The Mobile Website of the Week winning title goes to a professional MMA fighter! Congratulations Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy!

Regular Website

Mobile Website

What did we like about this Mobile Website?

This mobile website is a miniature replicate of Dan’s regular website. All of the content on the regular site was transferred over to the mobile website. We compared and contrasted the two sites and found that very little content (almost none!) was deleted from the mobile website. This particular website design works well for Dan’s mobile site!

Did you see the photo album collection in the “Photos” tab? Clicking on each album reveals its photo gallery. All of Dan’s photos were properly organized just as they are in his regular website.

We also really liked how Dan’s mobile website has a live Twitter feed embedded into the home page. This is something we’ve never seen before in Duda history.

How Was this Mobile Website Made?

While Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy was busy training for his upcoming fight, his personal web designer, Elizabeth, worked hard to create this mobile website.

“I entered the URL and selected a standard template. Duda imported the site colors, so I just customized the navigation menu bars and icons accordingly.” Elizabeth included all navigation menu buttons in the mobile website.

After setting up the look and feel of the mobile site, Elizabeth went through each page and organized the content. In the Advanced Editor, she was able add a Shape Design around each photo album which helped identify one from the other. Separate albums allowed Elizabeth to display all of Dan’s photos in a more organized manner.

Because Dan’s regular website was made with WordPress, Elizabeth was able to install a widget which displays his Twitter feed.

Social media is important to Dan’s brand so it was crucial that his Twitter feed is displayed on his mobile website, just like it is on his regular site. When Elizabeth converted the site to a mobile-friendly website, the WordPress plugin was carried over with the rest of the site’s content.

Where can I learn more about Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy?

Visit Dan’s website to get more information about upcoming fights, behind the scene photos and to browse the merchandise in his online store.

Find him on Facebook, Twitter and watch his interviews and past fights on YouTube.

You Could be Next Week’s Mobile Website of the Week Winner!

Email me at theresa@dudamobile.com, tweet me at @dudamobile or contact me on facebook if you think your site rocks.

Has your mobile site been published? If your site wasn’t published, we didn’t see it (and neither did your customers). Check our Support Center for instruction on how to publish your mobile website!

This hour long webcast will highlight the internet traffic shift to the mobile web and how small businesses can effectively reach their customers in this space. Find out more about the webcast here.

The webcast will be held Tuesday, August 23rd at 10:00am PST. Sign-up to attend through BrightTALK or below. This webcast is free of charge and open to all.

We are pleased to announce the official launch of DudaMobile direct! We are happy to be the first, free, easy-to-use web-based platform that allows even the most non-techie user to easily turn websites into mobile friendly sites.

What’s new?

Along with the attractive, new facelift we’ve given our homepage, we have revamped the dashboard and added new templates. You can still find the famed Duda features which include: one-click conversion of existing website to mobile, auto-syncing between a standard website and mobile site, compatibility with all major smartphones and, as always, professional-looking mobile sites.

What does this mean for Beta users?

If you participated in our private beta, your site(s) created during that period will remain free of charge until next year. We will contact you via email regarding the payment change. Any site created starting August 2, 2011 will be priced according to our payment plan.

We thank you for helping us achieve our mission

The DudaMobile team is fully dedicated to making all regular websites mobile. We would like to thank EVERYONE who has supported the Dudas as we have been working hard to optimize the web for mobile devices.

Why use a template for your mobile website?

A mobile template gives you a clean look for your site so that it appears just as professional on the phone as it does on the computer. Our mobile web templates take existing site content and transform it so that it fits onto a mobile device. After converting your website and selecting a mobile website template, your mobile site will contain the same content but look even better than your regular website when viewed on your phone. The mobile website will contain all of the same information, but it will be laid out in a way that both looks attractive and works well on a mobile device.

With DudaMobile, you will be able to fully customize your mobile web template so that it matches the colors and theme of your regular website.

No generic templates here!

The sound of the word “template” often gives the notion of being unoriginal and non-creative. We consider our templates as firm ground for you to build off from. After selecting a template on the “Select a Template” page, you have the options to change the colors of the background, text, link color and navigation icon menu.

The technology of mobile devices is constantly changing. Mobile templates contain coding language that is recognized across all mobile devices. Our templates offer a quick solution to this constant need for innovation and adaptability that does not require significant re-coding or redesign.

Wondering Which mobile templates We like?

We love our mobile website templates. Here are some of our favorites…

#1: One click access to contacting your business

Unlike a regular website, visitors to your mobile website are much more likely to contact your business via phone. According to recent data from Google and Ipsos OTX MediaCT, 61% of consumers who visit a mobile site from a search engine will call the businesses from their mobile phone. Make it easy for your site visitors by displaying your business phone number as a Click-to-Call button at the top of your mobile site home page.  When clicked on, customers will instantly connect with your business.

#2: Map & Directions

Similar to the Click-to-Call button, a very high percentage of visitors to your mobile site are interested in locating your business RIGHT NOW. According to the latest data by the International Data Corporation (IDC), 62% of consumers browsing a business mobile website are searching for the store location and directions. Make sure to add a simple Map & Directions button to your site that, when clicked on, opens up your address in built-in map application on the phone, enabling the user to quickly find directions to your location.

#3: Optimize your mobile website design

Choose or design a mobile site template that aligns with the theme of your desktop website. There is no such thing as a universal template, and no single mobile site template is appropriate for every webpage. Be creative with the template you choose and don’t be afraid to make simple tweaks to optimize your mobile website presence.

#4: Make your site legible

Mobile phones have a small screen, a slower connection to the internet and are incompatible with different types of multi-media formats like Flash. So keep your mobile website content simple and easy to read. Enlarge links and buttons to make it easy for users to select them. Delete unnecessary images and text. And make your site easy to read.

#5: Keep your mobile site in sync with your desktop site

When you update your desktop website with the latest news and information about your business, make sure to also update your mobile site as well. This includes business information, your location, store hours, contact phone number and so on. With Dudamobile, we do this for you automatically so you don’t need to worry about it.

If you keep in mind what your customers want when browsing your mobile website, you can provide them with an amazing mobile experience that will quickly lead to more calls, visits and sales.

The answer is simple, it’s all about REACH and ENGAGEMENT.

Reach

According to Comscore 63 million US mobile phone users accessed news and information from their mobile devices in Jan 09. This is no surprise with new versions of internet enabled mobile phones entering the market this year like mushrooms after the rain (iPhone 3G, Palm Pre, Google Android etc). The internet is now in the grasp of many hands. It is today by far the most personal gadget, accompanying us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week wherever we go. Businesses understand this and have followed by creating websites that are tailored to the mobile user. A reports by Nielsen Mobile show that businesses that have added a mobile website have increased overall traffic to their website by 13%.

Engagement

Now fact is that most website display pretty poorly on mobile devices as they were not built to fit a small screen. A recent study shows that the average success rate for a user to complete a task via his mobile device was only 59%. The reason is that websites were not tailored for a mobile on-the-go type of interaction. Mobile users have different needs, they might be standing in the corner of a street trying to get precise information like your businesses address or the price of a product. How long will it take them to get to that information? If the information is not visible and the site is not appealing, chances are that they will just give up and search for a more mobile-friendly website that is willing to provide them with that information and keep them engaged.

So what do you do about it?

You basically have two options:

• Do nothing and hope that the mobile browsers will improve with time
• Create an optimized site for mobile

I will cover both these options in my next post: Better mobile browsers won’t solve the mobile web problem