67% of the world's population has mobile phone access.

10% of website pageviews are from mobile devices world wide (May 2012).*

In the U.S. and Europe, 90% of mobile subscribers have an internet-ready phone.*

Is your business blog ready to deliver your content to a mobile audience? Most are not and that's why I invited mobile marketing expert Kim Dushinski to speak to my community about how to mobilize your business blog, including how to make it mobile ready, how to integrate text messaging (SMS) and QR codes to drive traffic and build your list.

Kim delivered an info packed webinar and has agreed to let me make the replay video available to everyone. It's just over 60 minutes and you'll learn some excellent tips, learn about a free plugin you can use, and how to get started with mobile marketing.

Click the image to watch the replay now.

On the call, Kim introduced her new mobile marketing course and gave out a coupon code to use on her course Mobilize Your WordPress Site. The code is DENISE and it will save you $50 off the enrollment fee for the program.

>> Enroll in Mobilize Your WordPress Site here <<

My blog is already mobile-friendly. I enrolled in Kim's online, on demand course because I know I need to get up to speed with using text messaging (opt in only of course – no spamming!) to connect even better with my audience. Kim showed two great examples of using text messaging in the webinar so watch for those!

If you have questions or comments about the content of the webinar or mobilizing your blog, post them here and I'll invite Kim back over to respond when she has a moment.

The post How to Integrate Mobile Marketing with Your Business Blog [webinar replay] appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

I’d like to start with a bold statement. Every single WordPress blog or site needs to be mobilized. When I use the word “mobilize” I am not just talking about installing a WordPress plugin to make your blog mobile friendly. Yes, getting your blog mobile friendly using an easy tool like a plugin is certainly the first step toward mobilizing, but it is definitely not the last step.

If you’re not sure you even need to worry about this, I’d like to share with you three ways you can tell that it is something that will make sense for you. Don’t worry, there is not a lot technical jargon in this article.

1. You are already getting mobile traffic.

You probably noticed that I didn’t say “IF you’re getting mobile traffic” because you most certainly are whether you realize it or not. With the number of smartphones in the US going over 50% of all cell phone users and the fact that cell phone subscriptions in the US are actually more than the number of Americans (source: CTIA: The Wireless Association), it is practically impossible for any blog with traffic at all to not receive some mobile visitors.

I encourage you to check out your own mobile traffic immediately. If you use Google Analytics, then you can simply login and go to the Overview section, click on Mobile and find out for yourself how many mobile visitors you already get.

You may be surprised. I was shocked to realize that my WordPress site had 18.6% of all traffic coming in via mobile. Despite the fact that I train about mobile marketing, my business is not actually the type of business that one would assume would get a lot of mobile traffic. Who needs mobile training on the fly? If I have mobile visitors, so do you.

It is important that your mobile visitors have an easy interaction with your blog without having to pinch and squeeze to zoom in enough to read it. Even if their phone can handle it, it doesn’t mean they want to deal with the hassle.

2. If your email open rates aren’t what they used to be and you’d like to do something about it.

If you use email to market your business and/or get traffic to your blog, it is highly likely that you have started to see your open rates (how many people open your email) decline severely in the past couple of years. Email is a very powerful tool, but only if you can get your emails opened.

Text messaging, on the other hand, has a nearly 100% read rate. Who actually ignores a text message? Naturally, you can’t put everything you want into 160 characters of an SMS. So what I suggest is building an opt-in SMS list of your readers so you can send them text messages when you have important information they wouldn’t want to miss due to an overloaded email in box.

By taking mobilizing your blog a step further and integrating text messaging into your online marketing you can increase your email open rates, drive traffic to your blog and build a better relationship with your readers.

3.  Your target market can be reached offline.

Most of the visitors to your blog undoubtedly come form online sources, but it doesn’t mean that has to be only source. You can drive traffic to your blog from the offline world as well.

Again, remembering that 50% of all cell phone users have a web-enabled browsing device on them at all times it make sense that if you give them a compelling reason to do so that they will visit your site from that mobile device.

With mobile marketing tools like QR Codes you can make it very easy for your prospective readers to get to your mobilized site from their phone. Let me give you an example. If you have a parenting blog and advertise in a local parenting magazine, you could include a QR Code in your ad that directed readers to a pillar blog post that included a mobile friendly email sign up box at the bottom. This new reader could discover your blog, become a new reader and sign up for your email list all in one easy interaction through mobile.

The possibilities are truly endless when you layer on mobile marketing into your blogging.

To learn more about how you can integrate mobile marketing with your blog, watch this free webinar replay called How to use Mobile Marketing to Drive Traffic to your WordPress Site and Build Your List.

About the Author: Kim Dushinski is the author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook (now out in its second edition). She speaks to groups like the Association of Small Business Development Centers, the American Marketing Association and teaches people around the world how to use mobile marketing effectively. And she runs all her business’ websites using WordPress.

The post Three Signs You Need to Mobilize Your WordPress Blog appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

How mobile is your content?

In the last few weeks I've been testing a mobile marketing application for my content including: both blogs, videos on YouTube and twitter updates. I've known about sites and plugins that help you make your blog mobile friendly ifor quite some time, but it wasn't until I took a look at a program called Gadget MVP, developed by my colleague Chris Lang, that I got excited about how simple it could be to develop an app for my own content.

Mobile marketing is taking off in a huge way and if you can get a share of your prospects' attention on their smart phone or tablet, then you are talking about the ultimate in massive visibility. Think about getting exposure to 60 million iPhone users and about the same number of Android phones. I was looking at a slideshow about current mobile trends and the stats are astounding:

• By 2014 mobile will be the most common way of accessing the Internet
• By December 2011 more than 50% of all Americans will have a smart phone
• Consumers are spending more time on mobile apps than on browsing the mobile Web

With that in mind, I took Chris up on his offer to create a mobile app for my content that is available for Android, iPhone, Facebook and can be added to your iGoogle home page…

So, what's the big deal? There are plenty of other gadgets and apps out there. What's different about this one is the ability to not only aggregate and syndicate content from multiple sources, but also include a product offer AND an optin offer so you can generate new leads (click on Discover and Alerts tabs).  Plus, you manage your gaget online and can update and change your offer and freebie when you want, as well as add new content sources. Very cool and VERY EASY to set up. 

The general set up is very quick (it's by invitation only at this point). You choose the modules you want to include, enter the required info and save.

The thing that will take some time, unless you're an accomplished graphic designer, are the graphics you'll need to make the most impact with your gadget:

1. a small logo that sits at the top of every page of your gadget
2. a 512 x 512 pixel image for the Android Marketplace page
3. a high resolution 360 dpi, 200 x 200 pixel image for the avatar button that show on the smart phone

Once you have your data entered and your graphics ready, there are instructions on how to add your gadget to iGoogle and Facebook, then the team at Gadget MVP will submit your Gadget to the Android Market Place and iPhone app store. You don't have to deal with any of that complicated process. 

Once it's live, then you promote!

What do you think about creating an app for your content? Is there a way you can package your message to create enough value for people do add your app to their phone?

The post Social Marketing Tips Mobile App Now Live! appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.