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It’s 2012.  Do you know where your web-site visitors are?

More to the point, is your web site — and all the content on it — readable to visitors using handhelds and tablets?  Couple of years ago, Morgan Stanley wowed the marketing world with some predictions about the way people would be consuming information in the year 2012.  They projected this year as the tipping point when sales of handheld devices would exceed desktops and laptops combined.  The year when your marketing content, to accomplish its mission, would have to accommodate “the small screen”.

Admittedly, not many long-form whitepapers and case studies are going to be read on an iPhone. But think about it.  Chance are you, or someone you know, is reading the latest best-seller on an e-reader, right?  Message: if your web site demands that your visitors plunk themselves down at a desk, it’s a site that’s just not working as smart or as hard as your visitors are working today.  And sometimes this means working on a tablet, or a smart phone, for a large chunk of the day.  Indeed, we described this requirement last year for EndPlay, a web content management (WCM) developer. Sophisticated
consumers demand entirely new levels of site interactivity and customized content.  And this demand far outstrips the capabilities of today’s fast-aging and decentralized tools and technology.

So how does this impact your online marketing materials? Generally speaking, to borrow from our colleague Newt Barrett, your customers want to:

• connect and communicate wherever they are, whenever they want
• consume information via the Internet, including e-mail, news, web-based content
• get their social media fix
• consume locally based information from word processing documents, spreadsheets, PDF files, etc.
• write a short e-mail or text messages
• listen to music, watch videos, watch TV or movies
• play a game now and then

With this in mind, to cite Barrett, here’s how to exploit this mobile tipping point:

• Make your website readable on the most important mobile devices: iPhones, Androids, and iPads. Lose Flash. Any flash on your website must assume a secondary role on your home and landing pages today.
• Create an iPhone or an iPad app that leverages these these devices.  Think about how the touchscreen might improve visitor interaction with your content.
• Get social with Facebook, Twitter or other applications where your customers will likely be when they’re in a research (or buying) mood.  Most people today actively pursue social media opportunities on their handheld devices.
• Don’t make people print something out if they can simply show it on their mobile device.

Your customers are on the move today. Right his minute. Make it easy to connect with them, for them to connect with you. Of course, all of this assumes that you have great content for them to consume. You do, don’t you?

No matter how well crafted your white paper, case study, or product brief may be, an uninspired headline will doom it to obscurity.  Not to mention squandering your time and money as a publisher.  Readers won’t waste their time on content that doesn’t compel them.  This means an inspiring, irresistible headline is Job One.

Good headlines do more than grab attention

Thinking like a headline writer at the outset is key to whether or not your content is ever read.  It’s essential to strike an emotional appeal tailored to your readers’ personal interests — theirs, not yours.  Great headlines get audiences to click through.  You’ve got one shot at stopping a reader in their tracks.  So make the most of your opportunity.

Subheads and graphics pull the reader through

Engaging your readers at each level of the story with crisp subheads is valuable for two reasons.  First, it helps you organize your material into easily digestible chunks.  Second, it enables the reader to better retain your message.
Clear, lively infographics highlight and underscore complex data for better reader comprehension. And they attract “skimmers” who need visual prompts before scrutinizing material.

Then tell them what you told them

Like a dominant chord in a blues song, readers want resolution.  So give it to them with a crisp summary statement that reiterates your earlier refrain.  After all, if you’ve gotten them this far they’re likely to investigate further.

How do you know the right readers are paying attention to your content?  If you’re in doubt, what are you doing about it? How do you define the difference between content that is adequate and stuff that’s a must-read? How are you ensuring that you publish more of the latter?

Google just made a rare post to their Webmaster Central Blog. You can check it out here.

And, to ensure that the quality of everything you publish would pass Google muster as described above, here are some observations of our own:

What makes one piece of content superior to another today, especially when it comes to getting found online? According to Google, it’s nothing more or less than the quality that compels a reader to bookmark it, share it or recommend it. This means that social signals come into play to a great degree, as in social media.

Here are the questions you need to ask about everything you present to customers and prospects to ensure that your offerings are not only easy to find, but presented in the right context and contain the earmarks of authority they deserve. Note that this is what we at WriteAngle do routinely on your behalf:

1. What makes the information you’re presenting trustworthy and why would a reader recognize it as such?

2. What makes you confident that the material reflects expertise in the subject matter? Put another way, why are you confident that it would not be dismissed as shallow or thinly-veiled promotional fluff?

3. Again, in the case of website content, would you be comfortable sharing confidential information (contact, credit card, etc.)?

4. Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?

5. What have you done to differentiate your content from that associated with “content farms” (e.g., are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines)?

6. Does the material provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?

7. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

8. Why do you assume your existing customers would feel compelled to share it with their peers and associates?

These questions are our interpretations of the points Google raises in its post. We point them out because they substantiate and reaffirm our insistence that your content be well-written and obtainable exclusively from you. Your content must be your content.

Note also that Google intends to make hundreds of search-engine improvements in 2011 — more reasons to plan for identifiers that make your content unique and high-quality. These should include social-sharing buttons to prompt users to pass it along.

The prestigious TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment and Design) came into being 27 years ago but took two decades before it achieved its current prominence. TED began posting its videos online in 2006. Instantly, what was once an little-known gathering of elites found a worldwide audience/community of more than 100 million participants.

The move to an open-media channel enabled TED to grow in a way that would have been impossible any other way, according to conference producer June Cohen.

After releasing content for free, which flouted every precept of luxury-brand marketing, TED events began selling-out faster at a higher price. What began as an altruistic effort to spread ideas had the salubrious effect of rocket-fueling the business of the conference.

So how can you apply this approach to your business? You can start simply by enabling all of your content — videos, podcasts, audio, photographic, you-name-it –- to be embedded. This encourages rapid spread. Whatever you put on your website, be sure to put on a branded YouTube channel, embeddable players and downloads.

Four things to remember:

– Enable your customers and prospects to learn from you, no matter where they are and how they access information.

– Don’t be afraid of losing control. As a business, consider all the ways that enable others to build on your content and ideas.

– Mobile content, which means small screens, is critical today so you must consider it from the beginning. For example, use tight, closeup shots because they will be viewed on smartphones.

– Start Strong: Don’t dilute your content with introductions. Get straight to the meat.

– Appeal to viewer emotions and a sense of noble purpose. Give people something to share that can put them in good stead with their friends/associates and contacts.