Digital publishing revolution has turned upside down magazines and newspapers industry, as well as significantly affected book market and changed the perception of academic and kids publications. Now, all these fields are connected by one common factor – the possibility of distribution thanks to digital platforms e.g. mobile apps or online newsstands. The goal is to maximize the potential of the content, reach the wide audience, increase range and revenue. Behind each of the above areas stands a number of digital publishing experts – innovators, successful people, who share their experience and knowledge online. Let’s get to know them!
It would seem that in the era of widespread Internet access, finding any required information is easy, simple and pleasant. Well, it doesn’t resemble staying long hours in libraries and flipping books (it seems like only yesterday!). But is it really easy and fast to get valuable materials thanks to Google research?
We will not argue with the statement that the Internet is an enormous, unlimited source of knowledge. The thing is to know how to use it to find a piece of information which is verified and trustworthy. We all live in the age of multiplicity of data, ubiquitous fake news, quasi-experts’ speeches and paid influencers, where no one checks the source of news before passing it on.
Sheer madness!
The news publishers are one of those who benefit most from these circumstances. They based their business and monetization models (such as paywall and subscriptions) on building loyalty and serving reliable information. Readers surrounded by fake news are ready to pay for high-quality content.
Today, the ability to search and select data is invaluable. It has nothing to do with typing a million terms into the browser and searching various websites for hours – such strategy takes time and doesn’t guarantee success in finding what you are looking for.
How to Add a WordPress Comments Section to Your Website?
Generating digital publishing revenue has moved from an ad concentrated model to monetization strategies based on paid subscriptions and paywalls. For publishers, this shift means a necessity to concentrate on building an online community gathered around their content. The goal is to transform engaging readers into paying subscribers. Enabling the WordPress comments section, available on desktop as well as on mobile app, can help achieve this goal.
Everyone who has once tempted to read a discussion on the Internet below any article can understand why some publishers decide to disable comments. The reasons seem quite obvious: fear of hate speech, unreasonable criticism or just impolite statements. Constant moderation process requires extra work and, quite often, hiring new employees. It’s easier to close the comments section or… move a discussion to social media channels. The second option means voluntary resignation from keeping readers on publishers’ sites and giving them in the technology giants’ hands.
The possibility of writing (and reading!) comments doesn’t just mean participating in the discussion with the author or other people. It’s an extension of the article, improvement of the journalism value and finally, transformation of passive readers into active ones, which has a huge impact on building a sense of belonging to the group. From here it’s a very short journey to trusting the brand and staying longer with the content, which will result in subscribing and paying. Consequently, you as publishers, journalists and authors face a challenge to be community organizers today.
Where should you start? From making it possible for people to express their thoughts under articles, using different devices they read on. You can do it thanks to tools like Disqus and Facebook Comments.
Get to know how to install the WordPress comments section to start building a circle of your supporters.