This is Day 24 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, a group project 60+ of us bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers. You can read an overview here.
One of my favorite parts of going to the grocery store (aside from sampling anything that I’m allowed to try) is checking out. There’s something about the display of magazines and tabloids that I just have a hard time pulling my attention away from. Those magazine folks must be doing something right if I struggle to tear myself away from the headlines that captivate me!
As we have through other parts of this project, it’s important for us to look at other ‘experts’ in marketing and see what we can learn from them. This time it’s print media that gets put under the microscope.
The cool thing about this one is that I believe that magazines are more similar to blogs than any other offline example that we could be looking at. We both run regular ‘articles’. We both strive to get more subscribers. And in some cases, we may both try to monetize our work based of our [impressive] numbers.
By looking at magazines, we learn some cool things that we can apply to our own blogs:
- Marketing Ideas
- Design Ideas
- Post Ideas
- Monetization Ideas
- Reader Engagement Ideas
While there are certainly many differences between magazines (offline media) and blogs (online media), it won’t take long evaluating a magazine to walk away with long list of things that you’ll want to try right away.
In addition to looking at the print versions of magazines, you may also find it helpful to look at websites for magazines. A good magazine website will take the print version and apply online concepts that may translate into more ideas for your blog. But if you decide to also look at what magazines are doing online, I would recommend having the print version in hand at the same time. This will allow you to see how the print ideas manifest themselves into online formats.
A couple of good Christian magazines (our primary niche) that I would suggest are:
Finally, there’s also some wisdom in looking at non-faith based magazines. There’s a lot of great work being done out there that we can glean from, and it would be a shame to not learn from others who are doing great work in media.
Discussion
- What general lessons have you already learned from observing how magazines do things?
- What magazines do you think would provide the most value for you as a blogger trying to learn from them?
- What magazine websites do you think are particularly impressive, and what techniques are you able to identify that might be valuable to you?
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further today…
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on the little things they do.
- When other bloggers include a link to a new article they’ve posted today, click, read, and comment on it.
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post.
Dan King is… Christ-follower. husband. father. corporate training development guru. bible college instructor. blogger at bibledude.net. social media editor for highcallingblogs.com. occasional contributor for the 8-BIT network.
74 Comments
I've learned a lot from looking at a magazine things like changing font sizes, adding pictures, and page layout to the pages giving me ideas on what to blog on.
For me I used a magazine that talked about children and missions. I used a Gospel For Asia "Send" Magazine but for this project could have used anything. Using something that fits your niche is probably best.
For the rest of what I learned from this project check out "Applying Advertising to Blogging" http://tijuanabecky.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/appl…
You can also get good ideas from what people are or aren't telling you, from their "hidden messages" – http://tijuanabecky.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/hidd…
Great points in your post about how you apply lessons from advertising. That's totally in alignment with the goal of this task! The blog is looking really good, by the way…
Thanks Bibledude!
I've got a different opinion on the magazine thing. I see the points that Darren makes and Dan you gave some good ideas. But sometimes magazines turn me off because they are so flashy and noisy. My favorite magazine for a long time has been Reader's Digest. I tell why in my post today: http://junctionforjesus.blogspot.com/2010/06/outr…
You are totally right Richard! And that was a great post on the subject. I think that this discovery means mission accomplished for this task.
Regarding the shift that you saw in RD…
RD seems to be getting caught in all the hype about the formats that they are supposed to follow, and are trying to imitate them… (1) because they are loosing readership with the old format, or (2) because they fail to recognize that the niche that they once filled still has some juice.
Either way, with your blog, you can continue to fill that niche, and learn from RD's failures to maintain what you liked so much about them. If you liked it, then I'm sure there are other who also do…
Great thoughts!
I also like simple. Have you noticed that some of the biggest names have the simplest designs such as Apple & Google. I have a hard time knowing where to draw the line at maximizing space and overcrowding.
Seth Godin's blog is another GREAT example of simple. HUGE following, and one of the simplest blogs that I know of.
I guess if I were thinking of my blog like a magazine, I would resemble "O", Oprah's magazine, because it goes by her name and reflects her interests, just as my blog goes by my name, Ann Kroeker, and reflects my interests.
To update my blog to match Oprah's magazine, I could rename my blog "A" or "A.K." Could open up some curious marketing opportunities to have a blog that, when said out loud, sounds like "ack!"
I do think about my content sometimes as if I were posting for a magazine, looking for something encouraging, thoughtful, helpful, or entertaining to write about, often pointing to other good resources … like magazines often do ("O" shares great finds with its readers all the time … really expensive good finds).
Your post reminds me to work on attention-grabbing headlines and more appealing layout. I'm currently using free WordPress, so my design options are limited, but it's something to consider in the future. Also, I can easily go in and put a "more" tag in so that only excerpts are showing on the home page, making more posts visible. I like that idea.
Thanks for your input, Dan. Once more, you help me be more purposeful, focused and thoughtful in my approach to blogging!
Thanks for coming by Ann! And I just responded to another comment with the 'more' tag idea to create a more manageable homepage! Great minds…
I appreciate your self-evaluation, and the feedback!
Ann, I read your post last night on Praying like a Child–loved it and followed it over to the other site. I think you are already posting like a magazine (hee, hee).
Janis
I'm using free wordpress too and agree that can hinder some ideas. But definely can implement others. You're doing great!
Writing for magazines has definately influence my blog, but the front page idea mentioned by Paul and others definately bears some consideration. It could really expand or at least modifiy my post timing, etc.
Use of sidebars in magazines might also be effective for blogging though clearly it comes in competition with other content we already but there. An alternative might be inserting a block of sidebar information within the main blog text. I have done that in the past.
Changing fonts, pictures, etc. are things I already use but could learn some tips for effectiveness from more careful perusing of the magazines.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Wayne! These are some great design considerations!
The number one thing I learned from Non-news magazines is that you can't go around re-hashing the same stuff over and over again with a new pretty face and a new cover page. My wife subscribed to Cosmopolitan for a while and it was a fun/guilty kind of pleasure for her for about three months when she realized that she had read the same fifteen articles three months in a row with different names, and punctuation.
post today has nothing to do with the topic since I'm still looking at other magazines and redesigning my cover [home] page. http://justapen.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/i-look-a…
Great points Seiji! The Cosmo experience is a great lesson in keeping fresh content coming! I've been thinking about this very thing as I work on my 'editorial calendar' (a la Day 12), and I've found myself mapping out repetitive content. I'm starting to feel like a magazine editor with just trying to plan and map out content…
I like the new look on your blog.
I believe there is a lot we can learn from magazines, but they also point out the limitations of some of the more simple blogging sites. Varying text size, font, color, pictures, etc. are all effective if you are skilled at laying out such things. Although these are helpful at attracting attention, in my experience it is the content that keeps one coming back to a magazine, or a blog. Unless it is a matter of examining it solely for the images, if the content of the articles is not captivating, readership will decline. That being said, you don't have readers if you can't attract attention.
You are absolutely right! And that's one of the things that we can learn from magazines too… what types of content is working, and what is not. But I definitely agree that there is a fine balance in content vs. image. Great point!
The reason I stopped subscribing to and buying magazines years ago was because there were so many ads and so little content for my $$$. I want to make some money from my blog through Google and affiliate ads but it is not the main objective. The main objective is to inspire people with true life stories and original poems. The second objective is to guide people to my gift web site. Last is income from ads.
As far as magazines go, when I am in a supermarket, it is subject matter and brand name that attracts me to browse through their pages. It is the headlines that will get me to read an article.
Under those circumstances, it seems that with a blog we are also attracting people through subject matter and trying to create a brand name by being found and seen. Hopefully our post headlines will get people to read and comment.
I wish I had time to browse through online magazines but for the most part, I don't. I rarely browse at actual magazines when in stores. I suppose I should do both more often.
Dan, you raised some good points in this post. And thank you for your encouraging comment about sticking with this blog design project.
Well, this is an assignment I am really looking forward to doing. Time away from the computer and constantly tweaking my new format. Mocha Frappuccino at Starbucks, a stack of magazines, more post ideas, and best of all–contact the editor to sell an article. Something I have put on the back burner with learning to blog better.
Be back later with my report!
In Him,
Janis
Thanks Janis! Order me a Venti, non-fat, no-water chai latte, and I'll meet you there! LOL! I'm glad that you are looking forward to this task! I'd love to hear more about how it goes for you!
Well, I'm back here at the computer. Never made it to Starbucks! Bummer! So I couldn't get your no-water chai latte. But I did get through some magazines. And here are my observations–or opinions.
1)Harmonious color and clean artistic design drew me in the most. One of the magazines I reviewed had obnoxious incompatible colors and overused color. I read it only because of the content.
2)Other design elements that impressed me were the appropriate use of background color for a one-page article or a whole-page photo that served as the lead in to the article.
3) I liked 1 theme on a page. If the article ran long, I liked the bold headings so that I could scan to the part that interested me.
4) I also noticed that Arizona High Roads (AAA) carried articles of current interest. My sons enjoy watching one of the food/travel channels which highlights the "Best Places to Eat" all over the country. Arizona High Roads did a similar piece on Best Places to Eat through Arizona. I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate that in my blog. "Restaurants that Inspire?"
5) I also liked the content page listed in the front, which is making me reconsider making a separate page for my archives.
Lots of good ideas came out of today's assignment.
My new post is: http://openmyearslord.blogspot.com/when-unexpecte…
Blessings,
Janis
Those ARE some great design observations and ideas! It sounds like it was a fruitful time, and that you've got some more great direction from this exercise! Thanks for sharing your findings, it helps me too…
Oh, yes! One more thing that ties into the magazine format. I stuck a flashy CAUTION sign on my blog a couple of days ago. I got more clicks and views than ever before! I guess the image you put on your front page really does make a difference.
Janis
Great observation! You should try it with other big, flashy images to see if it works with others as well!
I learned from looking at a magazine and having just read through some of your all's posts and comments I've learned some more things. Just learned that you can be cool and crazy by adding sexy pictures to your blogs, my thought is to add food, and some other really fun crazy things.
Taking a magazine and going crazy with what you learned in your post, is an idea.
Cool! I'm glad that you're picking up some good ideas! I know that the food thing would probably make me click… big picture of a steak with a 'more' tag immediately after so that I can see how it was prepared… mmmmm! Sorry, it's about dinner time… I got a little carried away!
Seriously though… you are right. There are lots of crazy cool ideas flying around this post today!