As I said in this month’s intro to mobile marketing, the worst thing a small business can do is take on a Goliath project without the aid or consultation of a professional. If you’re ready to take on mobile marketing, you need to make sure you’re at least seeing what the professionals have to say. Here’s where to get started.

Mobify.me – Ideal for e-commerce needs, Mobify is an industry leader and was founded in 2007 – which perhaps best showcases the explosive growth of the mobile marketing industry. Mobify lets you create a custom mobile version of your existing site. The basic service is free, which just gets you website mobility.

Customer reviews highlight how easy it is to be a part of the process without needing to know the technical nooks and crannies. What they didn’t care for was the extensive review process that contributed to some delay. This however is a given and should be considered when dealing with anything new media related; it’s a process and it takes time, so give yourself the time to do it.

Netbiscuits – Also offering a free version to optimize your site for mobile use, Netbiscuits is highly ranked for non-expert usability. While Mobify freebies focus more on template sheets for various pages, Netbiscuits focuses on developing creative content like scrollers, image sliders and cover-flow menus. A “drag and drop” tool makes it easy to get the task done, including setting up your own apps. You also get content optimization for CSS, images, audio and video – letting you perfect both function and form.

Winksite – Best for a business owner with various online destinations, Winksite lets you create up to five different mobile sites. Winksite offers a worthwhile library that’ll let you customize functionality. You can include events, notes, chats, forums, surveys, guestbook and links. It also connects with mobile advertising without infringing on the site owner’s ad revenue. This is perhaps best for someone creating a site from scratch rather than just optimizing their current content for mobile adaptability.

mobiSiteGalore – This one wins for clarity. It’s very easy for an end user to navigate and understand while journeying down the mobile marketing road. They clearly identify the who, what and how of their business, which makes doing business with them far more pleasant. You won’t need any special technical knowledge. MobiSiteGalore also has a roll back feature, which lets you undo any unwanted steps – a service perhaps designed for the novice end user. All designs are completely customizable and users can access 24/7 email customer service. Whether you’re optimizing pages or creating a site from scratch, mobiSiteGalore is a formidable choice.

Wirenode – Their offering competes as one of the top three mobile marketing solutions. It’s also easy to use, free for personal use, offers mobile widgets, polls/forums, table of contents page, demo page, unique designs and QR codes, multimedia management, multi-site administration and overall optimization for your existing site. It also offers analytics, which not all solutions do.

Users reportedly love how easy it is to create a mobile version of their site, with some citing that it took just five minutes.

MoFuse – Ideal for mobile web content management needs, MoFuse also features the drag and drop feature and includes experts who can do this task for you. You can take advantage of a one time build option by having a MoFuse mobile design expert create your mobile optimized site for you, fix what’s already there or just offer some pointers.

Most of these solutions have a free trial you can use. But don’t get too caught up with free trials, simply because of the time involved. Imagine the functionality, or lack thereof, behind it. You’d have to create a mobile version of your site, measure the return and then undo that to redo it all with another company. It’s best to research your options first.

作者簡介:

by Shireen Qudosi

Shireen Qudosi is Benchmark Email's Online Marketing Specialist and Small Business Advocate. An Orange County based writer, Shireen specializes in online marketing and public relations. She has written for over 75 publications and has launched nine successful new media campaigns to date. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Denver Post, the Oklahoman and Green Air Radio, among others.