19 Best Mobile Apps to Manage Your WordPress Site

Are you looking for mobile apps to manage your WordPress site on the go? Running a successful website requires a lot of time, and its hard to sit in front of a computer all day. In this article, we will share the best mobile apps to manage your WordPress site using your phone.

1. WordPress.com Apps

WordPress.com offers apps that connect to your self-hosted WordPress site. You can create posts, upload photos, and moderate comments from your Android or iOS devices.

Certain features of the app require you to create a WordPress.com account. It also comes with a built-in reader that shows the blogs you have followed on WordPress.com.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to use WordPress app on your mobile devices.

2. WooCommerce

If you run an online store using WooCommerce, then you can use the WooCommerce app for iOS to manage your store on the go.

The app offers a beautiful interface to view your store performance such as orders and sales.

It is not the replacement for the Desktop version as it lacks in terms of features. However, it is pretty useful to look at orders even when you are away from a computer.

3. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is the most powerful and free analytics tool available for website owners. It allows you to answer questions like

– How many people visit your website?
– Where they come from?
– What they do while visiting your website?

If you are not already using it, then see our step by step guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

Google Analytics app allows you to view your site reports using your mobile device. It allows you to create and view custom reports. You can select date ranges and view real time reports.

4. Evernote

Ideas for great blog posts, products, or strategies can appear out of no where. Evernote allows you to take notes using your mobile device, and it syncs across all your devices.

You can create to-do lists, draw doodles, take notes, save pictures, bookmarks, and videos. Evernote works on all mobile platforms, PCs, and Mac.

Alternatives: Google Keep | OneNote

5. Pingdom

Pingdom is a popular website uptime monitoring service. You can set it up to monitor one site’s uptime for free.

Pingdom’s mobile apps alert you when your site is down. It also shows you the status of your website and the services you are monitoring.

6. Buffer

Buffer allows you to schedule posts for your social media profiles. Their mobile apps allow you to do that from anywhere using your mobile device.

You can view the posts you have queued, posts you have shared, analytics, and add new content on the go. It helps you keep your followers engaged even when you are away from your desk.

7. IFTTT

IFTTT allows you make internet work for you. The IFTTT mobile app brings that power to your mobile devices.

You can use it as a monitoring tool, automate your workflow, and get instant notifications. Aside from WordPress, it also works with many other online services and tools. It even allows you to automate your smart home and office.

Take a look at our tutorial on how to automate WordPress and social media with IFTTT for more details.

8. Feedly

Feedly is a smart and modern feed reader. Using the Feedly app on your mobile phone, you can stay in touch with your favorite news sources, blogs, and websites.

You can also organize your favorite websites into different topics as collections. Feedly also makes it easy to share your articles directly from the app.

9. Facebook Pages Manager

The easiest way to boost activity on your Facebook pages is by engaging with your audience. Facebook Pages Manager allows you to do manage your pages more efficiently.

It shows you notifications and activities from your Facebook Pages. You can also view reports on how well your posts are doing. Most importantly you can publish posts, upload photos, and respond to comments.

Need more Facebook tips? See our list of best Facebook tips and tutorials for WordPress users

10. Facebook Ads Manager

Facebook Ads allow you to retarget website visitors on Facebook. If you are using them right, then you can easily boost your page likes several times over.

Facebook Ads Manager app allows you to view reports, create ads, and manage your ads from mobile devices.

11. Inbox by Google

As a WordPress site owner, you will get a lot of email notifications for comments, updates, and contact form notifications.

Inbox by Google allows you to clean up your inbox quickly. This smart email client automatically bundles your emails into groups and allows you to easily mark them as done.

It also reduces notifications by only notifying you for important emails, and it is pretty good at guessing which emails are important.

12. Google Drive

Google Drive offers you free storage for all your files. More importantly, it allows you to access those files from anywhere on any device.

Alternatives: Dropbox | OneDrive

13. Google Authenticator

Passwords can be easily cracked by hackers, and it makes your WordPress site vulnerable. Adding two step verification protects your WordPress site against hacking attempts.

Google Authenticator app helps you add two step verification to many applications including your WordPress site. See our guide on how to add two step verification with Google Authenticator in WordPress.

See our ultimate WordPress security guide to further improve your website security.

14. Google Adsense

Google Adsense provides an easy way to make money for small websites and blogs. If you are already using Google Adsense to serve ads on your WordPress site, then Google Adsense app is a great companion for you.

The app provides you with an overview of your Adsense account. It gives you instant access to detailed earning reports on all key metrics.

15. PayPal

If you run an online store, then PayPal mobile app is a must have app. You can see all your PayPal activity from your mobile devices.

You can also make payments, transfer balance from PayPal to your bank account, and much more.

16. LastPass

You should always use strong passwords for all your accounts including your WordPress site. However, it is not possible to remember all those difficult passwords.

LastPass makes it easier to manage all your passwords, so that you don’t have to remember passwords anymore. It works on desktop, browsers, and even on your mobile.

For more details, see our guide on how to manage passwords for WordPress beginners.

17. Pomodoro Timer

As a business owner, you may find it difficult to concentrate on one task at a time. This is where Pomodoro Timer comes in.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method. It uses a timer to break down work into intervals, separated by small breaks.

Our CEO, Syed Balkhi, has written a great post on how to use time-blocking.

Alternate versions: Pomodoro Timer for iOS | Pomodoro Timer for Google Chrome

18. IA Writer

Writing on mobile devices is particularly difficult. The screen size is too small, and its painful to slide up and down.

IA Writer makes it easier to write on mobile devices and makes it a pleasant experience. It comes with a clean clutter free and intuitive UI which helps you work on long articles from your mobile devices.

Most importantly you can connect the app to your WordPress site and publish or save drafts directly.

19. Trello

Whether you are an individual blogger or a team, getting things done requires discipline and organization. Trello helps you collaborate, manage, and organize your workflow.

Trello is a productivity app for individuals as well as teams. It uses boards, lists, and cards to organize tasks in a fun and rewarding way.

That’s all for now.

We hope this list helped you find some new apps to manage your WordPress site on the go. You may also want to see our list of 24 must have WordPress plugins for business websites

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 19 Best Mobile Apps to Manage Your WordPress Site appeared first on WPBeginner.

Page 4 – WPBeginner

4 Ways to Improve the Mobile Version of Your WordPress Theme

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class="alignright size-full wp-image-932 border" alt="Mobile Version WordPress" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-1.jpg" width="300" height="450" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-1.jpg 300w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-1-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

Let’s face the truth, mobile devices are getting more and more popular. Desktop browsing is not growing anymore,  it’s decreasing actually, while mobile is growing fast with all those awesome smart phones and tables out there.

According to Net MarketShare, mobile devices represent 10% of the total web traffic. It’s a big figure, and it’s even bigger in some niches and countries. But the important thing here is the special attention that mobile devices require, because of the limited screen space and the fact that mobile connections are usually slower than desktop connection.

A lot of WordPress themes are responsive but you know, we’ll always have room for improvements. So here we’ll see 4 technologies and ways to use them in order to improve the mobile experience for your users.

#1 Ol’ Media Types

A few years back, when IE5.5 and IE6 were considered alive, mobile browsers were just starting to popping out (and Opera was by far the best one), and people started to realize that things were just breaking since phones back then just couldn’t process simple things like CSS (not to mention JS, flash and so on).

So, doing a completely separated mobile site was the only option when the media types came to save us. The idea was simple, you could tell the browser if the file that you are providing is “advanced” CSS rules (for desktops) or simple CSS rules (for handheld or print). The syntax is as simple as this:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="handheld.css" type="text/css" media="handheld" />

This can be a good option to create a completely different design for your mobile site. But you just shouldn’t use it.

Media types may sound good at first but a simple problem came with modern smart phones: the lack of browser support. Most major players out there were just ignoring this kind of functionality (like apple)
Then media queries come to save us.

#2 Media Queries and how to really improve mobile experience

This is by far the most popular way to create a mobile version of your site.

You can target certain points based on a rage of browser size, device screen size, pixel density (yeah, retina!), and even media types.

Here is a simple media query:

@media (max-width: 700px) {
	body { background: red; }
}

This is pretty much the same as programming. IF “browser width is 700 or lower”, THEN “apply the following CSS code”.

Child Theme

Let’s create a new folder in your /themes and name it twentyMobile. I know, twenty twelve already uses media queries, but we’re here to learn, aren’t we?

So, create a style.css file and add this content:

/*
	Theme Name: mobile theme
	Template: twentytwelve
*/
	@import url(“../twentytwelve/style.css”);

	@media handheld, only screen and (max-width: 767px){
		nav ul { display: none;}
		nav select {display:block}
	}

Above we created the child theme CSS and also we’ve added a rule that will target only mobile devices, that will hide the main menu and show a select. So if you have a menu in a select you could save a lot of space instead of displaying it as ul / li items

#3 Extreme makeover with jQuery Mobile

jQuery mobile is an awesome framework that uses jQuery functionality to improve mobile experience, with optimized widgets and UI elements.

The HTML needed o make it work is quite simple, it just uses the HTML data attributes to and JS to detect and create UI widgets.

But in order to make the jQuery Mobile work properly in your WordPress blog you’ll need to call the jQuery mobile script first. Getting back to our child theme, duplicate main theme’s header.php file and add these lines in the head tag:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.1/jquery.mobile-1.3.1.min.css" />
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.1/jquery.mobile-1.3.1.min.js"></script>

I should mention that for commercial proposes you should use wp_enqueue _script, so you’ll avoid duplicating libraries in your site.
Now we can play around with pretty much any UI element you want. jQuery mobile has a lot of UI widgets that you can use in a theme, but let’s apply the page and collapsible panels.
This is the basic HTML syntax:

<div data-role=“page”>
    <div data-role=“header”></div>
    <div data-role=“content”></div>
    <div data-role=“footer”></div>
</div>

With this code you’ll create a new “page” and the header, content and footer areas. The header and footer are fixed, and the content will change based on current page, so you can load multiple pages once and just hide them by assigning different IDs.
This is the basic HTML for collapsible panels:

<div data-role=“collapsible-set”>
    <div data-role=“collapsible-set” data-collapsed=“true”>
        <p>Collapsible area content</p>
    </div>
</div>

It’s quite simple to implement a loop there, isn’t it? Well, your code will look like this:

<div data-role="collapsible-set">
    <? while ( have_posts() ){
        ...
    ?>
        <div data-role="collapsible" data-collapsed="true"></div>

    <?
        ...
    }
?>
</div>

The select menu revised

With the code we’ve seen above (in the media queries section) you could hide your usual menu and show a special select menu. jQuery allows you to add it without much PHP code (to be honest we won’t need PHP at all). Let’s create a new file and add this code there:

jQuery(function($){
    //when the DOM is ready
    $(document).ready(function(){
        // let’s create the select element
        $("<select />").appendTo("nav");
        //With the new option, go to…
            $("<option/>", {
                "value" : "",
                "text" : "Go to…"
            }).appendTo("nav select");
    });

    //Now we have the select created let’s populate it:
    $("nav .menu a").each(function(){
        // for each LINK you find in the menu
        var aux = $(this);
        $("<option />",
        {
            "value" : aux.attr("href"),
            "html" : aux.text();
        }).appendTo("nav select"); // append a new item to the select
    )};

    //then we set the dropdown functionality to redirect when we select a new item
    $("nav select").change(function(){
        window.location = $(this).find("option: selected").val();
    });

});

Doing this will create a new mobile menu, BUT the problem is, we’re loading jquery mobile even in the “normal” version of the site. That’s why we can use also a few plugins to help us improving our site.

#4 – Wrapping everything up with Mobile Detector

This awesome plugin creates a new functionality that allows us to conditionally load themes depending on user device. And it works with simple conditional rules, like this:

<?php
    if(MobileDTS::is(‘android’)){
        ....
    } elseif(MobileDTS::is(‘mobile’)){
        ....
    } else {
    }
?>

The MobileDTS method checks current device then returns a simple true / false. Then we can use a magic function called switch_theme( ) to set a new theme, and you can use plugin conditionals like MobileDTS::is_switcher_enabled() to create a link to a desktop version when using mobile, for instance.

Conclusion

So, have you ever used mobile plugins or functions in your WordPress theme? Which method do you prefer? Don’t be shy and share your thoughts!

Page 21 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed

Mobile World and Mobile Marketing in 2013 – Tips and Tricks for Revenue Increase

alt="Mobile World and Mobile Marketing in 2013 – Tips and Tricks for Revenue Increase" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-3-500x321_c.jpg" />

dir="ltr">Just look around you – smart-phones and tablets are virtually everywhere, used by everyone, from those aged 5 to those aged 70. Ignoring m-commerce is not an option. Since mobile search has changed the way people search for websites, a mobile website, responsive design, a cool app, or a combination of all these is necessary for a chance at success.

dir="ltr">However, it is often not enough just to go mobile – you have to think mobile and create campaigns which support the idea that the world has gone, well, mobile.

dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">class="aligncenter wp-image-938" alt="Mobile " src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-3.jpg" width="750" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-3.jpg 615w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/0427-3-300x193.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px" />

The Stats Prove What We See

dir="ltr">Nearly 60 percent of all activities on mobile devices are search related, and 4 out of 5 consumers will use mobile search and their smartphones to shop. Twenty five percent of consumers shop online only when they are using their mobile devices.

dir="ltr">This is a significant portion of the market left unattended by those who do not keep up with the latest trends. Engaging this part of the market with your online shop requires adapting to the mobile.

dir="ltr">By 2016, nearly 60% of all consumers will own a smartphone. (Source: href="http://www.digby.com/mobile-statistics/">http://www.digby.com/mobile-statistics/ ). A good question to ask yourself at this point is whether you want to reveal the hidden potentials of your business by going mobile. Let’s see a case study which speaks in favor of this motion.

A Case Study – Domino’s Pizza

dir="ltr">After a scandal which inflicted severe damage on the company’s image, the leading pizza delivery service from the United States, Domino’s Pizza, recovered swiftly with the aid of new technologies. Namely, the overall number of online orders increased, and the weekly revenue reached £ 1 million, 50.6 % percent of which was due to online commerce.

dir="ltr">What we are interested in here is the fact that Domino’s Pizza has been using a number of mobile platforms for smartphones and tablets, relying both on these platforms and a mobile-optimized website. This company presents their services using a mobile app named href="http://blippar.com/blipps/view/65">Blippar, which, apart from giving the customers the opportunity to order via a mobile device, offers a connection to Domino’s Pizza Facebook profile, their menu, store locator, as well as the company’s own app.

dir="ltr">Reference link, href="http://www.aquarius.biz/en/2012/03/29/case-study-dominos-pizza-growth-through-mcommerce/">here.

Mobile Search, Websites and Apps – Changes and Recommendations

What Has Changed?

dir="ltr">Mobile search is not a passing fad, but a direction in which your customers are going. Nowadays, mobile devices are used for doing the actual shopping, while desktops and laptops are mostly used for doing the pre-shopping research.

dir="ltr">You need to take advantage of this fact.

dir="ltr">Furthermore, you need to know that SEM is becoming increasingly focused on the mobile, as well. Mobile ads now represent 20 percent of all spending on paid search advertisements, and the competitiveness grows accordingly, since the screen of a mobile device can show fewer advertisements, thus making the visibility race harsher.

The Recommendations

dir="ltr">So, what is the recommendation for e-commerce stores? Develop a new website which will use a responsive design. You can develop a separate mobile website, but then you need to introduce switchboard tags, and, overall, we would not recommend a separate website.

dir="ltr">A responsive design enables your website to adapt itself to mobile devices such as smartphones and it is becoming more and more popular due to the fact that it will soon be a requirement, since adaptation is required for different types of displays as well, and not just for mobile devices.

dir="ltr">Check out these href="http://econsultancy.com/rs/blog/61824-10-brilliant-examples-of-responsive-design-in-ecommerce">examples of responsive designs used by e-commerce stores, and you will be able to see things more clearly.

dir="ltr">Another thing you should consider is developing an app for your business, especially if you are selling clothes or objects for everyday use. In the previously mentioned case study, an app was used to boost revenue, among other things, and many other companies are doing the exact same thing.

dir="ltr">href="http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011">Amazon’s got an app store, so why wouldn’t you have it as well?

Mobile Marketing – The Recommendations for 2013

dir="ltr">Developing a responsive website, suitable for mobile devices, or a great mobile app is only a part of the work that needs to be done.

dir="ltr">The next thing on your to-do list should be mobile marketing, which is another important aspect of keeping up with your audience, and you need to pay attention both to search advertising and to other types of mobile marketing campaigns.

Mobile Marketing Tips

dir="ltr">The first thing you need to consider as far as the search advertising is concerned is the potential ROI, which will determine your budget for mobile advertising, and you need to do this by reviewing the habits of your target group (or groups).

dir="ltr">What you also need to keep in mind is the traffic you are actually getting from mobile devices. There is no point in creating a mobile campaign if your audience is somewhere else.

dir="ltr">If you decide that mobile advertising pays off, structuring your campaigns specifically for mobile devices adds to the potential of your overall campaign. Separating mobile campaigns from desktop campaigns is definitely cost effective, since href="http://www.slideshare.net/performics_us/the-latest-mobile-search-trends-and-best-practices-february-2012">mobile campaigns outperform combined desktop-mobile campaigns by 11.5%.

dir="ltr">You will get even better results if you separate the smartphone campaign from the tablet campaign keeping in mind that the ad positions are highly relevant because there are only 5 slots for ads on mobile devices, and, what good will your ad do if it is not clearly visible, that is, if it is not located in one of the first two slots? href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-business-ideas/why-good-content-should-be-at-the-heart-of-your-link-building-campaign/">The ads should not be your only strategy. What happens with mobile devices is that they open some channels of communication with the potential customers you probably didn’t consider. Turning to SMS marketing or mobile coupons could boost your ROI significantly:

• dir="ltr">SMS marketing – Targeting and segmentation of the audience is vital since there are only 160 characters for delivering a message.

• dir="ltr">Mobile coupons – There are four ways to offer mobile coupons – banner ads, mobile apps, QR codes and SMS. Whichever way you choose, keep in mind that a good deal is a powerful incentive for buyers. Just remember Black Friday…

dir="ltr">So, whatever you choose to do, always keep in mind that your mobile website needs to support each one of your campaigns. Special landing pages are often necessary, because if your potential customers do not land on whatever they were searching for when they clicked your ad or a link to your website, they are just going to move on.

dir="ltr">The same thing goes if the payment procedure is too complicated for them, so make sure it is clear and simple.

The World Has Gone Mobile – Will You Follow?

We introduced the most important things you need to know about going mobile. Now it is up to you to decide whether what we were talking about is worth your attention. We would recommend that you start working on going mobile immediately, since, if you haven’t considered it yet, you are already falling behind.

Keeping pace with the technological development is not always easy, but everything comes at a price, and we think it will cost you much more if you choose to ignore the current mobile trends.

Page 21 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed