do recommend buying a domain name and hosting (which of course I did). I will tell you upfront that the domain names are just a little more expensive than your typical .COM or .NET but still very affordable.

Here is where I bought my mobile domain name and web hosting
(Please note the extension - .MOBI)

Once you've bought your domain name and hosting, you can get ready to build your mobile website. You can do this for free at http://www.mobisitegalore.com I'm sure there are other programs available out there however, the directions in this report are from using this program.

Don't think you need a mobile website? Are you figuring your readers can just deal with the way your website is displayed on a cell phone? Before you sign up for an account, take the test. In the middle of the screen you should see a box that says "Is your site mobile ready?" Here you will enter your website address and take the test to find out how "mobi-ready" your site is with their nifty little tool that even gives you a preview of how your website will show up on popular devices such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Sharp. The report of this test is quite extensive and shows you the results of 27 different tests. Go ahead, take the test ...

Need I say more?

I decided to create my website as more of a gateway to my other websites on the world wide web. I created pages with bits of information here and there and then included links to my websites online. The niche that I chose to work on couldn't possibly be covered on a cell phone. So I gave just enough information to get my readers curiosity to go to my main websites. You may choose to do a more extensive website ... it all depends on what you want.

Once you've created your account, you're able to choose from about 24 easy to read templates - all with different options of how your "start page" is viewed.

Next you'll be able to perform a basic drag and drop movement with pre-named web pages or add your own page names. Don't worry yet about the order placement of your pages because later you will be able to change this.

Editing your pages is super-simple. You're able to edit each individual page with a basic, easy to use WYSIWYG editor. And if you really know what you're doing (and only IF you do) you can even get into the nitty gritty and edit the source code for those of use that are complete control freaks. (I admit it ... I have a problem!)

After you edit each page, there's even a neat little feature that allows you to test each page for mobi-readiness to rate how your page would on a mobile device. Then you'll even receive a Mobi Ready Report to break down the details of what was wrong (or better yet, what you did right!) My first page scored a 4 out of 5 and my second page was a 5 out of 5! Not too shabby for my first try!

And don't worry if you've forgotten to add a page because you can add a new page right here within your Website Manager. Then you'll go through the same editing process as above. As I mentioned earlier, you can also change the order of your pages listed.

Another great feature is the ability to add contact forms on your mobile site. You can choose between an advanced form with powerful features such as radio buttons, check boxes, pull down menu et. The advanced form is perfect to allow visitors make purchases. Or you can choose the simple form that's quick and easy to add. This form is perfect as a "contact us" form.

Since my mobile site is going to be a content website, I chose the simple form. I kept/added the following fields for my "contact us" form:

The main items I want are their name and email address so I can easily get in contact with them. My personal goal with this website is to give some information but eventually send them to my .COM website online for more.

I kept the title of the form as Contact Us and let them know that I will contact them as soon as possible. The information from these forms are sent to your email (how cool is that?)

There's also lots off goodies offered that you can add to your mobile site such as:

A few other things that I thought was the fact that you're able to preview your site every step of the way and if you get stuck at anytime, there's a handy dandy Help Movie link you can click at any time ;-) And last but certainly not least, another cool feature is the fact that you're able to upload and edit graphics. You can see a picture on my site on the Kick Start Your Business page.

Once you've completed your site, you're able to choose to either upload your site to your own web hosting or choose to receive a free website address which from this website would look something like http://www.yourname.websiteforever.mobi

Having already purchased my mobile hosting and domain name, I chose the first option. From here you upload your site, publish and you're mobile website is ready to go! Congratulations! You're now the proud owner of a mobile website!

You can actually preview your website online too. For example, go to http://www.iwannaworkathome.com Of course, it's going to look a little funky compared to what you're used to but remember, this is designed for cell phones.

And no worries, you can always go back in, change your website and update it regularly just as you would a regular website online.

So, wanna find out how you make money with your mobile website?
One of the ways you can earn money with your mobile site is by ... yup, you guessed it, you can add Google Adsense to your mobile website too! Log into your adsense account and right below "today's earnings" you will see an "Adsense for Mobile" and a link to get you started. From there, you can simply follow the step by step directions to get your ads up.

Don't have google adsense account? Now that's an easy fix!

(You can only sign up for an account AFTER your site is built!)

Another way to make money on your mobile website (and I've not tried this as of yet) but apparently you can sell your own products via paypal. Don't have a paypal account? Click here to sign up for free paypal account.

Oh and one little bonus I wanted to throw in here just for you bloggers out there! For all you WordPress users, there's a plugin to make your WordPress Blog mobile friendly! You can download the free plugin at http://www.andymoore.info/wordpress-mobile-plugin/

I'll be doing a lot of research for the next few days and probably weeks to find out more about what we can do with our mobile websites. You'll have to keep an eye on our blog at: http://2wahms.com/category/mobile-website as I'll post anything new I find. I'm also in the process of adding a new feature at MommysHelperOnline.com for mobile websites. I'll be announcing that really soon on the blog too. So, if you wanna be the first to find out all this great new stuff for mobile websites, you'll want to be sure to sign up on our blog.