• October 30, 2018
• Web Development, IT

Mastering Content Creation for Mobile Consumption

A Key Challenge for Web Application Development Companies in 2018

The web development landscape has changed. The moot question is no longer if your website works on mobile but how it can work best on mobile.

With a whopping 80% of internet users accessing the web over a mobile phone, and that for 5 hours a day (a figure that is climbing steadily), mastering mobile development and optimizing content for consumption on smaller devices poses a key challenge to web application development companies this year.

Understanding User Behaviour

Think about how users interact with their mobiles.

A key element to content consumption on mobile is that it is achieved using a single hand. This may seem trivial but has significant repercussions for how content must be created to maximize engagement on mobile devices. For instance, this means that the navigation must be designed such that all or most parts of the screen can be accessed by the thumb.

To achieve such a close understanding of user behaviour, collecting audience data becomes a key prerequisite for the development of your mobile content strategy.

The primary questions that need answers before a sound mobile content strategy can be developed include:

• What percentage of your users are accessing your website through mobile devices?
• What activities are they performing on your site through these devices?
• What is the content they are accessing - by format and by topic?
• How much time are they spending on your site? A user spending 12 minutes on your site behaves in a manner that is distinctly different from one spending 60 seconds on it.

The idea here is to create, design and format content such that it feels native to the medium rather than as content that has been shoehorned to fit into mobile devices. And the deeper your understanding of user behaviour, the better this is achieved.

Creating a Content Strategy Fit for the Mobile Universe

1. Go Mobile-First

Thriving in the world of mobile calls for a complete turnaround of web development strategy.

With over 50% of all internet searches happening on mobile today (a number that is expected to rise exponentially in the near future), the earlier approach of first designing a website for large-screen computers and then scaling it down to fit mobile no longer works.

It has to, quite simply, be scrapped and replaced with designing for mobile first.

2. Alternate content lengths

In the world of mobile, there is a dire need for insightful and effective content that delivers the maximum value in a short span of time and compressed space. However, longer, in-depth pieces remain vital for SEO needs and must be retained.

A useful strategy here can be to allow users to land on short summaries featured on pages that offer the option to then read long-form content on a different page with a single click.

3. Formatting Becomes Even More Important

Large and easily readable fonts, colours that stand out, pleasing visual elements that create an immediate emotional connect and a layout that integrates prominent and tappable calls to action all need to come together to create a smooth experience for mobile users.

4. Pay Attention to the Reading Level

There’s an old adage in the journalism world about writing such that an eighth-grader can understand it. This holds true in the mobile marketing world as well, which has rephrased this into ‘write the way you speak’.

A useful rule of thumb here is: the more generic your audience, the closer to eighth-grade reading levels your content must be. Content designed specifically for more technical or otherwise niche audiences must be designed differently and appropriately, though.

We hope, as a web design and development company, you now have a better insight into developing content for mobile consumption.

Looking for a web design and development company to roll out your mobile-first strategy? Contact Immortal Dreamz today!