We are living in a transitional time where mobile is taking over the desktop in terms of usage. But it has not taken over not fully yet. The future trends do seem to predict that mobile will be tipping the balance. What we create today needs to not only function but also work well for the next few years. Here are some practical tips on creating content for a mobile-first audience. 1. Get your mobile typography right Your content is only good if it can be consumed. With limited and varying screen sizes, getting the right font, spacing and size become an important factor of your content strategy. Using open source Google fonts seems to be a no-brainer. But some of those fonts are truly dreadful. Maybe, picking one from this list can help. The minimum criteria for your font size is that people should be able to read the headlines and sub-heads without pinching and expanding the screen. The one thing you shouldn’t forget is to remain minimalist – unless of course, you are designing for designers whose mission is to look for decorative fonts. 2. Focus on quality more than quantity Most people think that mobile users are averse to big chunks of content. This often means compromising on content quality. Don’t fall into this trap as quality content still is the key criteria for content consumption. Once you have the quality in place, just break the content into chunks to enhance readability. 3. Load your most important content first Websites viewed on desktop often have elaborate banners and ads before they get down to showing you the actual content. With mobile, the speed of load time coupled with the general need to grab attention quickly within limited screen space means that you need to load the most important bullets of your content first. Let the golden rules of SEO apply of having the most-likely keyword easily visible on the screen to ensure an immediate connect. 4. Create interactive content How boring is it to have someone preach a sermon while you are trying to have a conversation. In the smartphone age when a quick tap is enough for a user to share their opinion, you should create content that is interactive. Typeform’s interactive video, which effectively engages with customers with a story where the user gets to decide the outcome, is a perfect example of the right way of content creation. 5. Shift from customization to personalization Our current UX focuses on creating mass customization on the basis of browser cookies. This approach is gradually moving towards personalization where brands are able to quickly and easily answer the “What’s in it for me?” question that visitors ask. With an initial collection of data from the user, you can show them content about or from “people like me” which the user can relate to. For example, if you have read a couple of articles about road trips and travelling with kids, you are likely to be interested in an article that combines the two and gives you an apt summary for the destination you plan to visit. Last but not least, don’t forget to get an in-depth understanding of the most important metrics for your content. Use the Google Campaign URLs to track the source of traffic to your content. Track in-article link clicks, time on site, bounce rates, social shares and how the article adds to your overall marketing goals.
