WPtouch Pro Review- What You Need To Know About It
If you are in the market for a mobile marketing app or plugin for WordPress, the name “WPtouch” most probably has come up in your search once or twice. There are many mobile themes and plugins out there right now but WPtouch is without a doubt the one that has been around the longest, and has made its name as one of the top WP mobile plugins to date.
The rate of people accessing the internet through their mobile gadgets is accelerating and as an internet marketer (or anyone who relies on the internet for business), it is your job to make sure you give your site visitors a better mobile browsing experience.
The World Of Mobile Marketing
WPtouch has a lot of features that any marketer will enjoy. But we all know just how busy the life of a marketer is. So is mobile marketing something you need to add to your priority list? Well, the short is answer is yes, you need it a lot!
In the recent Web 2.0 Summit held in San Francisco, Mary Meeker talked about mobile marketing and how it is the future of the internet. In fact, data shows that in 2010, revenue from mobile ads and mobile apps reached a little over $5billion. But that is nothing compared to the expected $12billion by the end of this year. Obviously, there is money in mobile marketing.
The Basics of WPtouch Pro
WPtouch Pro is a plugin created by Brave New Code especially for WordPress blog owners. With this plugin, you can easily optimize your WordPress website for mobile viewing – be it for iPhone, Blackberry, Android or iPad.
This very website uses WPtouch for its mobile theme, check it out (just access this site with your mobile device).
Right now, there are two types of this plugin: WPtouch (free version) and WPtouch Pro (paid version). If you have your doubts about it, you should definitely try out the free version.
WPtouch Pro Features
Designing a mobile site is always a challenge. Due to the constrained amount of space, you can’t really get crazy with creativity. But WPtouch Pro has a lot of features that will easily enable you to express your vision and creativity with your mobile site – without sacrificing usability and accessibility. But if you aren’t into customization, you can basically use it too as a plug and play mobile theme.
WPtouch Pro also enables advertising (unlike most WP mobile plugins) and it supports AdSense, AdMob and custom ads. You can also get a better sense of who is viewing your mobile site through WPtouch Pro’s capability to implement analytics in the admin panel.
Is That It? More About WPtouch Pro
Since I have given you an overview of the features you can fin in WPtouch Pro, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of this powerful plugin. Here is a list of the different things you can expect when you download and install WPtouch Pro in your website:
- Easy to navigate user interface
- Display options can be disabled for a “cleaner” interface
- Developer license enables custom theme settings (backend and front end)
- Content is automatically formatted to fit mobile and iPad visitors
- Images are re-scaled and re-positioned based on screen size and orientation
- Supports any type of media
- Web-App mode makes your mobile site available as a standalone site when bookmarked
- Web-App mode can be customized for branding purposes
- Supports Adsense, Admob and Custom Ads
- Child theme support for developers
- Customized CSS
- Compatible with most WP plugins
The Prices And Your Choices
As I mentioned earlier, there is a free and paid version of the plugin. The free version is very basic but it does provide all the functions a mobile site needs to have: an easier browsing experience for mobile browsers. Aside from that, you can also customize the icons, integrate ad sense ads and social networking integration.
But if you are in the market for a full-fledged mobile site plugin and you have the budget for it, here are the different pricing options you can choose from:
- Pro Single ($39)– license for one mobile site
- Pro 5 Pack ($69)– license for five mobile sites
- Pro Developer ($199)– license for unlimited mobile sites
What Makes WPtouch Different
Perhaps the biggest difference of WPtouch is that it is highly customizable. Sure, WP Mobile Pro and the HandHeld Mobile theme can easily be tweaked too; but there are more options in WPtouch Pro (the configuration options in the Menu bar aka “Main”) than the others. There aren’t a lot of mobile plugins too that support advertising so that’s a big plus for WPtouch Pro. You can also easily identify any error in your mobile site even before publication through the error report function in the WPtouch Board.
It should also be noted that WPtouch is a WordPress mobile theme plugin, and it does not create complete mobile sites from scratch (like WP Mobile Pro). Another mobile WordPress theme you may have heard of is the HandHeld Mobile theme (see the Handheld Mobile review). As an easily configurable WordPress plugin, it offers marketers the ability to very quickly turn their WordPress blogs into mobile-optimized sites.
But Before You Download WPtouch Pro…
Even though downloading and installing WPtouch Pro is as easy as 123 , there are, of course, several things that you need to consider before you download and install WPtouch Pro in your website. Here’s a checklist to help you out:
- WPtouch Technical Requirements: WP 3.1 or higher, PHP 4.49 (PHP Safe mode must be disabled), write access to wp-content.
- WPtouch has a seven – day money back guarantee for customers who aren’t satisfied with it.
- Should you decide to upgrade your license, you will only pay the difference in price of the packages- no need to pay another fee.
- Plugin upgrades are free.
- Supported devices include iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android, Blackberry OS6 and higher, Samsung touch phones and Palm Pre/Pixi.
The WPtouch Pro Verdict
Overall, WPtouch Pro provides internet marketers the freedom to make their mobile site really their own. WPtouch Pro provides bloggers with a quick and customizable way to turn your existing website into a practical and good looking mobile site. It is packed with a lot of features and the flexible pricing plans make it affordable for most marketer’s needs.
Check out this walk-through of WPtouch Pro to get an idea of how it formats your site and what its customization options are.