This is a guest post by Carol Wilson of http://www.businessinsurance.org/

According to the most recent statistics available, more than 35 percent of the U.S. populations owns asmartphone—a majority of which heavily depend on their device for immediate internet access. Thus it’s important that your WordPress blog has a mobile version as well—if not, you can be missing out on a
huge pool of readers and costumers. If you’re worried because you don’t have the slightest clue about how to build a mobile-friendly version of your blog however, don’t be. There are tons of mobile-builders and plug-ins that can do all of the hard work for you. And the best part? All of the ones listed below are free.

That said, to learn some of the top free mobile-builders in the biz, continue reading below.

1. WordPress Mobile Edition.

This free mobile plug-in allows users to choose from four different Carrington “themes” in order to select the best one that will correlate with your desktop version. In either case, all four selections are specifically designed to present your mobile WordPress in a clear and crisp way. The plug-in works with all major smartphones, including the iPhone, Blackberry and Android operating systems.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-edition/

MobilePress

This mobile-builder, which also allows users to choose from customized themes (or create their own), works hand-in-hand with Aduity so that users can post ads on their mobile version from some of the biggest ad agencies on the web including Admob, Quattro Wireless, Buzzcity and InMobi.

Of course, users can also post their own managed ads. Just be careful with the ones that use Flash as they slow up mobile-uploading time and may not appear at all. This plug-in also allows its users to keep track of analytics.

http://mobilepress.co.za/

WordPress Mobile Pack.

This crafty plug-in, in addition to offering an array of mobile themes that can specifically correlate with each unique visitor, also allows users to add widgets and a “mobile switcher.” This switcher will give mobile browsers the option of viewing the mobile, compacted version or the desktop version of your site. If the user chooses the mobile version, the plug-in will automatically rescale all of the images and articles to fit the tiny screen of a smartphone and will remove any media that cannot be supported on the mobile version.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-mobile-pack/

Mobify

While this mobile-builder typically charges for its services, it does offer a “Studio Basic” package at no cost. The free basic version will easily send mobile users to the correct site for an easy and pleasant browsing experience—and the interfaces are exceptionally sleek and professional-looking.
But in exchange, the company will place their logo on the footer (no worries it is tastefully done and isn’t distracting). The only downside is that the free version will not give you access to information regarding analytics or statistics, so you’ll never know how many people view your mobile-site. This mobile-builder works with all major operating systems, including Android, Blackberry and the iPhone.

http://mobify.com/

Zinadoo

This mobile-builder is only available for free for a 14-day-trial period, but that might be all the time you need to get hooked and purchase the real thing. This service allows its users to create widgets, keep track of analytics, have an unlimited number of pages and as a bonus users can optimize their site for Google Mobile with keywords and tags.

http://www.zinadoo.com/

Byline:

This is a guest post from Carol Wilson who writes for business insurance guide. She contributes articles about a variety of marketing, business, stock market, small business topics. She can be contacted at: wilson.carol24 @ gmail.com.

Neil’s Two Pennies Worth

Two things I have found when using mobile devices & mobile theme plugins

1. Can I just add a nugget of wisdom if you are planning to use a mobile theme and use a performance cache plugin such as wp-supercache or w3-total-cache, they don’t work too well, so reject the user agents of mobile devices http://www.user-agents.org/
2. iPhone and Ipad DO NOT SUPPORT flash video, so if you use WordTube or one of the many video plugins that use flash, they will not display on those devices, go for jetpack to dispaly video or some other html5 compliant video plugin