Whether your focus on mobile comes from the recent Google update, sometimes referred to as Mobilegeddon, or simply the knowledge and acceptance that more people access content online from a mobile device, the bottom line is mobile must be considered when creating a content strategy. With the trend of people wanting longer, richer content you need to know how to create mobile content that is engaging, easy to read and interesting. Let’s explore how to balance the needs of mobile platforms and the reader.
How to Create Mobile Content
1. Use White Space for Good
Content, particularly longer content, requires a solid use of white space. Remember to keep sentences concise, create shorter paragraphs, and sprinkle in bullets to break up the monotony. Also, not every bit of space must be filled, so the use of bold font and headlines can pull a reader in without having to overburden the page or overwhelm the reader.
2. Keep It Interesting
People are simply more interested in something visually stimulating, which is why you must include images and even videos in your content. There are many different types of content you can integrate within your website. When considering how they look on mobile, ensure that you are using simple images that are easy to see on every size screen (and that they will resize automatically based on screen size). Avoid long quotes inside colorful boxes with busy graphics or you risk losing the point you wish to make.
3. Call Out Important Details
Speaking of images, pulling out important details in a quote format, or even a special visual, helps drive the point home while keeping it friendly for mobile consumption. Just make sure it is simple, clean and easy to read.
4. You Have to See It to Believe It
Once a piece is completed, with graphics and images loaded and ready to be seen by the world, take a moment to look at it on every mobile device you have. Ask co-workers and friends to do the same. Answer these questions:
- Is it easy to read?
- Can you scan it and see everything?
- Are the images lined up correctly?
- Is it easy to move between paragraphs and major segments such as headings?
- Is the font correct throughout?
- Is the spacing and alignment correct?
The smaller the screen, the harder it can be to read, so make sure you test it on more than one type of mobile device and more than one brand just to be thorough.
5. Begin with the End in Mind
Starting with a longer piece that works beautifully on your laptop or larger screen will make it difficult to scale down, particularly if all your images are already chosen and loaded. So think about the mobile side first. What will it look like on the smaller screen? Do you need to reconsider the format? Are the images easy to see? Can you navigate easily? If it’s a longer piece, should you consider extra formatting such as navigation to help guide the reader? iPhone screens are pretty small, so thinking about whether your target reader is using that device versus a larger tablet is important since the physical screen size is limited.
Bonus Tip
The most important aspect of developing content for mobile is to understand how your target audience wishes to consume the information. Perhaps writing is not the way to go. If your target audience is visual and loves their tablets, maybe video is the way to go. Perhaps your target audience is truly on the go and constantly moving, then podcasts may be a better choice.
The beautiful thing about content creation is you can choose whatever media you want to house the content and, even better, you can choose more than one! Just choose the ones that your target audience wants and you’ll have a true, content on the go solution!
Are you considering mobile when you are creating your website and its content?
