For many years experts have been predicting the death of printed publications; that has not quite been the case. There certainly has been a decline in certain areas of the printing industry, and many people do choose to read their newspapers and magazines online, but print is still very much alive. In fact, some of the more niche hardcopy magazines are actually showing signs of growth.
The fact is that neither digital nor traditional appears to have fully won the battle just yet. They both seem to have their own foothold in the market. We are going to take a look at why there will probably always be a place for traditional printed material and how you can take the principal of traditional and enhance it for the digital age, with the publications you use on your website.
Why printed publications still work
The fact is that many people still prefer to read a traditional printed publication; we all grew up reading traditional books and magazines and that is still the comfort zone for many. The other consideration to take into account, when it comes to traditional printed publications, is that many niche publications are thriving.
While many larger publications have taken a lot of their content online this is less the case for more niche varieties. They are able to sustain the interest simply because they are niche and as such will always have a dedicated following. This type of publication will likely always continue in hard copy format.
How you can embrace the best of print and digital
One of the biggest draws of printed newspapers and magazines is that we all enjoy the experience of traditional reading. There is a way you can bring that experience to your website, in digital form. If you want to provide additional content for visitors to your website, by using publications, you can enhance the reading experience by using flipbooks to present your content. Al you need to do is use a software package to convert your pdf files to glossy, great looking flipbooks. These flipbooks bring the joy of traditional reading into the digital age.
As people are reading your online flipbooks they just swipe or click to turn each page, in similar fashion to the way they would turn the pages of a hard copy publication. The difference is that a flipbook can be far more interactive than a hard copy publication. If you create a flipbook online you can include video and audio which adds depth to the entire experience.
As you can see, traditional print is still very much alive and well, if slightly depleted from what it was in its heyday. If you want to embrace some of the traditions of the print industry, enhancing them with digital technology, then using flipbooks to present your content is a good way of doing it and keeping your website visitors engaged.
Image credit: CC by Esther Vargas
