Online Magazines

[getboundless]

I've had an idea for a website kicking around in my mind for awhile and it just occurred to me that an online magazine would be a great platform for the concept. Does anyone here have experience running an online magazine? How about readers that like/hate certain features? Any tips? Suggestions?

This idea is very much in the infantile stages and I'm just kicking around some thoughts for the soundboard. Thought it would make for interesting discussion in any case.

[vangogh]

I don't have any personal experience running an online magazine, but I think the big thing is how will you monetize the site. Very few people are willing to pay for the information directly, especailly for a brand new magazine.

There are still ways to monetize, the most obvious being advertising. I think the key is building up traffic and once you hit a certain point it will become much easier to monetize.

You may be looking then at having to lauch without making any money from the site at first, but once you do gain loyal readers you should be able to make money.

[Jagella]

Originally Posted by getboundless

I've had an idea for a website kicking around in my mind for awhile and it just occurred to me that an online magazine would be a great platform for the concept. Does anyone here have experience running an online magazine? How about readers that like/hate certain features? Any tips? Suggestions?

PC Magazine used to offer an optional, online version of their magazine, but I never bothered with it and continued to read the printed version. I stuck with the printed magazine for the simple reason that I didn't need a computer to read it. As much as I like computers, sometimes I'd rather get away from them. In addition, print is more portable than almost any computer save handhelds, and print looks much better than any PDA or any other computer screen for that matter.

Please don't take what I'm saying here as discouraging you from trying an online magazine. It might work if you can convince your readers that there are advantages to reading a magazine online over a printed copy. You might offer multimedia like audio and video--something print cannot do. I believe that offering subscribers the ability to browse and search back copies of your magazine might be perceived as a big advantage over print. You might dispense with the periodic nature of printed magazines which are usually offered weekly or monthly which is a limitation of printing and offer your subscribers a continuous stream of articles and columns that might be available on a daily basis.

Anyway, I believe there's potentially a lot to offer with an online magazine. Just make sure to let your subscribers know what those advantages are.

Jagella

[Drannmaria]

I would prefer something I could download on my PDA. I always have a few e-books on my Palm. My kids say I am a Type AAAA and it is true, I have trouble doing nothing so I am always reading while waiting for a client, standing in line at the airport, etc. A downloadable pdf or e-book version would be appreciated.

Also, as someone else said, if I am missing the convenience of being able to read it anywhere you need to compensate for that by having links to some really good stuff so that the reader can appreciate the benefit of it being on-line.

Also, don't forget that some people still have dial-up or are accessing from wireless devices. Include low-res versions unless you are planning on ignoring this market.

[vangogh]

Funny AnnMaria. I've been reading all those PDFs I download on my Treo as well.

That's a good point about making the magazine avalailable on mobile devices. I think in the not too distant future it will be the way many newspaper and magazines will be read.