Jul

Extend the Reach of your Articles

By emily

Calling all editors, publishers, journalists and freelance writers. It is time to breathe more life into your copy. Turn your articles into living pieces that spark measurable debate, get closer to your readers and engage their mind and soul – we’re talking revolution.

As it was in the beginning

Publishers have for many years relied on letters to get feedback from their readers and although email has opened up this method of communication it is still time consuming and difficult to monitor and process, and for the more popular articles, it is either a case of only a fraction of the received correspondence ever being used, or where online comments have been allowed, well written and good comments can be buried under poorly written and abusive comments.

As well as being an overhead for the publisher, to most people it is an unrewarding medium in terms of the amount of effort required and response received, just consider the number of letters that go unpublished and unread.

As it is now

With the Internet traditional methods of communications can be challenged and replaced or complemented with new methods of doing things. The Internet is now a mature technology, no longer the preserve of technical geeks but a technology that has been embraced by a global population, young and old allowing us now to re-evaluate the way things are done. There is now the opportunity for newspapers, trade journals, magazines and ezines to change the mental process.

Readers like to have the opportunity to comment and traditionally they may have composed a letter or send an email or write a comment. Emails make the process of communication easier but it still takes time to compose an email and time for the majority, is what they haven’t got.

The letters page, or a list of comments, although interesting, are often only a snapshot of views, or an endless unmanaged list of comments; a well crafted and well written letter on any given subject may hold the view of the majority, or the minority, but due to its free text form it is difficult, or near impossible, to measure.

As it should be

Now consider the advantages of linking articles to online surveys where as a publisher you will have the ability to obtain valuable readership feedback in a form that can be properly measured. Just as important as you communicating with your readers is providing your readers with a channel to communicate with you; a method where they know it will count.

Do you want to deliver a snapshot of opinion? Did they like the article? Did the sentiments expressed in the article have the support of the audience or do the readers have a different view?

Now it is easy

In the past surveys would have taken considerable effort to design and publish and altogether was a process too long winded and therefore reserved for the niche and bigger topics.

However, using a hosted survey site surveys and questionnaires can be created and published via the Internet by anyone who has a pulse. Professional looking surveys and questionnaires created in minutes that make the perfect complement to articles that prompt opinion and debate.

The advantage over letters, e-mails and comments are that all the feedback is properly managed and measured and sites like Survey Galaxy will provide you with a real time poll that you can either keep to yourself or share with your readers.

It’s not even one or the other now

Linking articles to online surveys will extend the life of the article and involve your readers in the discussion in a way where they are confident that their opinion will be counted.

If you think they would rather send an email? – no problem – include the facility within the survey and get the best of both worlds.

It’s quick, low cost, and easy to do; it will empower and engage the reader, provide first class feedback and having established a communication channel you then have the opportunity to promote other related articles.

There is an opportunity to register your view of this article here:- Readership Feedback Survey