The Top 10 Dos and Don’ts of Digital Publishing

The debate of ‘traditional publishing vs. digital publishing’ is age-old. 

While some caught onto the online publishing trend almost immediately, others took their time. However, with the pandemic, almost every business turned their focus to online publishing. Even ardent supporters of traditional publishing, realize that the trend is here to stay, and with good reason. Online publishing has allowed businesses to reach a wider audience, in a cost-effective manner. 

In an effort to stay relevant, the approach to digital publishing has been a bit hap-hazard, recently. In reality though, it doesn’t necessarily need to be such.

In this article, we’ll get you started or restarted on your publishing journey with these top 10 dos and don’ts of digital publishing.

Table of Contents

• The Dos of Digital Publishing

1. Do Welcome Change with Open Arms
2. Do Check the Metrics Regularly
3. Do Put Effort into Promotions
4. Do Use Interactive Content Elements
5. Do Optimize Your Content across Devices

• The Don’ts of Digital Publishing

1. Don’t Prioritize Quantity over Quality
2. Don’t Overlook Customer Feedback 
3. Don’t Disregard SEO 
4. Don’t Repeat What Everyone Else Is Saying 
5. Don’t Lose Patience

• Conclusion 

Change has always been inevitable. However, in the online world, it’s not just that. Changes in the digital world work at breakneck speeds. What’s trending today becomes passé tomorrow. If videos are popular today, tomorrow it might be just animations.

Anybody who publishes content online, must be able to scale and repurpose their content with ease. Digital publishing platforms such as KITABOO, allow you to repurpose your existing content and create fresh content in relevant formats; making you ready to welcome any changing trend with open arms.

A huge advantage of digital publishing over traditional publishing is that it can provide real-time consumption metrics. These allow content publishers to keep tabs on the pulse of their customers.

For example, KITABOO’s advanced analytical tools give publishers reports on the performance of their eBooks. It provides details such as the popularity of their content and the engagement level of their readers. 

No matter the kind of content one creates or the platform being used, if it’s online, there will be a way to track performance.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, cyberspace is overcrowded. Anything being published, needs to be promoted as well. 

The way you promote your content could range from actively sharing it with your inner circle, to planning a budget and paying for digital ads. The point being, that just uploading content online will never be enough. It has to be pushed in order to attract eyeballs and increase online traffic to your business.

They say variety is the spice of life; and in the digital publishing space, it’s a lifeline. Perhaps that’s why so many seem to prefer reading online.

A digital publication can include more than just text. It can use audio, video, interactive games, diagrams, animations, and so on and so forth. These interactive content elements can draw the attention of a range of people, from hard core readers to complete non-readers; existing customers to potential customers.  

A versatile publishing platform like KITABOO, allows content creators to play with a number of interactive elements.

As a business, you need to be where your audience is, whether that’s a smart-phone, tablet, PC or anywhere else. Being on these devices means two things for you. 

Firstly, your content needs to be compatible with the operating system. 

Secondly, it needs to be optimized for each platform/device. Meaning, just because the content can be read on another device, doesn’t necessarily mean it looks great there.

Optimizing content plays a crucial role in digital publishing and a platform like KITABOO could be just what you need.

One of the many reasons why a large number of digital publishers fail to make it big is because they tend to focus on creating as much content as possible in a short duration of time. Unfortunately, this does not help a business stand out in the sea of competitors, online. 

Instead, one should focus on creating and publishing quality content that will attract the audiences and encourage them to look at more of your work. A curated approach to content that helps you add value to your customers lives, will give you long-term success.

In an effort to build a wider audience-base, businesses sometimes tend to pay more attention to new customers as opposed to their existing ones. The fact is that you wouldn’t be where you are without your existing customers.

While it’s important to pay attention to customer feedback, it’s equally important to let your customers know that you’re listening. Use digital publishing to create a range of content tailor-made for your existing customers. 

Sometimes businesses tend to focus on only a certain aspect of their digital strategy e.g. – getting content out to their potential customers. While there’s no denying that that is crucial, it also cannot happen in isolation.

After putting in hours of manpower and resources, it would be disheartening to find that your content does not show up when people search for related topics through a web browser. 

To prevent such unfortunate events, don’t disregard SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Ensure your content uses keywords that search engines can read. Doing this will result in higher and more relevant visitors to your platform.

It’s one thing to follow trends, it’s another to sound exactly the same as everyone else. If you want to stand apart, your content has to convey that. 

Resist the temptation to follow others just because their content appears to be doing well. Instead, create a niche that works for your audience and in turn for your business.

The field of digital publishing can seem a bit intimidating when you’re just starting out, but don’t let that dull your sparkle. It’s a space that requires a lot of patience. 

Remember to create unique content and publish it consistently. That is the only way to grow as a digital publisher.

As you can see, while digital publishing has proven to be a game-changer for any business, it’s important to approach it correctly. One way to do this is to have a well-researched strategy in place. Another way is to partner with a robust digital publishing platform such as KITABOO. 

To begin delivering world-class digital content to your audiences, write to us at KITABOO@hurix.com.