Warning: 34 Million People Can’t Read Your Blog!

by Ryan M. Healy

in Blogging, Business, Tips

Last I checked, Apple had sold like a hundred gazillion iPods and iPhones.

Okay, just counting iPhones alone, they’ve sold more like 33.75 million as of fourth quarter 2009. [source]

Remember, that’s not counting any iPod Touch sales.

Plus, millions more Crackberries, PDAs, web-enabled cell phones, and handheld Internet devices have been sold all across the world.

I don’t think I’d be exaggerating if I said that 70 million people worldwide can now surf the Internet on a handheld device. And even if it were “only” 34 million people, that’s a LOT of mobile web surfers!

Question: Have you ever wondered how many people are trying to read your blog using a handheld mobile device? And have you ever seen what your blog looks like on one?

I only recently got an iPhone in July 2009 — so I’m not casting stones here at all — and all of a sudden I realized why “the mobile web” is actually a really big deal.

One morning in particular brought this to the front of my mind. My friend was traveling and my brother had slept through his alarm clock, so all of a sudden I found myself at Panera alone… without a book. (The horror!)

But I did have my iPhone.

So I stopped in at a few of my favorite blogs.

Let me tell you: It was practically impossible to read some of them! The words wouldn’t resize, the borders wouldn’t flex, and I’d be stuck scrolling left to right and squinting to read the super-small font.

Not a pleasant experience.

Then I tried to read my blog. And it wasn’t much better!

The fact is, a blog that’s designed to be read on a computer cannot be easily read on a screen that’s perhaps one-tenth or even one-twentieth the size of a full computer screen.

That’s when I got curious about how to modify my blog for mobile readers.

Turns out, it’s way easier than I thought — if you have a Wordpress blog.

All you have to do in Wordpress is scroll down to “Plugins” from within the admin panel and click on “Add New.” Type “Wordpress Mobile Pack” into the search box. Click “Install” next to the plugin to install it.

From there, customize as you wish.

It’s a beautiful thing. Because immediately you will have a site that is easily viewed and read by any mobile web user.

Problem solved! (Not to mention you can now grab the eyeballs of a few million web surfers who are stuck in department stores while their wives try on clothes.)

-Ryan M. Healy




Tagged as: , , , , ,

{ 2 trackbacks }

Mobile Phones And An Important Marketing Lesson :: “Maximum Results Copywriting”
January 14, 2010 at 3:24 am
A Few Google Search Improvements & Updates
January 17, 2010 at 3:10 am

{ 40 comments }

1 MzMelanie January 12, 2010 at 9:07 am

Awesome!! I had never even considered the mobile devices. Not that my blog is super popular or anything, but I need to do this ASAP Thanks again for the info!!!

2 Reeveso January 12, 2010 at 9:46 am

That's beautiful dude…going to go download it right now :)

Nice find!

Jeremy Reeves
http://www.ControlBeatingCopy.com

3 Fred Black January 12, 2010 at 9:47 am

Point taken… you just added something to my todo list!

4 Colin January 12, 2010 at 10:09 am

Where's that big red Staples button?

5 sallydinius January 12, 2010 at 10:27 am

Excellent and timely article, Ryan!! I'll try out that plug-in today. Looks like the width of my articles works well with the iPhone screen, but there's always room for improvement!

Now…if only Apple and Adobe would become friends. Many sites have flash videos that will not play on the iPhone (I know that's old news, but it's still frustrating…durned Apple…).

6 sallydinius January 12, 2010 at 10:27 am

Excellent and timely article, Ryan!! I'll try out that plug-in today. Looks like the width of my articles works well with the iPhone screen, but there's always room for improvement!

Now…if only Apple and Adobe would become friends. Many sites have flash videos that will not play on the iPhone (I know that's old news, but it's still frustrating…durned Apple…).

7 Ryan Healy January 12, 2010 at 10:28 am

You know, I've been looking for it all these years… to no avail.

When I find it, you'll be the first to know. :-)

8 ianbrodie January 12, 2010 at 10:31 am

Well made point Ryan. The other thing to watch out for is flash which the iphone can't handle (yet).

Most blogs don't tend to use flash (but you'd be shocked how many corporate websites do when they don't need to. I got stuck trying to get to a meeting with a law firm because the phone number and details of the partner I needed was encoded in flash on their site).

But the area which is likely to hurt is video which is a growing trend. If you want iphone users to be able to play your video you must either do it as an embedded youtube video, or if you must keep your fancy player and hosting, provide a link to a youtube version.

Ian

13 Landon S Lang January 12, 2010 at 11:41 am

Nice…Ken McCharty recommended this blog and I already loves it (its rare that I can learn something new on the very first post. (shall install the plugin on all my blogs shortly)

Anyway, bookmarked (on delicious and few others) and posted a review on my blog here:

http://affiliateredemption.com/who-is-ryan-healy/

14 Ryan Healy January 12, 2010 at 2:00 pm

Hey Landon!

Really nice of you to bookmark and link to my blog. Thank you! I really appreciate it. :-)

Ryan

15 Ryan Healy January 12, 2010 at 2:00 pm

I was unaware that iPhones can't play Flash videos. Interesting. Thanks for sharing that, Ian.

Ryan

16 Ryan Healy January 12, 2010 at 2:01 pm

Well, since you're such a lazy guy, Fred, I figured I'd help you out.

I jest, of course. ;-)

Ryan

17 Ryan Healy January 12, 2010 at 2:02 pm

You are very welcome. Glad I could help.

Ryan

18 ianbrodie January 12, 2010 at 2:23 pm

Yeah – it has a special player for youtube videos so it can (sometimes) do embedded youtube. Not by playing it on the web page, but by going to the special player when you touch-click the video.It can't do non youtube video at all.

May change in future .

Ian

31 Brian Massey January 17, 2010 at 2:46 pm

Worked like a charm. Thanks for the pointer and the follow on Twitter.

35 TheBrainTeacher January 25, 2010 at 12:38 am

Ryan… Forced continuity is alive and well! Yet this example has an amazing twist…

It hijacks you AWAY from the free offer (that's $9.95 AFTER you've given your name and email) and the continuity program you were expecting then dumps you into a way more expensive program AFTER you provided you name and email. This isn't OTO is 'BOTH' Brunson's One Time Hijack!

DON'T enter you email here – > http://www.im-myth.com/ as I did!
Go straight through – > http://www.im-myth.com/welcome.html
Then click the button for your freebie! NOT!

This is both unethical AND is illegal in Australia where it's called bait and switch.

http://www.im-myth.com/ should be the poster example of the WORST kind of forced continuity out there today…

(No nothing above is an affiliate link)

Tell me it isn't so!!! Will the last ethical marketer please turn the lights out?

36 Michael Dalton January 26, 2010 at 2:50 pm

Ryan – I understand that the MOBI format can really hose your SEO – that in fact all of the SEO juice will accrue to the MOBI version of your site.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

37 Ryan Healy January 26, 2010 at 3:11 pm

Michael – I hadn't heard that yet, but I wouldn't be surprised.

When I see my own site in Google's search results, I notice that the mobile version is often indented underneath the main listing.

But I still don't know how it affects rankings overall.

Ryan

39 henrylow January 29, 2010 at 4:00 am

According to the study, the most important tool for small businesses to succeed in 2010 is search engine marketing, while email marketing, public relations and social media cited as crucial for success.

23.8% of all small businesses reported that search engine marketing was the tool most needed for their business to succeed in 2010.

http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com

40 henrylow January 29, 2010 at 11:00 am

According to the study, the most important tool for small businesses to succeed in 2010 is search engine marketing, while email marketing, public relations and social media cited as crucial for success.

23.8% of all small businesses reported that search engine marketing was the tool most needed for their business to succeed in 2010.

Comments on this entry are closed.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: