Webmasters, website publishers, and business owners are scrambling to create a mobile version of their websites. The key is finding an excellent mobile website builder.
The mobile website builder you get will depend on the type of website you have – whether it’s a WordPress site, HTML, Flash, Joomla, etc.
My sites are on WordPress, so I used this WordPress mobile website plugin which works very well.
Regardless on which platform you website is built, there are 7 mobile website builder features to look for.
7 Mobile Website Builder Features to Look For
1. Switch to normal view
Not every website visitor on a mobile device will want to browse your site in the mobile version. Therefore, be sure that your mobile website builder offers the option prominently displayed for visitors to switch to “normal view.”
2. Easy to use
There is no reason a mobile website builder needs to be complicated. The mobile website builder I used for my WordPress websites took me about 3 minutes to create a mobile version of my websites.
Some website designers charge hundreds or even thousands (yes I received a $4,000 quote to turn 1 site into a mobile website) to create a mobile website.
That said, I haven’t used every mobile website builder on the market so I suspect some are more complicated to use. I suspect it largely depends on the type of website you have (i.e. HTML, Joomla, Flash, etc.).
3. Custom front page display image
You’re going to want a custom display image that doesn’t require zooming in to read the logo and other important information. The mobile website builder I used made it easy to upload a custom front page image in which I placed my logo, a discount deal, and my telephone number.
This way visitors can contact me and take advantage of the discount within seconds of visiting my sites on a mobile device.
4. Navigation features
A quality mobile website builder will make it easy to create navigation menus that work. You’ll want you key pages easily found. If you have a blog, you’ll want your recent posts also easily found.
The mobile website I created prominently displays a page menu at the top. Then my blog’s recent posts display on the home page.
However, you want a mobile website creator that offers flexibility with respect to configuring your navigation.
5. Inexpensive
The mobile website builder I used cost me $39. There’s no reason for it to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars (at least for WordPress. It may cost more for other website platforms).
6. Same domain
I didn’t want a mobile website creator that forced me to create a mobile version of my site on a different domain. I wanted the mobile version to appear on my domain. I’m sure that there are few mobile website builders that don’t build your mobile site on the same domain; however it’s an important feature worth mentioning and look out for.
7. Professional design
You don’t want to go through the effort and expense of creating a mobile website only for it to look terrible. The mobile website should look professional just as your normal view website does.
Check out an example
If you check out this site www.websitetemplatereviews.com on a mobile device, you’ll see how a mobile version appears.
Additional mobile website resources:
Read my Handheld Plugin review which explains the WordPress plugin I used to create a mobile website.
Read my article “Create a Mobile Website: 5 Reasons Plus an Easy Way to Do It” to learn why I believe a mobile website is a good idea.
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