My first mobile website mock up
 

I purchased Quentin's WSO on making mobile websites and I gotta say, it's great. So far I've watched the first 3 videos and created a quick mock-up of a client's website that I'll be showing her next week.

Here's her real website.....very bland.

www.boulevardespresso.com

Here's my mock-up of a mobile site for it.

Iphone mobile simulator emulator

The links all work and the Location button goes to Google Maps and the Contact Us button sends an email.

This may be a little more than what I want to show future clients, but it was a good project to work on to get my feet wet on building these things. This one took longer to create simply because I kept changing my mind with the graphics layout and graphics :D

I have a second client I'll be seeing next week as well so I'll be making a mock-up of her site too. These things are fun :)

I'm looking forward to watching the rest of Quentin's videos so I can make even more robust sites soon.

Mike

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Nice work Mike - looks good.

I agree her main website is a little bland. You could make a kick-ass website for her considering she is in the doughnut business - could be a fun one to do.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Thanks Will.

I agree. I'm hoping that by creating a nice mobile website (I'll probably do some more tweaking on it this weekend) she'll let me design her real one....as long as she has the money. I don't want to put her in the hole....donut hole that is...lol.

But then again, maybe she'll have lot's of bread....yeah man.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

That is a really good looking mobile site. A good looking logo can really make a mobile site look that much better.


Let us know how the sale goes. I would think that it would more of a tough sell because the regular website looks good on my mobile phone.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Good job, Mike. You'll find that you will get faster at these as you do more. The comment by flyinghammers is interesting...... on my phone, the "regular" site is REAL small and I can't hardly make out the links.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Mike, the mobile site looks nice and I am sure she will like it. If this is just a mock-up, then you can ignore the rest of my post. But if this is the final form of the mobile site please read on.

I want to mention one technical point here. My personal preference and what is recommended by web design authorities is to use as little images as possible on mobile sites. This is because they will be viewed on mobile devices which have limited connection speeds and probably limited bandwidth plans. We should first make the visitor happy, rather than the business owner.

Total image size on your homepage is about 230 kb and I never get close to 40kb on homepages. I don't know if you tested it on a mobile device using a mobile internet connection (not the wi-fi at your home/office) but I can say that it will take long to load. I don't know maybe mobile internet is faster in the USA but even if it was at lightning speed, I would use less/smaller images.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Yes, I have too purchased Quentin's WSO and it was well worth it. I know how to build the sites, but plan to outsource so I can just keep getting more and more clients.
I would love to start selling 10-12 mobile sites/week. I have one lady cold calling for me, my girlfriend canvasing for me and I plan to do a little of both.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Excellent job Mike but I do agree with Nail that you should reduce the image size.

Online Image Optimizer: Optimize your GIFS, JPGS, and PNGS online.

You could get it down more than half of that and still retain the quality.

Also try and save with a good name about the company like boulevard-expresso.jpg


Here is you image as a jpeg 14 kb and you might even get it smaller

http://keymobi.info/images/boulevarg-expresso.jpg

And here is what we call a PNG 8 which is a little over 12 kb

http://keymobi.info/images/boulevard-expresso-8.png

Here is your one which is about 57 kb

http://keymobi.info/images/logo.png

As you can see not much difference but in the size. Typically jpeg compress better.

---------------------------------

Andrew try selling the sizzle and not the sausage. Give away a free QR Code and show em how it works then upsell your mobile website.

Q

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

For anyone selling mobile websites / sms text marketing, I strongly suggest checking out foursquare. It allows businesses to effectively set up a mobile reward scheme for free. This can be intergrated with facebook and mobile marketing. Many companies are registered on foursquare and are totally unaware, so their loyal customers are going unnoticed and not being rewarded. It is also important to track the reviews ( known as tips ).

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Hey Phil this sounds interesting. I just had a quick look at Foursquare and watched the video and it seems very customer centred. How do you integrate this service when pitching to clients? Do companies have to sign up in order to offer "rewards" to their loyal customers? Is that something you would do for them if that is the case?

Would be really intersted in hearing how this website can be used as a selling point. Cheers

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

sorry to highjack the thread, but if approaching businesses about mobile websites, I strongly recommend checking out the features of foursquare, and then explaining benefits to business owners.

It occurred to me that if a business is running a campaign on foursquare, this could be promoted via the mobile website, facebook page, website & qrcodes, etc.

'foursquare goldmine' is a useful WSO, before reading it, I thought that foursquare was just a directory with some kind of check in feature.

Like facebook places and google places, businesses owners have to claim their listing in order to gain access to the additional features, and access the statistical data.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Nail and Quentin,

Thanks for the head's up about the graphics. My phone's internet connection runs at blistering speeds so I guess I didn't see the graphic size as a problem....or even noticed it.

I'll definitely compress them more with this and future graphics to speed up the pages.

Quentin, I do have a question for you.

When I have the page open and try to change the background color in Komposer by hitting "Format" then "Page Colors and Background", the Page Colors and Background is greyed out so I can't select it. Any ideas why that would be?

Thanks.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Oh foursquare is pretty wicked... they can even give a business owner their own icon if they get serious with the whole marketing.

Look around for videos they have a few out there that explain how it can be implemented.

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

If you need a great Web design company to outsource to, let us know...Will be more than happy to work with you. :)

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Ok. Not to sound mean, but so far my thread has been highjacked to talk about foursquare and now someone is soliciting their services to another warrior (we do have a warriors for hire section you know).

Even if this wasn't my thread, I'd recommend others to either stay on topic or start a new one. I would also recommend either using the PM feature to ask for business or post an ad in the appropriate forum section.

For everyone else. I appreciate your suggestions and comments :)

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

I truly apologize...:o

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Hey nice work Mike, keep up the good work ;-)

Neil B :cool:

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Hey Mike - great job and I love what you've done with the custom buttons there!

Have to agree with the comments about the images too - and while the menu graphic looks great, I'd try to get the file size as small as possible or even just use a plain text for that.

Nicely done!

Steve

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Hi Mike - I have to agree with most, all you add with the mobile site will be a nice improvement for them -

The site they have now does not PERK-O-Latte! :)
needs more expression in their espresso...
But I like the logo ...EZ to spot.

it could use a facelift! - (and a facebook! ;))

(maybe an interior shot with folks conversing over Coffee and Crullers...or a shot of a tempting pastry plate?)

Gotta go - time for my coffee break
Cheers!

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Thanks for the share Mike. I am sure she is going to be very impressed :D

I believe you have a client that has a lot of potential in using your services. Hope all goes well for your meet! Please let us know how it goes.

Sam

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Great stuff as always Q. Download speed is vital to mobile users. I can't tell you how many times I will leave a mobile site due to it not loading quickly. I think I, as well as the rest of the world, am very time sensitive to obtaining the information we want, when we want it :D Call me spoiled, but I need my speed!

Sam

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Click on "custom colors" when you're in "page colors and background", then the gray will go away!:)

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Awesome. I'll give that a try. I'll also be shrinking the graphics down a bit to make them more mobile friendly.

Mike

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Thanks for this link. I have just managed to cut my images size down by way more than half!

Cheers Quentin

Edit: Just re-checked the total size and its gone from 264kb down to 56kb. Big thanks guys .

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

nicely done, looks really good.

- always love it to see a better looking mobile version, then the main sites version haha :)

Re: My first mobile website mock up
 

Good info. mrcouchpotato. Good luck with your appointments. Have to check out that WSO you mentioned as well.