With over 50% of internet shopping research set to be done through mobile devices this year can you as a website owner really afford not to mobilise your content? Not all of us have the writing capabilities of Dickens or the time to create worded masterpieces. So what to do? Your website needs to be engaging enough to make users stop and read, capture your brand’s USP and most importantly make sense. How can you create content that secures the attention of a mobile audience? Here’s our 5 top tips:
Get to the Point
Getting to the point quickly is a trait of all good content however it’s especially true when it comes to mobile content. Mobiles can be used for a number of different activities, for example making calls, texting, using social media and gaming. If they’re on your article it’s likely they’re reading between doing other activities, competition for your reader’s attention is intense. Get to the point of what you’re trying to say quickly, if they want more information they can then continue to read. End your article with an encouraging call to action.
Keep it Simple
Your article’s appearance should be simple and easy to read, use relevant titles and subtitles so the user can easily flick through and find the section which interests them most. Add in interesting and suitable pictures, infographics or short videos, if your website has huge blocks of text with nothing to break it up its likely your reader will click off the page and find a more “interesting” article. Using bullet point lists and useful quotes also help the user identify the most important pieces of information.
Keep “flowery” language to a minimum, it’s annoying to readers. To demonstrate that you are an expert in your field and therefore able to condense information. If a user comes across a word they don’t understand they are more likely to leave your website and go to a site in “their own language”. Use the language you would commonly use in a conversation with someone, this will increase your chance of engagement.
Stay Relevant and Topical
Stick to what you need to say. If you’re writing for business don’t feel the need to write 5 pages of over complicated jargon when you can write what you need to say in a concise and interesting 3 paragraphs. Engagement will be at its highest when your content is relevant and on topic rather than padded out to try and increase your word count.
Try and keep some of your articles topical and focused on current events. For example an article about Christmas shopping gift guides will be most popular in October and November when users will be researching Christmas shopping compared to releasing the article in June. Being more topical can boost your pages analytics and increase user responses.
Optimise Everything
Make sure your website and articles are optimised for a mobile display, nobody is going to try and operate a web page through their mobile device if the displays at full size and they have to be continuously moving the screen to view it. Also make sure to check that any icons in your article are large enough that on a mobile device they are readable and easily clickable.
Know and Analyse your Reader
To produce the best engagement you need to know your reader; what are their motivations? Why should they be interested in what you have to say? Once you know who you’re writing to you will be able to craft your articles to be of interest to your ideal customer.
Google Analytics will help you do this, use analytics reports to measure and research your online demographic within an inch of its life. Focus on finding out what your customers are looking for from you and from the rest of the internet; the better you understand their wants and needs the better positioned you will be to meet them.