The significance of having a mobile-friendly website for improving user experience and SEO has been emphasized for a long time. However, when we think about mobile-friendliness, we often limit it to ensuring that our webpages resize well on mobile devices.
Being mobile-friendly involves more than just responsiveness to different devices. It also involves creating content that is suitable for mobile devices. To provide the best possible experience for your customers, digital marketers should approach mobile-friendliness as a holistic process, where the primary focus is on the overall experience of customers when they visit your website.
To help you optimize your mobile content efforts, we have compiled a list of top tips for creating engaging and conversion-friendly mobile content.
Create a Strong Introduction
Mobile devices have limited screen space compared to desktop computers, which means that you need to carefully consider the information that you present to mobile visitors. Typically, mobile visitors will only be able to see a few paragraphs at most before needing to scroll down for more information. This puts pressure on the introduction of any webpage to convey the most compelling information that will capture the reader’s attention and leave them eager to learn more. On average, visitors spend no more than 3 minutes on a website.
To make the most of this limited time, it is important to create strong introductions that get straight to the point and avoid any unnecessary information. By sharing the most relevant information first, you can immediately add value for your visitors and engage them with your content.
Content Use Consideration
When it comes to content consumption, desktop and mobile devices exhibit different patterns. Eye-tracking studies have revealed that visitors scan desktop screens and mobile devices in varying ways. Therefore, it’s crucial to take these patterns into account while developing your content.
Eye-tracking research indicates that users have different patterns when consuming content on a desktop or mobile device. These patterns should be taken into account when creating content. The patterns include:
- Bypassing Pattern: This pattern skips the first words of the line when multiple lines of text start with the same word or words.
- Commitment Pattern: This pattern reads every word on the webpage, although it is not commonly used.
- Layer-cake Pattern: This pattern scans headings and subheadings and skips the normal text in between.
- Marking Pattern: This pattern focuses on one place as users scroll through the page. It is more common on mobile devices than on desktops.
- Spotted Pattern: This pattern skips big blocks of text and scans for specific items, such as links, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, or images.
Break Content Into Short Paragraphs
Lengthy paragraphs on a desktop can make it challenging to keep a reader’s attention, and this difficulty is amplified on a mobile phone’s smaller screen. To make it easy for visitors to consume your content, consider following Jon Ziomek’s 1-2-3-4-5 approach, which recommends limiting paragraphs to one idea expressed in two to three sentences, taking up no more than four to five lines on the page.
According to Ziomek, paragraphs longer than six lines become too thick for most readers, and this is especially true when creating mobile-friendly content. The “Yahoo! Style Guide” suggests even shorter paragraphs, when possible, of two to three sentences and keeping paragraphs to one or two ideas at most.
Avoid Using Unnecessary Words
Writing simple and straightforward content is a best practice for both desktop and mobile platforms. The Yoast SEO plugin uses the Flesch Reading Ease formula to evaluate the readability of WordPress posts. This formula calculates a text’s readability score based on the following factors:
- The average length of your sentences.
- The average number of syllables per word.
To improve the readability of your mobile content and achieve a higher score on the Flesch Reading Ease test, it’s important to keep in mind the following tips while creating content:
- Keep your sentences short: Avoid using long and confusing sentences that can be difficult to understand.
- Use simple words: Try to avoid using words with four or more syllables, as they can be challenging for readers.
- Eliminate unnecessary words: Remove any extra words that do not add value to your content.
- Avoid repetition: Do not repeat similar phrases or ideas multiple times.
- Avoid excess details: Stick to the main points and do not over-explain or complicate your message.
Use High-Quality Summary or Highlights
To cater to the limited attention span of mobile users, it’s important to display relevant information upfront. One way to achieve this is to provide a summary of your content before delving into the details. The summary should feature the main points of the content that follows. Writing a summary not only gives readers the information they are looking for at the beginning of the webpage but also draws attention to content that could earn you links and social media shares.
Use High-Quality Images or Videos
Adding visuals such as images or videos to your content can improve its readability and help break up lengthy paragraphs. Relevant images can not only provide visual interest but also enhance the message you’re trying to convey. Studies have shown that humans process visuals much faster than text – up to 600 times faster, in fact. Thus, incorporating visual elements can help readers understand and engage with your content better.
In addition, videos can be a powerful tool to enhance your content. According to a survey, more than half of consumers expressed an interest in seeing more video content from businesses they support. By incorporating videos and images, you may also increase your chances of showing up in rich search results, which can improve your website’s visibility and drive more traffic to your content.
Use High Contrast Colors
In order to improve readability and encourage readership, it’s important to consider factors such as font size and color contrast when creating mobile-friendly content. For instance, font size should be at least 32 points to ensure it can be easily read on a mobile device. Additionally, using high-contrast colors can enhance the aesthetics of your content while also making it more accessible.
Highly contrasting colors like white text on a black background can significantly increase readability, while low contrast colors like yellow text on a white background can be difficult to read. Insufficient contrast can also pose problems for individuals with color blindness or low contrast sensitivity, making high-contrast colors a better choice for a wider range of readers.
Strategically Place Your Call to Action (CTAs)
When creating content for mobile users, it’s important to remember that their attention span is limited. They want to find the information they need quickly, and if you fail to provide a clear call to action (CTA) within the first few seconds of their visit, you risk losing them.
To avoid this, place your CTA prominently at the top of your website. By making it visually distinct and explicit, you increase the likelihood of users following through with the desired action. This is especially crucial on mobile, where space is limited and every element must be optimized for maximum impact.
Focus on Using Short Title
The title of your content serves as the initial impression for your reader and plays a significant role in how your webpage appears in search results. Although Google has increased the maximum length of the mobile title tag to approximately 78 characters, experts suggest keeping titles brief and to the point. Ideally, mobile titles should appear on a single line in search results.
To achieve this, limit your title to no more than six words or around 70 characters. A shorter title is easier for readers to process and understand. Furthermore, it’s essential to include your focus keyword at the beginning of your title to enhance your search ranking and make your content more discoverable.
Preview Before You Publish Your Articles
Before publishing your content, it’s essential to preview it, especially on mobile devices, since we tend to focus more on the desktop version. This step is crucial in the editing process as it ensures that your content is error-free and optimally presented on mobile devices.
By previewing your content on a mobile device, you can see how it will appear to your readers and identify opportunities to:
- Better break up your paragraphs.
- Add relevant subheadings.
- Identify areas where you may want to add supporting images.
- See where more whitespace should be added, etc.
Performing a second check on mobile helps to avoid publishing content with errors, which can negatively affect your brand’s credibility and authority. Whether you are creating mobile-friendly content from scratch or updating existing content, it is crucial to keep the above tips in mind to increase the likelihood of conversions and enhance the customer journey.
Quality content enables you to effectively communicate your message, educate your customers, and convince them to choose your product or service over your competitors. By creating well-crafted, strategic content that is optimized for all devices, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors in the increasingly crowded digital landscape.
Would you like to read more about How to Create Mobile-Friendly Contents-related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
