Mobile phone web design

[findtim]

has anyone got any hints on mobile phone website monetisation?

it seems to me that could be a good niche market

i use "mobilebuddy" its an add-on from "plugin buddy dot com"

it INSTANTLY creates a mobile phone ready menu for your website and recognises that you are accessing the site from your iphone or android etccccc.

i just see the effects of the explosion on online access via the phones and think we need to design for iphone size, ipad size and laptop size our websites

last year when we were picking the school my soon to be 5 year old would go to this year all the schools showed us that everyweek the "prep/kindergarden" kids would spend 1 hour each week on laptops.

what surprised me was there was no mouses, they all had to use the touchpad on the laptop.

so thats JUST 9 months ago, little ruby is just now in 2nd term of school and the laptops have gone and been replaced by Ipads ! how quickly things change.

So if we talk about making money from domains then they need to be suited to this type of browsing

carsales dot com dot au is a good example of this when viewed on an iphone

thats a start on the topic but i have to go to a meeting.

tim

 

[helloworld]

I really need to do this. I've tried a few wp plugins but nothing has really suited. I am going to check out your suggestion.

 

[Lucas]

Not too sure on monetisation specifically on mobile sites. I would just be inclined to monetise as a regular website but with a mobile design / layout.

Not sure if you are a developer or not, but there are some pretty cool 'responsive' design frameworks popping up that intelligently resize / re-layout (?) according to what device the are being viewed on without having to write a layout / design for each different size. One particular project that looks pretty cool is Bootstrap http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/

 

[Ash]

Not too sure on monetisation specifically on mobile sites. I would just be inclined to monetise as a regular website but with a mobile design / layout.

Not sure if you are a developer or not, but there are some pretty cool 'responsive' design frameworks popping up that intelligently resize / re-layout (?) according to what device the are being viewed on without having to write a layout / design for each different size. One particular project that looks pretty cool is Bootstrap http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/

I'm using studiopress and they have responsive design 'baked in' on some of their themes. Lucky Dip Design should work ok on mobile as it is responsive.

I think their is also a framework call Less that you can adapt to your wordpress themes. Anybody using WPTouch?

 

[findtim]

Anybody using WPTouch?

i had a look at wptouch and read alot of good tings about it but eventually decided to go with "buddy" i bought the whole hog and it has heaps of extras which have paid for themselves over and over again so far.

tim

 

[Ash]

Hi Tim, are you using the Builder theme from the same developers or your own wp themes? Just wondering how well the plugin buddy suite integrates with other themes.

 

[findtim]

i use studiopress genesis with "corporate theme" , i bought the complete template pack but i find corporate suits my current needs, the mobile buddy is seemless with it as i think they might actually be the same company or at least good mates?

i know of design companies charging an extra $450 + to covert your wordpress website into a mobile phone ready website and this takes about 2 minutes !!! to complete, of course then there is some "styling to do" but once you have done it once it would be pretty quick.

if you have an iphone go to my test site, wauchope optometrist dot com dot au , click on the drop arrow top right corner to see the default menu setup.

i've spent @ 5 minutes MAX on this plugin but you can see what it can create in just 5 minutes and the site has about 50 pages in it.

tim

 

[Ash]

Alas, I have an olddddddddd nokia will have to take a look on a friends phone.

Pretty sure PluginBuddy is owned by iThemes (who own a killer of a domain - webdesign.com)

 

[findtim]

interesting insight , maybe then studiopress just have a GREAT affiliate program going between themselves?

tim

 

[findtim]

obvious prediction....

the current early 50 year olds will be surfing on a phone when they retire.

i just got off the phone to my older brother who is about to retire at 57 ish and his whole life runs off his mobile phone internet or ipad, i think this next generation of retirees is a new market for some STILL unregistered domain names.

tim

 

[Ash]

interesting insight , maybe then studiopress just have a GREAT affiliate program going between themselves?

tim

I can't say I've researched it or checked my facts... just I always receive promotions from ithemes, pluginbuddy and webdesign.com and they all have a similar design.

 

[findtim]

AHHHH, well who really cares, as long as you research the product you buy and are happy with the end result, congrats on a bunch of peopel creating good products and making money off them.

trying to create one myself right now which i think will be a KILLER, its something that i WANT and can't find so there must be a market for it

LOL, because of course if i want it of course everyone else does... don't they?

tim

 

[Ash]

tell me what it is and i'll tell you

 

[findtim]

ash, pm sent

 

[Blue Wren]

ash, pm sent

Sounds interesting.

 

[findtim]

lets see if ash thinks so?

 

[Ash]

Personally, I think it sounds like a good idea; would help save some hassle for a lot of people one would think.

 

[findtim]

thanks ash but we have now gone off tangent and thats TOTALLY my fault, lets get back to mobile phones making us money