Building an Online Magazine

The 5 Best Resources for Building an Online Magazine

Building an online magazine from scratch requires editorial acumen, business savviness, and a lot of technical skills. Think you have what it takes? Check out these five authoritative posts from Web Publisher PRO to get a better idea of what’s involved.

Right now is arguably the best time in history to become a digital publisher. Sure, we’ve got our fair share of obstacles—the COVID-19 pandemic, global climate change, and widespread civil unrest, to name just a few—but with every obstacle comes new opportunity. Digital publishers are finding opportunities for growth in nearly every vertical. While travel has become the fastest growing category in online magazines, digital magazine readership is actually up across the board. Online magazines focused on home, luxury, watersports, cars, sports, and lifestyle are all seeing double digital gains in 2021.

If you’ve been on the fence about building an online magazine, it’s clear that now is the time to take the leap. Whether you already have a traditional print publication and you’re looking to expand with a digital offshoot, or you’re building an online magazine from scratch, you’ll want to start by defining your purpose and what you’re hoping to achieve. From there, it’s time to design your website and figure out your approach to monetization. Bring on board some editorial staffers, or go it alone. Every online magazine is unique, but having a clear understanding of what it is you’re building will serve you well throughout the process.

Web Publisher PRO’s top resources for building an online magazine:

Creating a Mission Statement

How to Create an Editorial Mission Statement
You would be surprised at how few aspiring publishers begin their journeys by creating a mission statement. Yet, skipping this step can set you back months and cost you thousands of dollars in the long run. When you’re building an online magazine, start by creating a mission statement, then solicit feedback from partners and industry peers, and finally, refine your statement until it accurately reflects the business you’re looking to build.

Mission statements set the tone for the publication and guide staffers toward making the right decisions on editorial coverage. They can also serve as a guidepost for sales and marketing teams, as they look for new business opportunities and areas for revenue expansion. Keep reading

Designing a Website

10 Tips for Web Magazine Design
Here at Web Publisher PRO, we’re always identifying the best characteristics in top performing magazine websites. We use those insights to guide aspiring publishers through the process of building an online magazine from the ground up.

It’s no secret that some sites look more professional than others. Instead of using generic themes and stock images, which can look unprofessional, we recommend that online magazine publishers invest in good website design from the get-go. In addition to using magazine-style themes, we recommend using big, bold images and designer fonts. Keep reading

Using images to drive engagement

How Top Publishers Use Images to Drive Engagement
Speaking of big, bold images, now is the time in the process to consider the importance of publishing original images. Photographs and illustrations break up large chunks of text, but they also help readers remember stories—and keep readers coming back for more. Industry research shows that readers remember 20% of what they see in a text-based article, but 80% of the information in an image.

Whether you have the financial resources to hire an in-house photographer, or you opt to go the freelance route, having great quality images on your website will increase sharability on social media, making photography and graphic design a worthwhile investment for anyone building an online magazine. Keep reading

Generating revenue from an online magazine

The Best Paywall Software for Magazine Publishers
To create a profitable business, online magazine publishers should be prepared to sell subscriptions. Paywalls incentivize readers to sign up for paid subscriptions. Learn more about the best paywall software for magazine publishers and find out why paywalls are considered the most effective tool that digital publishers have for encouraging people to subscribe to their publications. Keep reading

Getting a development agency on board

7 Things a Web Development Agency Should Do for You
Are all these recommendations making your head spin? If building a website and developing a business plan isn’t what you had in mind, then you can offload some of the burden by bringing a web development agency on board.

Online publishers are increasingly hiring agencies, or consultants, who specialize in working with publishers in their niches. A development agency like Web Publisher PRO can bring together all the elements you need when building an online magazine, including SEO, website design, revenue optimization, and editorial consulting. Hiring a web development agency that specializes in working with online magazine publishers is the approach that offers the highest return on investment (ROI). Keep reading

What other questions do you have about building an online magazine? Let our team at Web Publisher PRO guide you through the process of developing and launching your digital publication.