Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Found this amazing mobile site creation online tool.

It doesn't get any easier than than this: Mobile Websites Made Easy | Free Mobile Web Design | DudaMobile

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Doesn't get much easier than this. They have a white lable version as well Create Free Mobile Sites or Pro Cell Phone Websites | DudaMobile

No, this is not an afilliate link.

What are your thoughts?

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Personally when I am dealing with a large number of clients I don't want to have to rely on third party services like this... it can be dangerous. You are always going to be at the mercy of them. If something happens to that company you would be in a BIG mess. We all know it's not uncommon for technology startups to shut down just as quickly as they start up.

I know what some people are going to say. But you have to rely on hosting which is a 3rd party service. Yes, we do. But you don't have any choice. Hosting is something you need to outsource and you should always make a point of doing regular backups when possible because even hosting is not immune to failures.

All in all I am not a fan of these 3rd party services. If they spat out all the files and I was able to host them on my own domain without any ongoing connection to the company OR cost then I would be willing to give it a go... but they don't.

Once again it's just my personal preference.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Will, I bought your mobile WSO a few months ago and its very good. I hear what you say about third parties, and I agree. BUT, I just want to be able to knock sites up quickly, like .. 123.. Bam Done!! Or, partner with someone reliable to make mbl sites for me at a reasonable price.
I don't have the time to fluff around or learn about coding etc. I just want to be able to make and sell great looking mobile sites quickly.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

The mobile sites look nice. I'll have to try them out. At least you can sign up as an affialate and get some recurring income.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Do they put ads on them? Is there a monthly fee? What does that company get out of it?
Are they going to start charging. I'm with WillR on this... a little uncomfortable putting someone's business site up somewhere without knowing a lot about that company. You will get the call if it goes down, not the duda dudes..

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Thanks for sharing....

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I agree with Will aslo, I'm not happy putting my business and my clients in the hands of a third party that I have no control over. If their system should go down it is you who will be getting it in the neck from your clients!

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Thank you for sharing. It seems a nice service but I'd prefer to have something that I can totally control. So, I'd agree on WillR's approach on it.

Thx for sharing!

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Me too, I like to have complete control. Thx for the link anyway...

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Right on Will.
3rd parties are heavily involved with Mobile Apps as well. The link is a good one but I think the idea of utilizing a 3rd party platform just adds another point in the process that cause problems down the road.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Agree with Will.

IMO, Internet marketing is about ownership for either me, or the client. Their website, mobile web, videos, articles etc are theirs to have and promote. Adwords, radio, TV, print media are limited time leases. Facebook and Google Places are great tools but just like Dudamobile, subject to the wishes of their owners. They may make changes in an instant that significantly impact your business. I'll admit that Duda is pretty slick. I hope they don't go mainstream anytime soon! That said, for the time being they aren't a big threat.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

No Way. I agree in that i would not go with a 3rd party site at all. If they gave the source code/files after generation, that'd be a different thing. I've tried a couple of "mobile website makers" and its all the same. I'd say its best to just get your hands on a mobile website template, and study the source and teach yourself how to add/remove/modify stuff... Thats what i'm doing now, and its working good, while teaching me valuable stuff.

Making the sites isnt my problem... It's selling them thats got me beat.

;)

Josh

I just looked at dudamobile............ Lame! I'll stick with my methods for mobile website creation.
Easier to just do it yourself IMO!

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

If you absolutely have no intention of creating the sites yourself [even at first] then Duda is an option.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I personally just went and bought a few cheap mobile sites from themeforest, checked out the source code, and then reproduced my own from them.

I actually just went ahead and started creating some BLANK versions of some really nice ones, and then when I actually obtain a client, I fill in those blanks. I am thinking of developing a php backend for my own purposes to fill in the blanks for me based on the criteria I put in fields. Because right now I am doing it manually.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

templates are good. Make sure the CNAME records are setup and you have proper device detect and redirect scripts on your desktop site to make sure mobile users end up at your mobile sites

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I agree, and when you look at the event they just did in Mobile, Alabama to mobilize Alabama along with GOOGLE, I can be pretty happy knowing that this third party service is going to be here. They mobilized over 404 websites in two days. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/bu...sq=gomo&st=cse

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

:( Google stole our brand with the whole gomo thing. haha I own a mobile site builder platform business and our short URL branding is Gomo. All our mobile sites are located at xxxx.gomo.io ---- And gomo was short for gomobile... which apparently google thought was a great idea.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

If you use Wordpress for your site there are some pretty neat plugins to do that as well!

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Good! and you should. have fun scaling though :( - If you only have a couple customers i think you're right --- don't depend on 3rd party. However if you're interested in building a scale-able business over the next several months and years, you better have a good plan for satisfying all your customers...

Everyone needs mobile... demand is going to shoot through the roof here in the next 9 months.... get ready to make a ton of money. Hopefully you dont have to hire development help to keep your sites up.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I agree with Bonn.

I have experience on both ends of the spectrum and for me, it's about being able to scale and hit the masses with services. If I can produce a site almost instantly and add all the necessary features they require...it's a win/win situation.

I have been able to focus on getting clients which has results in A LOT more sales and subsequently upsell with SMS, SEO,etc...it's worked out quite well. =)

Someone mentioned technology start ups closing down just as quickly as they start up...but in this case, when you partner up with Google like Duda has - I'm okay with placing my bets with a 3rd party.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Great insight

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I like this website to get ideas on how to make their mobile websites.

So basically run it through the website get the template they make and duplicate it in a template.

works for me

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I see both sides of the discussion here, but I personally just signed up for Dudamobile's reseller program.

This isn't a fly-by-night technology that might disappear, and it's not prone to abuse/spamming (such as trying to manipulate Google, YouTube, etc.) that requires algorithm changes.

In terms of Facebook's recent changes to fan pages, that was also due to abuse from hackers / viruses using loopholes in Facebook's system (hence the need to prove you are on a SSL server now)

So yes. I do very much place Dudemobile on the same level as requiring a hosting company.

In theory, based on some of the arguments here, I shouldn't be using any 3rd party provider since ANY of them can disappear in a moment's notice (in theory).

All I know is my team will be able to pump out mobile versions of websites--for sales meetings and implementation--within minutes...and charge $20-$30/mo for them. (with no $200+ setup fee to create a "custom" website for them...how many MORE mom and pop businesses will be willing to sign up)

With a $6 cost and a $25 (average) retail cost that leaves $19 in profit (not incl. team costs)

10 business = $190/ mo

25 business = $475/ mo

How long does it take to enter a businesses URL into Dudamobile, have it generate a mobile mockup of the website, and then send a screenshot of that mockup beside how the business' current website looks to a decision maker? A couple minutes at most.

Imagine (as a business owner) you receive an email that shows you a before vs after image of how your website could be looking to potential customers--not to mention the amount of sales lost due to a poorly optimized mobile website--and then throw in a "setup fee waived if implemented within the next X days" type of scarcity.

Close 2 business a day (weekdays only if you're lazy) for an entire year and you are looking at a $10,000/mo recurring income (or SIX FIGURE BUSINESS) after one year.

Sounds good to me. :)

Dudamobile isn't really doing much other than converting their existing website into mobile form...so it's not as if the client loses everything IF Dudamobile were to disappear...since I'm sure there'd be another solution that easily take the place of converting the same site to a mobile version.

2 minutes vs 20 minutes (if you're lucky) to setup a website...I'll place my bet on the one the gets me the most ROI.

Cheers,

~Dexx

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I totally agree with Dexx. - Focus on sales and the consistent cash flow then if you get 100's of customers start planning contingencies then.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

This is really slick and I like the service. I would have to think twice about using it for clients though.

As others have said, its risky not having full control of the service.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I like the templates. Maybe I could offer a backup plan for clients who don't want to be at the mercy of the 3rd party for an extra charge. That way I'll save time with the ones that don't want the upsell and make money on the ones that do. Just a thought.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Yep, that's exactly what it's all about ... quick results, happy clients and making money. Why bother stuffing around with codes .. HTML .. PHP ..WP etc, etc. We're marketers, aren't we?

At the end of the day, if someone enjoys playing around with code for hours on end, let them go for it I say. But they'll be leaving a ton of money on the table.
I don't think Dudamobile or Google is going anywhere soon.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Thanks for the site. Easy is not the word. Thanks again

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I see both sides of the argumen too, but I agree with Dexx's point - even if Duda went down, it wouldn't be that difficult to find an alternative. Also, the point about it being a numbers game: less profit per site, but sell more of them.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Hi Guys,.
Great views on both sides.
However, as business/company owner offering such services, My goal is to
offer our In-House created product/services due to the mind frame of...
"Branding" my company/business as their (the small business owner's) 'Go To Guy' !

Using 3-parties more then our own, gives me the feeling of being their .. Guy who "finds" stuff for other's.. I think it's called being a Middle-Man. Did enough of that selling Merchandize for SMC to Mom & Pop shops, thank you.

I can also see the Greener-Grass perks... I find alot of folks refer to them self's as
simply a Marketer. I'm an Internet-Marketer..dabber.. I have offered PLR-products. Find the Need & Fill it. Yup, There is money in it.

Although, IMer's who really kill-It and become a "Brand"...
create their own stuff. This is where I'm heading or my thought process in Offline, In my Local area.

Still boils down to .. To each their own!

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

So if Duda went down and you had 20 mobile sites built with them, you'd find it easy to then go off and have to rebuild those 20 mobile websites elsewhere for your clients who have already paid?

If the company does not give me the files for the mobile website then I would NEVER use them to build my mobile websites for clients. Period. If you do so you are just asking for trouble.

Things change very quickly on the Internet.

IMO they are two very different things.

Having to rely on hosting is different to relying on a service like Duda. Hosting is necessary for every business and with proper backups, should something ever happen, you can very easily move your files over to a new host. The same cannot be said with services like this.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I like how you're able to convert a desktop site into a mobile-friendly one in just a matter of minutes, but I've been toying around with the site creator (using local restaurant websites) and am noticing that if there's flash on the desktop, or other glitches, it shows on the DudaMobile-created site as blank space or as a missing picture. Also, some of the layouts I've experimented with are clunky-looking on the mobile version

Granted, this is using the site editor that everyone has access to, so I'm not sure how customizable things are with a re-seller account. If there's a fix to all of this in the re-seller account, then I'll most definitely look into becoming a re-seller myself. If not, I'll either get WillR's or Quentin's WSOs.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

It would be a lot more helpful if they provided you with the underlying code.

As is, it's another tool in the toolbox. And as you know the more tools the better.

Some things that I noticed we're that some sites didn't translate well. I'm guessin' the advanced editor (which lets you add html/css) would be able to take care of that.

There are many templates but when you take a closer look there's a few base themes to which different icons and colors are added.

You can develop your own templates and if you stay in mobile marketing you'll develop a set of templates that you'll modify where appropriate so don't let the number of templates offered put "stars" in your eyes.

It's probably not something I'd use on a regular basis *but* you never know, so it goes into the toolbox.

Here's a question I have??

Often you make a mobile site without having a regular site (or even planning to make a regular site).

Does DudaMobile allow you to make a site not based on one that's already online??

The problem with Duda...
 

Is that the finished product sometimes looks lousy. I did some testing and it will take a fair amount of time to further edit the mobile site that their system reconfigured to make it look right. (removing text, resizing photos, moving content around).

I think you're better off building a bunch of your own templates in HTML and adding in client content and photos to finish it off. It would take about an hour to build at most if it was already 80% done. If you got busy enough and put together good documentation, you could outsource builds for $5-$10 per site. Then if you're charging $25/Mo to host, you keep all $25 versus constantly giving Duda $6 a month for hosting and whatnot ($72/yr).

Also, if your client wants to host the site, I'd sell it for $200/$300 instead of the lease and be done with it. I'd be more comfortable handing over something I created. I don't want the cat to get out of the bag that I sold them something for $25 a month that they could get on their own for $9/month from Duda.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I totally agree with willR, for real mobile developers you need custom coded mobile sites then host it yourself, you have full control of it. Any problem? I can only see the hosting company you're at but most are reliable IMO or worse you can backup and move.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

This is awesome..THanks !

Cheers,
Thinkmaverick.com

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Zoro,

I'm in the camp of creating these sites yourself and supplying them to your clients for ownership. If you are looking to partner up with someone that can crank out the mobile sites, let me know and we can work out a fantastic deal.

I can't PM since I don't have enough posts yet so I thought I would post here.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Great discussion! I have been pondering this issue in the past few weeks and I’ve tried many different CMS’s, Including Duda.

What I found was that neither one of them is doing a great job at converting your site and there is still a fair amount of modifications that need to be made. For example, Duda gave me the message: “could not locate your navigation”.

It might just be easier to create the pages from scratch using any of the tools out there than letting the tool convert it for you and then try to edit the pages.

Regarding ownership – while it feels more comfortable and “safe” to own the websites then to trust a black box somewhere, there is still the issue of keeping up with technology and scalability. Technology is changing rapidly and someone has to keep up with it. If you own it you are the one who has to do it, if the “blackbox” owns it – they are the ones doing it for you. If you have 200 client websites that you host yourself, that’s a lot of code to change.

What do you guys think of Wordpress as a platform for Mobile websites development?

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

The problem with WP is you'll need to have a upgrade if WP change it version.
The best will be custom development because people using wordpress as site can use WP plugins (free or fee) that transform site to mobile instantly. Not really accurate.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Duda mobile is not gonna just go down they host over a million sites and its a great tool! Its almost a necessity to use 3rd parties! Hosting providers, Payment processors, suppliers, wholesalers the list could be a mile long and we don't just stop using them because they might not be there the one day!

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

There is also another mobile marketing point to be made here... Mobile websites are not just limited to MOBILE OPTIMIZED VERSIONS of desktop websites... Mobile is about being highly targeted, lightweight and relevant.

If you're running a solid text message marketing campaign, you should have a link in there to a highly targeted mobile landing page with information harvesting action items, vibrant media and message to the customer...

If you're running a mobile ad campaign, your advertisements destination URL MUST be a mobile web landing page! And if you're any good at Search Engine Marketing, you know you should have MANY mobile campaigns going, with many different landing pages to optimize your message and calls to action to find what works best...otherwise you're wasting money and missing out on business

In both of these examples, you just need any given mobile campaign site to be up and running for the duration of the marketing campaign (typically 1 week to 2 months). A lot of people will start to realize the value of this in bringing their clients business locally and via mobile search engines.

Go ahead --- build your sites off of CMS platforms if you're worried about them going down... But remember, when you're getting ready to launch highly targeted and effective mobile marketing campaigns, you're going fall in love with, and always use dependable, scalable, efficient, mobile content management platforms that include hosting, theme management etc, QR Code management, and short url management.

:) Happy mobile marketing folks!

--Your very own mobile CMS fanboy and developer :)

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I don't agree.

Business must be going very well for you guys. I am forever deleting the self-promotional posts you and your other employees put in this forum. Not the sign of a successful company AT ALL.

There is a BIG difference to relying on things such as payment processors and the like, things that YOU rely on for YOUR business to operate. The truth is you should always have a back up provider for important services like that. If you don't, that's your own fault should something ever happen.

But the problem we are talking about here is when you unnecessarily rely on third party solutions for services and products you are providing to and charging your customers good money for.

That is a worry.

Oh, and if you think because duda mobile hosts thousands of sites that they aren't going anywhere in a hurry, you probably would have said the same about companies like MySpace right? Never say never. Technology based companies have the highest rate of failure.

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

I genuinely don't mean to offend... I just genuinely believe in mobile CMS's. In all honesty i very frequently advise people in this forum to research any and all mobile CMS and mobile template's solutions. Actually -- i frequently promote yours and quintins too!

Soooo -- again, i don't mean to offend.

If i am, thank you for sharing and ill definitely slow down on the self promotion for sure if its actually not helping anyone...

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

By all means join in and offer your advice. It's when a lot of those posts lead to you including a link back to your service or "check out the service in our sig" type comments that it becomes self promotional.

From my own experience you will get a lot more people wanting to check out your service if you just offer up real, unbiased advice. People are naturally going to want to check out your service if they see you know what you're talking about. But very rarely do people like those who toot their own horn.

Just saying. It's no problem and I have seen plenty of informative posts from you but just resist the temptation to self promote as the posts end up being deleted and you end up having wasted your time in writing the post.

You handled my criticism well so no hard feelings at all... I hope. ;)

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Thank you for your concern and advice. You're obviously a veteran member here. Ill bite my tongue on the self promo from now on. ;)

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

============
I totally agree with you. But it would be good if this kind of system will really make lives easier in setting up a mobile website. Just really have to make sure that possible advantages and disadvantages are all laid down.


Mary

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

This is one of the best threads I have found, especially on mobile marketing. Good balance of opinions from two sides of the coin. Will and Bonn both make great points and there are supporters to both views. As in so many things in life, it comes down to our preferences and abilities I suppose. I also prefer having the control over the content/process and have indeed found that to be limiting in terms scaleability so I am considering switching to the other camp. Thank you all for expressing your views, I have found the information of great value..

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

It's great, but with some ads on the pages. juk...

Re: Instantly turns any website into a mobile site .. so simple
 

Creating a mobile site is really not a difficult. It also provides you with total control and the ability to truly "make it right". Using a third party services carries some risks, and has a lot of limitations on your ability to drive the process. Having your mobile site on the client's server is an advantage in many ways.

Using a "create a mobile site instantly" program is not a best practice. Mobile sites have unique needs for load time, usability, etc. I do not believe there are acceptable shortcuts to doing a good mobile site.