Is mobile browsing really only 5% of all website visits?
According to Stat Counter, from August 2010 to January 2011, mobile browsing versus desktop browsing of websites is 5%. While that may not seem like much, that’s actually pretty huge. The previous 8 months of 2010, mobile traffic accounted for 2.5% of all web traffic.
Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Mobile vs. Desktop Market Share
As a mobile user, I have to say, I’m a little frustrated when I visit certain websites. Chances are, if websites and blogs were mobile compatible, I bet the 5% would be so much higher. How often do you get a Tweet that sends you to a website, only to to have to adjust the content to fit your screen, or scroll back and forth just to read the site? I don’t even stick around, so I’m sure that I am a bounce on a sites statistics.
My favorite soccer blog, Soccer by Ives, is very active on Twitter. Whenever I click through to one of his articles on my iPhone, I am always annoyed that his Typepad site is not mobile compatible. I also access my other favorite site, Match Fit USA, via Twitter and my iPhone, but it had the same problem, so I tweeted and suggested the blogger plugin he needed for mobile browsers. He obliged, installed it, and Match Fit USA is now very easy to read on my iPhone now.
If you have a WordPress blog, it is easy. There are 10 for WordPress plugins for mobile browsers:
- WP iPhone: This is our favorite. If you visit Professional Blog Service on your phone, you’ll see a beautiful, clean layout that actually works on all mobile phones.
- WordPress Mobile Edition
- Wodpress Mobile.mobi
- WordPress Mobile Pack
- MobilePress
- Mobile Admin
- Mobilize
- Mowser
- Wetomo WordPress to Mobile
- WP viewMobile
Blogger now has a beta for mobile browsers, as well. Erik uses the new Draft Mobile Platform for his Laughing Stalk blog. Check it out. (They even have a QR code, which you can access from your phone. You can try it here.)
Typepad also has a mobile browsing option, although we haven’t tried it out yet.
It is time to provide your mobile users the ability to read your site content without pinching or swiping — or worse — just ignoring your blog post updates. Update your sites for mobile browsing, and your followers will love you for it.
Unique Information.Educational.Keep up the good work.
Great post, I think the mobile web is going to be huge in the next couple of years I read a report somewhere saying that smart phones will outsell PCs within the next 2 to 3 years, so it makes sense to turn your site mobile