Increasingly, adults in the U.S. are reading their news on a mobile device. According to a Pew Research study, released last year, roughly 57% of U.S. adults often get their news from a mobile device compared to 30% who often do so on a computer. According to Pew “the adoption of mobile devices for news has been driven by both younger and older Americans, with some of the sharpest growth in recent years coming among those ages 65 and older.”
So with all kinds of audiences accessing their news on their phone, how do you make your business writing more accessible, engaging, and skimmable for your reader? Here are some tips for making your business news and features more mobile-friendly.
Start with the most compelling content
If you are writing a longer article, take note that mobile users will have less content to read before they have to begin scrolling on their devices. This means you need to give them a reason to start scrolling from the beginning.
Make lists and other scannable content
The goal is to provide the mobile reader skimmable core points your article covers, and any tips or takeaways from the experts. Some news organizations add a short, three-point list at the top of each news story offering the reader the gist of the article up top. This way the reader can quickly gather the information they need and decide whether or not to read further. Some main tips: make sure your bulleted lists maintain consistent grammar, when it comes to sentence length, less is more, cap each list item at two sentences, and keep overall paragraph lengths throughout the article short.
Use subheadings
For maximum engagement with mobile readers keep your subheadings short and concise and have them placed every three or so paragraphs. To improve clarity and interest, don’t repeat the same exact words in the first sentence after the subheading to avoid being redundant.
Craft engaging headlines
Business writers mindful of mobile readers must also come up with snappy headlines to draw their readers in from the start. If you feel lousy at headlines, find a news organization whose leads/headlines you like and emulate their style to see what works for you.
Don’t forget to check your analytics
Check out how your pieces are performing with your audience and how many of your readers are using their mobile devices to access your content. Are mobile users staying longer or are they clicking away from your page? Understanding your target market and core audience can do a lot to improve your engagement rate of mobile, and desktop, readers.
