Traffic is the biggest issue for any webmaster – how to get it, how to keep it, how to increase it and any other relevant ‘how to’ you can think of. As more and more ways of digesting information on the internet are presented to people, keeping up with them becomes more and more of an issue. It is essential that you do – nothing puts off a user faster than not being able to access their favourite site on their newest gizmo. You are also losing a potential market.
The web is going mobile and consequently we have to take our sites mobile too, turning your blog into an iPad app can be very expensive, the enquiries I made gave me cause to wince! Then I came across PadPressed, a plugin for WordPress that effectively turns your blog into a native app, without all the hoo hah of development and going through the App Store approval process. When your site is accessed from the iPad it is presented in a very nice format – posts are two columns in the vertical, three in the horizontal and with all the things you would expect from an app. The home page has two side bars into which you can drop widgets as you normally would.
Built in social sharing, swipe featured slider, custom home icon, featured category slider, swipe to advance, touch navigation and so on are all there, though I would suggest you upload your own icons – I still have that small job to do. When your reader bookmarks the site, a nice little icon drops onto the screen for direct access and fits in perfectly with the usual app icon, even down to the highlight. Uploading your own logo is simple enough too. In fact, it gave me a little glow of pride when I saw my logo sitting there on my iPad screen – simple things please me immensely!
There are a number of ‘Themes’ that you can choose from and I understand that there are plans in the pipeline for more and also for further development.
There were a few issues when it first hit the streets last week but credit to the support team, they got it sorted quickly and the support forum is well monitored so problems get picked up and sorted. Installation was simple and it only took a few minutes to sort out. I still have to do some fine tuning in terms of what I want in the sidebars and icons for the main categories but you could be good to go on the iPad in less than ten minutes. You do need to think a little bit about post formatting and images but nothing too onerous, just common sense really.
It is a paid plugin – $49.99 – but compared to the cost of developing an app that is peanuts. I’m delighted with it and will be rolling it out on a number of mine and my clients sites over the next few weeks. Combined with WPTouch for the iPhone etc – free or relatively inexpensive for the pro version – you can have your site mobile in minutes which has got to be good. You can get further details here > PadPressed
In the meantime – a short video demo for your delight
PS – Yes it is an affiliate link… that doesn’t mean you pay any extra.
