When in 1993 Adobe Systems introduced the PDF (Portable Document Format) to the world, they probably didn’t even imagine the size of a revolutionary they started. By improving the process of creating, sharing, and accessing digital documents, they made online publishing both easy and efficient on a previously unknown scale. It would be a pity not to take advantage of this opportunity, wouldn’t it?
Is there anyone who remembers sharing documents before PDFs time? The days of floppy disks and dot-matrix printers, when everything was a cumbersome process that involved printing papers out and physically handing them over to someone.
I wonder what Generation Z would say about this process since even to Millennials it sounds so… ancient.
The truth is, thirty years later, PDF remains the most popular format worldwide for publishing almost every type of online document and publication, including digital magazines and e-books. What is new, however, is that along with the development of technology and the appearance of publishing software solutions, PDF has also become the best format for professional monetization of various types of publications.
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.