[SEO911]: So, just two questions for you both. First, is mobile website design worthwhile for a small business with a limited budget?

[Provenzano]: The short answer is ‘maybe’. Stores that are destination stores — that people know they’re going to in advance because they only ever go there if they’re making a special trip — actually don’t benefit from mobile website design as much as stores that people tend to go to spontaneously.

[Danielson]: That’s true. The benefit of having a mobile website is that people can look you up on the go, so if for example you’re a sporting goods store, people generally don’t need to look you up when they’re already on the road. They look you up at home when they realize they need a catcher’s mask or whatnot.

[Provenzano]: I mean, to a degree, everyone benefits from having their address and phone number on a mobile-friendly site, but generally Google can give them that. But if you have a store that people come to on the fly, a mobile website is HUGE. Especially in a more densely populated area; a mobile site can get hundreds of local hits a day, and most of those people are looking for whatever you’ve got. It’s great for business.

[SEO911]: OK, so what about a mobile website for an online-only small business with no front door?

[Provenzano]: Online businesses don’t really benefit as much.

[Danielson]: Disagree. In my experience, an online business that’s a genuine business — not a sales page or a squeeze page, but a genuine online storefront — can get some huge numbers from having a mobile website. People who surf on iPods love gadgets and have some disposable income, which isn’t as universally true with desktop surfers. If you cater to that in your business, you can really get a boost from a mobile website.

[SEO911]: Well, thanks for letting us take up some of your lunch break, guys. We appreciate an outside voice from time to time.

Why is so important? It’s due to market trends in the mobile device industry. More and more people are replacing their home phones with cell phones and the market is huge. With more cell phones being used every day, this naturally leads to more searches being performed using cell phones than ever before.

How does this relate to small business marketing? Well, your potential customers are looking for a place to do business right now on their cell phone. When they search for a place to go, the listings they will see first are sites with a mobile website design. If you don’t have a site that has been made specifically designed for cell phone users, your website won’t show up near the top of the list.

Small business SEO has to keep up with all of the marketing trends that are changing from day to day in this very technical age. SEO companies work hard to keep up with all of the advancements so that they can keep their customers on top. Having a mobile website is part of the overall SEO structure that is being used by most companies today.

People carry their cell phones with them wherever they go. When they do a search and want to find a place to do business, they head there immediately. Your mobile website will grab people right off the sidewalk and pull them into your store or place of business right away. These types of sites give fast results and instant business possibilities.

A part of any SEO plan nowadays needs to incorporate a mobile ready website. Anything less is simply leaving customers on the sidewalk.

At SEO911, one of our specialties is creating mobile websites for our customers. It’s one of the first things we recommend when we begin any marketing campaign. Our goal is to get your site to rank, but that rank does you no good if no one can see it when they click the link. The mobile version might be a little less fancy, but it will capture the traffic that’s searching for you and increase your sales, especially if you market to kids or professionals who are on the move all the time.

To get the most out of one of our small business SEO packages, you’ll want to take advantage of services that help you. Before we begin any campaign, we’ll sit down with you and explain what we have available. Our team of experts will evaluate your business and determine who we want to market your products or services to. If what you have is typically purchased by a younger consumer group, one that is mobile all the time, we’ll create a mobile website for you and then run our campaign.

On the flip side, if your target market is made up of desktop or laptop users, maybe we’ll add a web presenter to spice up your website a bit and have our web design team incorporate better graphics or video. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, and we know it. Technology changes, search engine algorithms change, and the nature of your business might change. We’ve been in business for over a decade because we know how to adjust to those changes. Give us a call and we’ll help you do the same.

1. Find your own writing style.
If you don’t have a writing style, start blog posting on a blog that you don’t share with anyone. Write some experimental posts, write some bad posts, just try it out. You’ll soon find your own style.

2. Brainstorm and plan before writing.
Brainstorming is a good way to find a few ideas for blog posting. Once you have some ideas, try writing the titles for each of those posts. Experiment with the headings, but don’t start writing the post yet. Use the heading to figure out if the post can have a strong opening, an engaging middle and a powerful ending. If not, discard the post and move to the next one. Or try again.

3. Use titles that grab the readers attention.
The title is what draws the reader’s interest, so if it’s not catchy, your post will never get read. Use powerful phrases and keywords. Ask yourself if your titles would be search for on Google.

4. Make your opinion known.
People like blogs because they are written by people and not by corporations. People want to know what people think, and what you think. Tell them exactly what you think using the least amount of words possible.

5. Write compelling arguments.
There are thousands of blogs on the internet, and there’s a good chance that anything you say has already been said before. It’s imperitave to write the most compelling arguments that you can to provide the reader with something new.

6. Use keywords often.
Blog posting with keywords will help you write with a purpose. It also helps with your ranking in search engines. This is one of the reasons why you should write out your purpose statements before writing the post. The clearer you are about your purpose, the better you will deliver your message. And the more often your keywords show up, the better your search engine results.

7. Link often.
This will build credibility with the search engines, much like using keywords. It will also give you credibility from your readers and helps build a network with other blogs and websites related to your blog.

8. Write enthusiastically.
Some writing is highly dynamic and gives the impression of actually wanting to be read. Others are boring and lack any sort of passion. If you don’t enjoy writing your posts, do you think anyone will enjoy reading them?

9. Do some editing.
The best writing is done in the editing. Before hitting  a submit button, re-read your post and cut out anything unnecessary. Proof-reading is one thing, but editing your post may allow you to get your meaning across in a better way.

10. Leave some things out of your post.
If you cover every point in your post, there won’t be anything left for your readers to comment on. You need arguments that people can relate to, but you need to leave a few loose ends for them to talk about. It takes some practice doing this. By giving your readers the ability to expand on your post, they’ll be much more likely to comment, and others will want to join in the discussion.

Blog posting is as simple as you make it. But by following the above steps, you create blog posts that your readers actually enjoy.

Let’s start with your markup language. A few different types are available for those building a mobile website. WML, or Wireless Markup Language, has been around since the early days of mobile web devices. It is an XML markup language. While it is available on every phone with web capabilities, it has been superseded by XHTML. XHTML is available in the standard XHTML rendered by desktop browsers, and XHTML-MP, the MP standing for Mobile Profile. The only difference between the two is that XHTML-MP has a few less elements and tighter restrictions to make it easier for a mobile device to render the website.

The next thing to keep in mind is the many screen resolutions available in the mobile world. The most common ones are 128 x 160 pixels, 176 x 220 pixels, 240 x 320 pixels and 320 x 480 pixels. By keeping these dimensions in mind, you will be able to optimize some of your content. However, it’s best to keep your site as minimal as possible, especially since there’s no mouse on a mobile phone and they are only able to move up and down a page. While there are a few exceptions in the market, such as the iPhone and the Nokia Internet Tablet, but these phones should be able to browse your regular page easily.

The goal for any web site should be to know your customers in order to deliver to them the best available content. This goal is even more important with mobile sites since you need to target the use of your site. Regular web users are most likely sitting at a desk facing a large monitor that has a high resolution. Visitors who are browsing your mobile site, however, view it through a tiny screen that’s usually less than 1/4 of your desktop’s resolution.

The final step in mobile website design is to test your design. While desktop browsers can be forgiving with code, mobile browsers don’t have the processing power available to automatically fix errors. This can possibly render your website completely useless. Luckily, there are some tools to help in this process. This W3C validator is designed specifically for mobile websites. The next step is to test the site on a mobile platform. While there are emulators available to see your website’s general layout as it would be on a mobile device, these tools won’t be 100% accurate. They can help in the design process, though. The only sure-fire way to test your site is to view it on a mobile phone. Try to test it on phones with different resolutions to ensure that it’s working correctly.

Mobile website design, while similar to standard design, can be difficult if you don’t have the proper tools available. There are many services available that can do it for you, thankfully. Even if you’ve designed your website without the help of others, mobile website design may be difficult.