The Best Guide to HVAC Digital Marketing
As an HVAC company, you know how important it is to have a steady stream of leads and customers to keep your business growing. In today’s digital age, digital marketing [...]
Cat’s out of the bag, mobile traffic is continually on the rise. But you probably knew that already. According to Statista (2016), 43% of all website traffic worldwide is generated through mobile. Plus a usage report from comScore (2017) shows that mobile is now dominating desktop use. Surprisingly enough – some marketers still need to optimize their ads, images, and websites in order to achieve mobile success. This is where mobile-friendly content comes into play. Below are three of the quickest ways to make sure you’re on the top of your mobile game.
In order to create mobile-friendly content, you need to understand how people read content on their mobile devices. Below are some key differences between mobile reading and desktop reading. The following two view types (which can be seen below) have been accepted for desktop reading based on research trials…
The image below shows that users give 68% of their attention to the center and top half of a mobile site and a full 86% to the upper tw0-thirds. Mainly because anything below this point on the screen is rarely viewed. However, you should keep in mind that you still need to optimize ALL of your content.
Content matters with mobile. Therefore you need to make sure that your content has the biggest impact possible. Below are a few steps to make sure you create the best content possible…
Images are another great way to make your content more ‘readable’ when it comes to mobile devices. Screenshots, graphics, and memes add a visual appeal to your content that will keep users interested. But here’s the catch (cause, of course, there’s one) your images HAVE to be optimized for mobile. Otherwise, they take up too much real estate and can become illegible.
Studies have shown that mobile users look at images a lot more than the text. Take a look at the KG (knowledge graph) from Google below. It features the entity results, panels, and carousel summary.
As you can see above, the user’s eye is drawn more to the images, Query, content, intent, relevance, and location are essentially irrelevant to the principle that that human eye is drawn to images. Granted this can be good or bad. It’s really good if your images add to your argument or make your point. However, it’s bad if they are down-right distracting. In order to achieve the best results, you need to offer your most valuable information directly after an image on both mobile and desktop devices.
Load times are the biggest factor when it comes to whether are not a user is going to engage with your content or move on. Your users need to see your content quickly – and slow load times are a huge drawback. Below are some of the best tips to make sure that your images load fast:
Now it might seem like common sense, but you need to run your content (images included) through a preview process. You need to use your mobile device to check and see if you have enough white space to keep content readable. Consider the user… would they want to read and view most of the content and images on the page? Do the images have a clear purpose?
Okay, videos are just as important as images. Here’s why: 35% of mobile users watched more video last year than they did the previous year. 36% said they watched videos that were five minutes long or more every day. So if you want to encourage users to watch your videos, pay attention to the following two tips.
You might think that images and words don’t really constitute design – but they actually kind of do. However, you’ll have to follow a few technical steps in order to make mobile content work.
I mentioned this not too long ago, but let’s talk about what responsive design actually means. A lot of marketers incorrectly assume that mobile design is the same thing. But they’re definitely not. Responsive design matters and it’s something that is used across all platforms, at least it should be. This means that if the screen size changes, your content needs to change to fit within them.
Sidebars are great when it comes to desktops. It’s perfect for helping move the customer on the intended journey and improve the user’s experience. But sidebars have absolutely no place on mobile devices. On mobile, they are nothing more than a distraction that usually gets pushed down to the bottom of the page. Which means it’s rarely used.
So unless you have a fancy sidebar like Google did, it’s a good idea to scrap it when it comes to mobile users. Check out this CrazyEgg blog for more info on how removing sidebars can increase your profits.
But there’s one more thing you should know about. Navigation menus and other elements on your desktop site might also meet the same sad fate. Just make sure that you visit your site and see what’s really valuable. If there are things that seem out of place remove it and add in what you deem important to your brand.
AMP pages might help you get ahead of the mobile marketing curve. These HTML pages were created by Google and its partner brands and the follow a format too. These pages get top-priority in the search results when mobile users conduct certain relevant queries. Most important, they are extremely fast. To see a demo, use your mobile device and search for something on g.co/ampdemo. You just might be surprised.
As mobile traffic continues to grow (and grow) it’s really in your best interest to keep up with the trends. It’s really the only way to ensure that you provide an excellent experience for your users – no matter what type of the device they are on. Are you interested in learning more about mobile-friendly content and marketing? Let us know in the comments below!
