Already have a weblog or journal with a service such as Typepad, WordPress, Blogger, or Live Journal? If your service provides a valid feed in any of the major formats, creating a mobile edition is simple.

How To Get Started In Under 3 Minutes

1. Sign up for a FREE WINKsite account at the following URL: http://winksite.com/site/signup.cfm
   (Note: We DO NOT release your email address or send SPAM.)
2. Set-up a basic mobile site.
3. You will then be brought to the site's “Main Menu” admin screen.
4. In the left side bar, at the top you will notice a graphic, “Mobilize Your Blog” followed by the words “Mobilize Your Existing Blog via Feed Syndication | enter feed”
5. Click on “enter feed” and enter the feed URL for your existing blog (accepts any of the major formats).
6. You will then be returned to the “Main Menu” screen with the “Blog” channel toggled “ON”.
7. That's it. Your done. Fire up your mobile web browser and check it out.

What Will My Visitors See?
Visitors to the mobile edition of your blog will be able to scan your headlines then link to summaries or full content. If you do not include full text in your feed (and even if you do) a “View full entry…” link is provided to the full post at its originating URL. Visitors can click on this link to read the complete post at your site. Keep in mind this will not work consistantly across all mobile browsers (especially WAP) for various reasons. For those cases we also include a “Send entry to…” link so users can send the post with it's full content link to an email address for desktop access at another time. For obvious reasons we recommend providing full content. Finally, if they are registered at WINKsite they are also provided with an option to subscribe to your feed.

Universal Distribution Across All Mobile Devices.
As mentioned in previous posts one of our goals at WINKsite is to help get content onto subscriber's phones and so grow the author's audience. Why? The mobile audience is huge – The GSM Association has announced that the number of subscribers to GSM wireless networks has surpassed the one billion mark. That's roughly equivalent to one-sixth of the entire world population.

While some blogging services provide style sheets for a PDA-friendly version of your blog content, those templates alone reach just a fraction of the total mobile audience.

As such, WINKsite distributes the mobile edition of your blog in formats accessable by any web-enabled mobile phone.

There's More.
In addition to your blog, you can choose to activate ancillary mobile channels on your mobile site (i.e. forum, polls, events, mobile chat, notes, and more) that transforms this mobile space into a powerful communication, collaboration and coordination tool.

While You're At It…
Your mobile site also includes a “Syndicated Feeds” channel where you can subscribe to and read feeds on your mobile device. Feeds can be entered individually or by mass upload of an OPML file. More information on the “Syndicated Feeds” channel is available at the following post: A Mobile Feed Reader With A Twist

Creative Commons Support.
WINKsite's Creative Commons service will allow you to add a CC license to your site or pass your existing blog's CC license through to your feed. Learn more.

We Call It The Syndicated Feeds Channel. You Can Call It Whatever You Wish.
Each mobile site you create at Winksite includes a “Syndicated Feeds” channel. Using this channel as a mobile feed reader allows you to connect to your favorite Weblogs and news feeds while on the go.

How To Get Started In Under 3 Minutes

1. Sign up for a FREE Winksite account. (30 seconds)
2. Set-up a basic mobile site. (30 seconds)
3. Toggle on the “Syndicated Feeds” channel. (1 click, 1 second)
4. Subscribe to your favorite feeds. (Up to you)
5. Fire up your mobile web browser. (3-5 seconds)
6. Point to your personalized Winksite address. (5-10 seconds)
7. Start reading.

Feature highlights include:

• Offered FREE of charge to individuals and non-profit organizations for non-commercial use.
• Works on ALL web-enabled phones, PDAs and PCs (i.e. Phone, SmartPhone, HipTop/Sidekick, Pocket PC, Palm, BlackBerry, Desktop PC & Mac)
• Works on ALL open carrier networks worldwide.
• Browser-based and hassle free. No download or installation required.
• Supports feeds in ALL major formats (RSS, RDF, and Atom)
• Feeds are delivered to you fresh on demand.
• Populate your mobile feed reader with feeds available in our Feed Directory (1000’s of feeds in dozens of categories).
• Enter your favorite feeds. No limits imposed on the number of feeds you can subscribe to.
• Create an unlimited number of categories to organize your feeds
• Import and Export feed subscription lists in OPML (allows interoperation with other RSS applications). OPML Import via file upload or web address includes a wizard to confirm which feeds are imported and what categories they get placed within.
• Supports OPML export of your feed subscriptions.
• Read headlines, descriptions (summaries), and if available – full content feeds.
• Auto-pagination. Insures large items are digestible on memory-starved mobile devices.
• Read items with your browsers default preferences for small, medium, or large fonts.
• Ability to send items to an email address.
• Opens original content link in your handset’s default web browser.
• Personalize the display name of the “Syndicated Feeds” channel on your mobile site.
• Support for the extended Latin encoding.
• Future plans include image, audio & video support.

Now For The Twist. Content + People + Mobile Device = Mobile Community.
The “Syndicated Feeds” channel can also be used for publishing feeds to a community. Unlike other mobile feed readers, the feeds you subscribe to at Winksite can be shared with the visitors to your mobile site. This single difference changes the potential of how feed syndication can be utilized in a mobile environment.

Accessing various categories of feeds from your mobile device while “on the go” seems to make so much more sense than from your desktop. For example, combinations of content, weather and event feeds can be combined to support the development of city guides and directories.

Furthermore, you can choose to activate ancillary mobile channels (i.e. mobile chat, forum, community blog and polls) that transforms this mobile content space into a communication, collaboration and coordination space.

Consider using the “Syndicated Feeds” channel to organize and publish the following types of feeds:

• New Homes – realtors can provide updated feeds of new home listings on the market
• Job Openings – placement firms and newspapers can provide a classifieds feed of job vacancies
• Auction Items – auction vendors can provide feeds containing items that have been recently added to eBay or other auction sites
• Forum Headlines – support forums can provide a listing of new forum threads
• Product Sales or Specials – one look at Amazon opens the mind to the endless product sale potential using RSS. Currently Amazon delivering a headline-view of the top 10 bestsellers in that category or set of search results
• Airlines – report flight delays
• Schools – schools can relay homework assignments and quickly announce school cancellations
• Entertainment – listings of the latest tv programs or movies at local theatres
• Press Distribution – feed for press with new releases
• News & Announcements – headlines, notices and any list of announcements
• Calendars – listings of past or upcoming events, deadlines or holidays
• Search results – to let people track changing or new results to their searches

Note: List courtesy of RSS Specifications.

Note: Please respect the rights of feed providers. Many feeds are provided for personal and non commercial use only. Use in non-commercial community settings is subject to interpretation.