How to Create Mobile-friendly Content For Your Website

Mobile phones are such amazing things, they make staying connected so easy. Everyone has one. In 2022, worldwide smartphone mobile network subscriptions reached about 6.6 billion. That’s a lot considering that the world’s population is just about 8 billion.

Compared to desktop, digital media consumption from mobile phones are 20% higher. However, mobile phone users face some challenges even when web tools convert content created on the desktop to mobile view. For most blogs, the conversion doesn’t always deliver mobile-friendly blog content.

So you want to ensure that your blog site isn’t just mobile responsive but the content is mobile friendly as well. Creating mobile-friendly content is not difficult, we share a checklist to help you in this article.

But first,

What does mobile-friendly content mean?

At this point, it’s important to clarify what we mean when we talk about mobile-friendly content and how it’s different from mobile responsiveness.

Mobile responsiveness is concerned with resizing your website to display proportionately on any mobile device. It ensures that no parts of your page are missing, or oversized, and can be viewed without the need to zoom.

In creating mobile-friendly blog content, we take into account the unique viewing experience of mobile users. And optimize content to be at an advantage.

So it’s not just enough that the reader can see your content without zooming in. Our concerns are if there is enough whitespace, right-sized paragraph blocks, and maximizing mobile screen real estate for best results.

Mobile responsiveness may deliver content to visitors, it’s creating mobile-friendly content that guarantees they enjoy the experience.

5 reasons why your blog needs mobile-friendly content

Most blogging software can only be accessed on a desktop computer or a laptop, so most bloggers work entirely on those devices. That makes it likely to create content that looks great on desktop but not so great on mobile.

Here are a few reasons why you should be intentional about creating mobile-friendly content.

Mobile generates more web traffic

People spend a lot of time on their phones browsing the internet. The average person spends an average of 4 hours and 12 minutes on their phone each day, that’s just a minute less than they spend watching TV.

Apparently, they spend more time on their phones than on their desktop. Latest reports show that 52.08% of the total web visits are from mobile phones and just about 47.92% come from PCs and Tablets.

Mobile phones are more accessible

Owning a mobile phone is cheaper than buying a desktop computer. Its affordability, portability, and comparable function to a desktop make it more accessible.

Some people may not own a desktop throughout their lifetime but may use 2 to 3 mobile phones. According to Statista, the number of active mobile phone users will exceed 7.8 billion by 2028. That’s somewhere close to the world population.

Mobile-friendliness attracts higher ranking

Mobile-friendliness is one of the factors Google considers when ranking web pages. According to Google, this mobile-friendliness means text readability without zooming or tapping and no horizontal scrolling or unplayable videos.

We know that how long visitors stay on your website also influences how it ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs). And we believe visitors will spend time scrolling through your blog posts if you make it easy to do so.

Mobile devices are influencing sales 

Online shopping is no longer sitting in front of a desktop to crawl through e-commerce websites. Most people order stuff on the go now, straight from their mobile phones. E-commerce sales from mobile phones were estimated to reach $3.56 trillion by 2021. 

Even in brick-and-mortar stores, consumers still rely on their phones. In a survey, 69% of the respondents admitted to using their phones to check for reviews, deals, and product information while in a store. They would sometimes forego the help of store attendants completely during the shopping trip.

Smaller attention span

The internet is so noisy and getting people’s attention is hard work. There are distractions everywhere but it’s easier to lose a visitor’s attention on mobile. With just a swipe, they move on to other options. 

Unlike a desktop situation where the effort of moving the cursor around and right-clicking may encourage them to invest more time when a website doesn’t immediately appeal to them.

How to create mobile-friendly content

Here are 6 steps to follow to ensure that your mobile audience gets to enjoy a great reading experience.

Make good use of the first view

First impressions matter. Unlike a desktop, a mobile screen offers you less space to do that. Readers will likely have to scroll down another fullscreen on mobile to get to your introduction, and you need to make that effort count.

To start with, keep your title short, catchy, and optimized for mobile screens. A fine topic length on a desktop might look like a paragraph on mobile and that’s not a good look.

Another thing is to ensure your image is attractive and matches the topic. Also, it should just take up about ⅓ of the screen, that’s neither too big nor small.

Next comes the introduction. It should be cleverly worded, containing a compelling statistic or analogy. See our article on crafting compelling blog posts to learn more about crafting quality introductions.

Creating a bullet list of main points, a short summary or a table of contents for long articles is a smart move at this point too.

Optimize paragraphs for reading ease

Long paragraph blocks can be frustrating to mobile users who are mostly just scanning for important tidbits. So use short paragraphs. Those are easy to follow because they tend to focus on one point. 

1 to 5 lines (mobile view) are ideal paragraph lengths. Longer paragraphs should appear but they shouldn’t be commonplace. Also, it looks better when you mix up your paragraph lengths. Same-length paragraphs all through will make your article look boring. 

To create short paragraphs you need short sentences and therein lies the challenge many face. You’re welcome to use our writing guidelines. It’s well-adapted for creating mobile-friendly content.

First, you’ll need to break down ideas into their simplest form. Then you need to remove filler words and avoid unnecessary long words. Pass your message across in no more or fewer words than meets your audience’s needs 

This doesn’t mean you should cut out important grammatical elements. You just need to replace long phrases with shorter options. For example, replace “in the event that things don’t work according to plan” with “if the plan fails”.

Create scannable content for mobile

People read online by scanning through web pages quickly looking for important information. They only read word for word when they have a vested interest in the post.

Over 13 years of studies show that people still don’t scan web pages line after line. Their gazes skip forward, backtrack, and rescan. At a normal speed, a person can scan 158 spots in just 14 seconds.

Therefore you want to ensure that your content is scannable on mobile. And the first thing you want to do is create visually distinct content units. 

You can use whitespace, short paragraphs, bullet points, quotations, images, noticeable headings, and lists to create clear information sections. Using simple language and providing key information in the first sentence also improves scannability.

If you get scannability right, you can motivate readers to read even long-form articles.

This will be useful: The Importance of Clarity and Simplicity In Business Writing

Choose fonts and colors that enhance readability

Choosing the blog’s fonts and background colors is serious business. Your font choice, size, and colors can make reading your blogs a difficult or easy experience.

Fancy fonts can be hard to read on small screens or quickly scan. You should use sans serif fonts like Arial and Verdana instead. The size should be between 12 and 14. That’s neither too small nor too large. Titles and headings should be about 16 to 30.

You should use high-contrast colors like black text on a white background or vice versa. Sharp contrast reduces the need for readers to strain their eyes to read your blog. This is important as research has established that even in people with healthy eyes, low contrast sensitivity develops as they age. 

Also, keep your background plain. Background designs are unnecessary and distracting. They could muddle things up for folks that are color-blind.

Place CTA strategically

On the desktop, pop-ups are a nice way to present your call to action (CTA). However, they can be problematic on mobile. Especially when you have multiple pop-ups that take up the whole screen. They can be distracting and annoying.

It’s so easy for a person to unwittingly click on a pop-up as they scroll through your blog. And in a lot of cases, the “X” or “close” button on the pop-ups is hard to find or click. That results in a frustrating experience.

Rather than pop-ups, use small banners at the top or bottom of the page. It would be even better to have these banners be expandable or collapsible. You could even have a sidebar that readers can pull out to see your CTA.

Preview on a mobile phone

It’s always advisable to see firsthand what your content looks like on a mobile phone before you publish. It is the best way to spot any areas of your content that need fixing so your readers can have a nice experience.

Of course, this is extra editing work but it’s worth it if it prevents you from publishing with errors. Errors that would lead your mobile phone audience to a competitor.

Some of the errors that previewing on mobile will show you include lengthy paragraphs, cramped sections, and wrongly sized images. You may even identify areas in need of supporting images.

Note that while adding images makes your content more engaging, it can slow the blog’s loading time. So be sure to use compressed images. You can compress JPEG or PNG files without losing the quality.

Conclusion

Mobile-friendly content captures the attention of folks who access the internet with their phones. You can up your blog to get some of that attention by creating scannable content, high-contrast colors, non-intrusive CTAs, etc. 

Wrap it all up with a solid mobile preview and your content is ready to be consumed on the go.

 

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