Choosing Right Digital Publishing Platform For Your News Website
Basics of Digital publishing
Since the internet set foot in 1989, a lot of things have changed- with how we interact, how we do our businesses, and how we treat data. With the crazy expansion of the internet, it has quickly become the biggest data platform overthrowing traditional ones into the horizon. Digital publishing birthed as a result of this expansion. If you want to switch to digital publishing, you need to choose a digital publishing platform.
In simple terms, digital publishing refers to the dissemination of information through digital media. The switch from writing stories on paper to a screen has been gradual. With laptops, tablets, kindle, mobile phones, etc the potential of digital publishing is skyrocketing.
With so many options, one is bound to get overwhelmed. From podcasts to websites, applications, how do you browse through your options and pick? Which path do you take on your digital journey?
What is your content approach?
Do you write magazine content or perhaps news, perhaps videos? The nature of your content can help you streamline your choices. In the digital space, everybody has a shot at putting out information in any style they prefer. You need to focus on what your forte is. If you’re sure about your video content and its production, then youtube or a home website page can help you establish yourself on this platform.
What’s your budget?
Like every platform out there, you need to invest in making your presence in the cloud space. While a small-scale blogger might not need a tech team or a quality support team, for publishers, however, all of this extra help is beneficial. With website hosting services ready to give you monthly payment options to yearly plans, you have quite some purchases to handle. A quality CMS, a monetization platform, a support team, a tech team, social media experts are some of the elements that’ll shape your digital personality. To ensure that you are on your best game, you need to establish your budget so you can set up a solid presence.
Best of both worlds
If you are primarily a print publisher and have a digital presence as well, then your priorities change often. You need to be sure if you want to switch completely over to digital or if you want to balance both platforms. This allows you to have clarity about the investment you want to make with your resources.
Support or inhouse
The digital publishing industry is booming. While you can always set up your team to manage all the aspects of it, you also have SaaS companies. From ensuring the hiring cost to maintenance that comes with an in-house team, you get a breath of fresh air when you allow a SaaS company to help you out. You get to set your budget, hire services, and relax as experts sort out all the tech-heavy load for you.
From Desktops to Mobile phones
There is a reason why mobile app companies flourish in the world today. With the growing number of mobile phone users, you would want to ensure that you’re accessible to them. Perhaps built an app from scratch? Buy a native app? The options are for you to choose from.
Focal points for any digital publisher :
1. Visuals matter
The world is visual. Invest in good visualized stories. Help readers understand the content better, use illustrations, posters, memes, the possibilities are endless. Use all possible elements cohesively so that the reader is more engaged.
2. Stand out
If you’re creating a podcast, simple details like your signature tune, the quality of your equipment, the voice used, can all add to the quality of your content and make it stand out from the rest. An important note to have in mind is that with the democratization of the internet, there’s a lot of similar content floating in the space. To ensure that you have a better shot at gaining traffic, you need to be different and more importantly, useful.
3. Design is king
While most people consider design as one of the elements, in reality, it’s the key element. Your font, the colors used, the frame size, illustrations, headings, word spacing – all fall under design. How do you make sure your reader/viewers have the best user experience? Hire a good design team. This is where your digital publishing platform plays an important role.
4. Video/Audio?
With the consumption of video and audio content on the rise, it is safe to put your bets in them. Use the trends to stay relevant. Stand-alone videos, embedded links, podcasts, audio lectures – are all vital sources of information that are consumed by the mass audience. Having a stronghold in these fields can help you stay afloat in the publishing waters.
5. Native apps
Mobile phones are popular, to say the least. Users prefer content that integrates with their cell phones over pop-ups that keep attacking their screens. Having a native app gives you the upper hand in targeting audiences and dissemination of user-preferred content.
With 5.5 billion mobile phone users in the world, the digital publishing landscape is a safe environment to invest your efforts in. It is a more liberal platform and the reach is enormous. Everybody is online and you can use this to your benefit with the right digital publishing platform and strategies. Now you know how to choose the right digital publishing platform for you. There’s no doubt that digital publications are the future of publishing. It’s important to consider what your readers expect from your publication.