With the number of people online, using mobile phones is increasing day by day it has become very important to have a mobile version of your own blog. After writing the post on mobile marketing on my blog I realized that there are a lot of bloggers out there who don’t know to set up a mobile version of their blogs so I decided to write this post.
But before I jump into the step-by-step guide let me walk you through why it is important to have a mobile version of your blog.
You may already have seen that mega websites like Facebook, Google and other big blogs like Huffington Post, How-To-Geek, Famous Bloggers etc have mobile version of their website. Its because of the fact that more people hang around with their mobile and use it for browsing the Internet and finding stuff now a days like never before.
These big brands know the value of having mobile version of their website and so should you. Today with more people using mobile than internet (according to a study) you need to have a mobile version of your blog so that if the visitors somehow stumble on your website using their mobile phone, your blog looks clean and loads up fast.
There are a lot of disadvantages of a desktop based websites/blog when loaded using a mobile phone. Some of them are:
- Large Page Sizes – As the desktop version of a website/blog contains a lot of stuff, the page size is very large especially when we talk about loading them up in a mobile browser.
- More Page Load Time – Large sized WebPages need more time to load and as the speed of internet on mobile phones is limited, the load time can piss off your visitors.
- More content – In the desktop version of your website you have all sorts of different components such as sidebar, footer, fancy css and java scripts etc. These cause distraction when browsing your blog using a mobile browser as the size of the screen is very small.
So it’s best to have a mobile version of your blog so that your visitors will feel more comfortable browsing through and read your content. After all helping visitors solve their problem is the only thing that is going to make them stick with you. Isn’t it?
So let me process to the step-by-step guide.
Step-By-Step Guide To Create A Mobile Version Of Your Blog In WordPress For FREE
If you have finally made up your mind that you need a mobile version of your WordPress blog follow these instructions and by the end of this post you’d have made your own mobile version blog.
1. Go to Plugins > Add Plugins from your WordPress backend and search for WordPress Mobile Pack. This plugin automatically detects when a user is trying to access your blog using a mobile phone and redirects to the optimized mobile version of your blog.
2. From the list of results install WordPress Mobile Pack and click Activate button to install the plugin that comes on the next page.
3. After installing the plugin, go to Appearance. You’ll see three new tabs there Mobile Theme, Mobile Widget and Mobile Switcher. These are used to configure how your mobile website looks. First go to Mobile Themes. In this page you have all the necessary options to make changes to you mobile blog. Keep in mind to make the following changes to the setting for best results.
4. Now get your mobile phone and try to open your website from its browser. You’ll see the difference. All the fluff is gone and only pure content is left.
5. There are two more options that this plugin provides: Mobile Widget – which is used for enable widget and Mobile Swithcer – which is used for selecting a theme. I don’t recommend enabling the sidebar widgets as it creates hindrance and does not look good.
6. The website looks raw when you first install it with just text in it. You can change the theme using the Mobile Switcher. There are four themes to choose from. Choose the one that suits your blog the most.
This way you can convert your desktop based blog in to a mobile version blog. If you are an advanced user and know about HTML and CSS then you can go to Themes > Editor and customize the theme as per your requirement. This gives you the power to add your blog’s logo, alter font sizes and color of the mobile version blog.
So after installing the plugin and tweaking up the source files a bit, here how my blog now looks like on a mobile browser:
A much needed tutorial for most of the bloggers. I was thinking to create such version for one of my blog and this plugin might suit my needs.
Thanks for giving a terrific information about mobile version. It useful for all bloggers.
Keep sharing.
hello ram
thnx for this complete guidelines about making mobile version of ur website thnx for sharing it willl share it with my other friends too
regards
vishvast
This is really such a wonderful lesson to learn mobile version ! Thanks for this wonderful article.
A much needed tutorial for most of the bloggers. I was thinking to create such version for one of my blog and this plugin might suit my needs.
Nowadays, it is necessary to have a mobile version of our blogs in order to have quick access to the blog even when we are travelling and cannot carry a laptop with us. This helps to be in contact with the blog anywhere and everywhere with ease. Thanks for sharing the method of making one.
Thank you. I’ve been aching to have a mobile version of my site, and this plugin seems to be exactly what I need.
Hi Ram
The list is very good. However, can you tell me how can I make my DNN website mobile phone compatible. My friends suggest me that I need to created another website only for mobile phone. However, I want to use my current website for the same. e.g. No two website because it will create problem for me to maintain them.
Wow! Thanks for the article Ram. I’m expecting the same tutorial for blogger blogs. Thanks!
Sir I tried for this many times but every time after completing 3-4 steps i says, your request can’t be proceed now, my Alexa rank is under 36K and Country rank is 2.5K in India but still don’t have mobile version.
Hey Krishna, can’t understand your problem. Where exactly does it says “your request can’t be proceed now”?
I just moved my website over to WordPress, and had not even thought about a mobile version. Not to mention the process seems so easy!
Hey Mike welcome to WordPress and you’re right the process is very seamless.
Seamless !! seriously ? for me it’s very complex and tough… 🙁
Hey Navneet, Glad this post could be of use to you.
Ram
Thanks for reminding about the idea of Mobile theme . Previously when i was using blogger platform , the mobile look was easily configurable but now with wordpress i should install this plugin. Mobile interface could really benefit the readers experience avoiding the ugly web version 🙂
It may be quick and easy however, I do not see great updates from the plugin developer. Visuals over the internet has changed drastically over the year and the themes used on this plugin appears to be too old-school.
I will still prefer WPTouch or responsive themes. But then responsive themes has their own issues – especially for bloggers & publishers using advertisement codes such as AdSense.
Thanks for this post – it reminded me to revisit the plugin again.
Best wishes 🙂
WPTouch is a great plugin but then it only works on touch screen phones.
Can you also suggest me a method to do the same for a blogger blog?
I don’t think that’ll be possible mate, Blogger don’t support any specific method. 🙁
Responsive themes is the only best way to attract the visitors too. It, similar to main template!!!
It;s a great option especially now that mobile devices are bigger than ever! All website owners should have a mobile optimized version of their site. Squinting through teeny tiny texts is the worst on an iPhone!
You’re right Lexi. No one likes the tiny text as well as other unnecessary stuff surrounding it when browsing using a mobile phone.
I’ve used some similar plugins to create mobile version of my blog. But I was not totally satisfied with result, so I’ve started using responsive themes.
Hey Plaban, I too had similar experiences with other older plugins. Some of them even stopped providing support for their plugins. But this plugin has not created any problems for me so far…