For those who have worked feverishly on getting their traditional website constructed in the way they desire, having to undergo a similar process to make their blog optimized for mobile browsers can seem overwhelming. Trends, however, are making this process both easier and more valuable. As of this year, roughly 10% of all internet traffic was through mobile browsers. This will continue to grow exponentially over the next few years and could result in mobile browsing passing desktop browsing as the predominant form of internet browsing. For those wanting to make additional revenue through this outlet, optimizing your existing or soon-to-be mobile blog is a smart decision.

Plugins Are The Easiest

If you are using a popular blogging platform such as WordPress, you can most likely use a simple plugin to accomplish this. Much like there are plugins for pinging backlinks from your site, there are also plugins that can instantly optimize your browser for mobile viewing and ensure that mobile viewers will only see that version (or you can offer the ability to view the traditional site). Some of the more popular plugins include WPTouch, which can be fully configured to display the mobile version as you desire. It also offers the option to revert to the traditional site.

Problems With Generating Revenue

There are some drawbacks to monetizing your mobile blog that are not considered when doing so in a traditional format. One is that you cannot use Flash with mobile versions; many may argue that you shouldn’t be using Flash for a number of reasons, but in this case it is simply not possible. In addition, the physical size of the ad cannot be large as it will not fit within the mobile version. The size of the file must be considered as well, as many mobile internet connections are still relatively slow when compared to cable internet, DSL or other wired options.

Overcoming the Problems

You can replace Flash-based ads with animated GIFs, which will allow you to do frame-by-frame animation for any ad of your choosing. By changing the format of the ad from rectangular to square, you can usually format the ad to fit and display properly within the mobile browser. If it is a fixed ad, it will remain in that position so do not make it too big as it will cover up valuable portions of your blog. If you are using decent image editing software, you should have the option to save each ad to be optimized for web usage, which will decrease the file size by a reasonable amount.

Is Your Blog Ready?

Some blog formats are already mobile-friendly in a traditional format. Have you evaluated your blog recently via mobile to determine if both the content and monetized aspects are clearly accessible? If so, then you may be able to delay the implementation of a mobile version. However, if your ads are too tiny to read or content is hidden or improperly formatted, then you will want to consider providing a mobile alternative as soon as possible in order to optimize your traffic retention, continue pinging backlinks and increase revenues.