How To Write For Mobile
The Same Rules, Adapted To A Smaller Screen
The rules for mobile writing, in terms of the customer experience, are the same as any other type of writing: the content needs to elicit the kind of response the writer intended. If it’s a product or service, the user needs to feel encouraged and inspired to learn more, and ideally to click on the next page or the ‘buy now’ button. If it’s a piece of journalism, the readers should be interested enough to finish the article and submit comments or share on social media, so they can engage in a debate, boosting user activity on the page.
Mobile Readers Have A Shorter Attention Span
Mobile writing needs to be more succinct and direct than that which is geared towards a larger device. That’s because with a smaller screen, people can’t see as much text, so whatever they read has to have the biggest impact in a very small amount of time. If a company specialising in consumer electronics described one of its products as ‘affordable and budget friendly’, wouldn’t it be more practical just to say ‘affordable’, which could imply the same meaning?
Making Your Writing Sharper And Smarter
Journalists also have to simplify headlines to make sure their articles don’t look too long on a mobile. For example, a headline such as ‘Apple delays the release of the iPhone 7’ could be shortened to ‘iPhone 7 is delayed’, as most devoted iPhone owners would instantly be able to understand the context.
It is also recommended that you focus on smaller paragraphs and sentences, because these require less concentration for time-conscious mobile users, especially when their internet connection is less than ideal. Tables can also be useful for mobile devices, because they can give the user access to much more information in a small space.
Don’t Forget – You Don’t Need To Reduce The Quality Of Your Work
Writing shorter paragraphs doesn’t mean you have to cut down on the quality and breadth of your content – it’s just a way to make your writing more digestible to a mobile audience that doesn’t have access to as many words as on a desktop device.
Don’t Dumb It Down – Just Be More Concise
This doesn’t mean you should dumb down your content so that you lose important facts and insights; it’s more about getting to each point faster and being as concise as possible. Co-incidentally, it often takes writers much longer to craft concise, ‘to-the-point’ content, as opposed to ‘waffly’, repetitive writing. As long as your writing is succinct, you can still produce longer content, as this is still important for SEO.
Make Sure Your Pages Don’t Have Too Much Imagery
Eye-tracking data has found that mobile users are more inclined to look at images than text, regardless of how interesting the content may be. If you’re developing a new mobile website, keep imagery to a minimum so your customers don’t get too distracted. Think of images as a way to complement the aesthetic appearance of your pages, illustrate your text, and inspire your customers.
Mobile is now used by the majority of people to access the Internet, so it is vital that you web content is written with this in mind. Our professional web content writers are skilled in creating content perfectly matched to your readers’ requirements. Get in touch today to learn how we can help you increase engagement and conversions on your website.
