How to Write for Mobile Users: 5 Simple Strategies That Keep Your Visitors More Engaged

Smartphones are no longer a shiny new toy in our lives today. It has become an indispensable tool if you want to make your day-to-day life more productive.

Waiting at a dentist and just staring at the wall sucks, but it’s not as bad when you have this little device with you.

Your daily commute is not boring when you can read or watch videos on your smartphone.

Millions of people are using a phone like this every day and I’m sure you are also doing this on a daily basis.

Perhaps you browse something on the smartphone lying on the couch while lazily watching TV at home. You start watching a YouTube video and next thing you know, you find another video, then another one, another one… and you can’t put your phone down.

Sounds familiar? Don’t tell me you haven’t done it.

Now think for a minute and put your business owner’s hat on. Do you realize this is an amazing opportunity?

No, not everyone is going to buy something on mobile phones, but mobiles can be a place where people get to discover your brand, products or services.

How to Write for Mobile Users: 5 Simple Strategies to Keep Your Visitors More Engaged

1. How to Write for Mobile Users?

With mobile SEO, so much emphasis is placed on the page loading speed of website, decluttering design, things like that.

But if your goal is selling your service/products or simply connecting with potential customers, just getting visitors to your site is only half the battle.

It’s one thing to make people come to your site (SERP ranking, site speed, etc.) but genuinely engaging them with your interesting content is another.

So, that is when copywriting comes in.

Actually, copywriting is important regardless of desktop or mobile site. But when you talk about the mobile audience, you need to write a little differently.

How differently?

Because chances are, they are probably in a different environment than desktop users.

So, try to write for mobile users clearly and concisely if a large number of your visitors come from this channels because people are just NOT that patient on mobiles.

2. Mobile Users Are Multitasking

People use smartphones in all kinds of different situations such as:

And there are other reasons they easily get distracted.

So, people often discover web content while they are engaged in other activities and not totally focused.

But you still need to get their attention, so you want to make it short and sweet if you want to make an impression.

If you already know who your potential customers are, you should think backward. You should create content based on your customers’ persona or specific needs.

3. Know Your Visitors’ Needs

When you write a web page or blog post, you should know why your website visitors visit that page in the first place. What do they want to know? What are they looking for?

Each blog post or web article you write should have a purpose. Do you want to educate them on a certain topic? Do you want to increase subscribers? Are you selling something on that page?

In that sense, Google’s Micro-moments are a concept that you want to keep in mind when you are creating content.

What Are Micro-moments?

One way to grab people’s attention quickly is offering exactly what they are looking for and be as specific as possible. Also, think about where they are accessing your site.

Someone out in town shopping finds a beautiful dress she’s been looking for, but wonders if she can find a better price elsewhere and might browse her smartphone.

As a matter fact, Google says that 84% of smartphone shoppers use their phones while in a physical store.

Travelers visiting a city in a different country might search for a specific type of restaurant. At night they might want to go out and see specific type of live music or bar.

If you are a tech company that creates plugins for people who want to customize their websites but don’t know how to code, you can write articles about the problems these people might be having.

These people go online to try to find a solution. It takes so much time to learn coding, so your products can make their lives easier.

Your products let them customize their websites even if they don’t know how to code. This one may not necessarily happen on mobiles but you get the idea.

Think about your customers’ daily lives and imagine Micro-moments they might be experiencing.

Customer Journey

As you may already know, a lot of people browse on mobiles just to do an initial research and many of them get on a desktop or laptop computer later on when they are ready to make a purchase or want to get further information.

As you saw different stages of Micro-moments, if you can, you should create content to answer their needs or problems of that particular moment and try to make it as relevant as possible. You shouldn’t just push the ads to sell them something when they are not exactly ready to take that kind of action.

Get them excited about your offering first and let them crave more content from you.

According to an Infosys survey a few years back, 78% of consumers are more likely to be a repeat customer if a retailer provides them with targeted, personalized offers

4. Make Your Copy Conversational

So, how do you talk to these people whose attention span is very short, possibly shorter than goldfish?

If you want their attention, avoid long sentences and get straight to the point. Keep it short but still explain how your products can improve or make their lives more convenient.

You fail to make an impression right away and they will easily forget you and move on to another site that publishes similar content.

Mobile First Indexing

Google started rolling out mobile-first indexing in March 2018, which means a mobile version of your website will be indexed first.

If your site is not mobile-friendly, your desktop site will still be indexed, but your site will not receive as much boost as the site whose mobile version is well-optimized.

Previously, Google indexed your desktop site first, but now your mobile comes first. So, if your site is not responsive, you need to tighten up and make necessary changes. Make sure that you optimize images on your site and make your copy conversational and easy to read.

5. Build Trust

Building trust on the internet takes time in this day and age when creating a website, publishing content on the web and starting your own business is easier than ever.

Writing in an easy to understand way and engaging your audience will be a good first step in building that trust on the web.

Even more so if you are going to write for mobile users who are not quite patient.