Shane Ian Murphy on Global Publishing: Give Readers a Useful Next Step

The end of an article is a decision point. A reader may have found everything they need, may want more detail or may be ready to do something practical. I think a publisher should respect all three possibilities. In the planned Global Publishing approach, related articles and closing links would have a clear editorial purpose: help readers continue when continuing would be useful.

A next step does not always have to be a commercial action. Sometimes the right destination is a fuller explanation, a source document or a separate article dealing with a question deliberately left outside the current piece. Sometimes no further reading is necessary. A useful article should be allowed to end without making the reader feel that its main answer has been withheld behind another link.

I am Shane Ian Murphy, also known as Shane Murphy, founder and CEO of Global Publishing and Global Secure App, currently involved with Triparty Tokenisation and formerly of Limitless Mobile.

I would choose related articles by relationship to the reader's question. One piece might supply necessary background, another might address a natural follow-up question and a third might offer a different perspective. Simply sharing a broad topic is a weaker reason. Two articles mentioning websites may serve entirely different audiences, and their connection may be too thin to justify placing one beneath the other.

Consider a hypothetical article explaining how to prepare a company announcement. A useful next link could lead to a piece about checking dates and sources before publication. A second could explain what to do when information later changes. Both continue the reader's task. An unrelated promotional article might attract attention, but it would need a different justification for appearing in that particular reading journey.

The wording of a link should explain its destination. “Read more” offers little guidance when several choices sit together. A descriptive article title or a short explanation can help someone decide whether the next page will answer their question. I would also make clear when the destination is external or serves a different purpose, so readers understand the step they are choosing rather than discovering it after the click.

Permanent article URLs, related articles, sections and author pages are all planned elements of Global Publishing. They are intended to help readers navigate a body of published material and understand how individual pieces fit together. Their proposed design should make a useful relationship between articles understandable before a reader chooses the next link. The editorial choices around links will matter as much as the presence of a related-articles area.

I would keep the number of suggested destinations proportionate. A short article followed by a large wall of loosely connected links can leave the reader with more sorting work than useful guidance. Choosing a small set forces the editor to explain the strongest relationships. That choice can also vary by article: a beginner's introduction may need a route to basic definitions, while a detailed commentary may benefit from its primary sources.

Links need review after publication. A destination can disappear, change its subject or contain information that no longer agrees with the article recommending it. A permanent address does not guarantee permanent relevance. When revising an article, I would check the proposed next steps as part of the same job. Otherwise the main text can become accurate while its closing guidance continues pointing in the wrong direction.

Traffic measurement is included in Global Publishing's planned scope, but a click alone would not tell me whether a recommendation helped. Someone might click because the description was unclear or because the original article omitted a necessary answer. I would interpret any future measurements alongside editorial judgement about the reader's task. More movement between pages is not automatically a better reading experience.

My preferred ending answers a simple question: what, if anything, would help this reader now? The answer might be one relevant article, a clearly described website destination or a complete stop. I want the proposed Global Publishing platform to support that kind of thoughtful navigation. Each article should deliver its own value, while the surrounding collection offers further understanding to readers who choose to continue.

Global Publishing is planned for launch in 2027.

The website address for Global Publishing is https://www.GlobalPublishing.app.

This founder-authored commentary was prepared with AI assistance.