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
Some very good ideas here. It would be interesting to read some follow-up on customizing the homepage. I know that I am drawn in by unique designs and interesting headers. And mine is rather blah and blog cookie-cutter. Maybe I should do something about that.
I'm totally with you Laura! I'm really interested to see how some of these great design ideas make it into folks blogs! It could be really cool lookin'!
And regarding your blog, your AMAZING content more than makes up for blah design. And it's not all that blah anyway! I love how you use images in your posts…
I like your page, Laura, but I was wondering what happened to the water theme? And if anybody knows how to change formats and headers so we could add color or do a large photo at times, please let me know. Just leave out the HTML!
Janis
Interesting idea comparing blogging to print magazines. I have used templates that have a magazine feel to them. However, they never seemed to be advantageous.
I am going to do some more research on magazines and how they relate to blogging. Looking forward to reading some magazines just to see the comparisons. Thanks for the post Dan.
Thanks! I'd love to hear more about what your research turns up, and why you didn't see advantages to using magazine-style templates. I know that this task doesn't necessarily suggest that this is what we do, but I'd love to hear your thoughts related to your experience.
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback!
Hey Dan,
A major disadvantage I find in using a magazine-style template is the need to fill all the slots. I find that my time is limited so I like to be able to focus on the primary rather than the secondary objectives. Another disadvantage is too much information tends to overwhelm me. I tend to I shy away from blogs or websites whose layout looks too busy. A blog or website I will return to is one that I am able to easily search and find information.
I write for the Starfish Files (Canada's House Church Magazine). My particular articles are simple action plans for those involved in small groups generally and house churches specifically. I often find it difficult to take the time to read most magazines online or offline because I have to wade through too much information that does not relate to my interests.
I very much enjoyed your post. There are a number of advantages, as well, to using some of the elements of magazines on a blog or website. However, you will notice that I tend to comment near the end of the day. Time constraints are a major issue for me. Blessings, Rob
You have exposed a truth which many have not considered. The magazines use well chosen captions and write in such a way that their readers are always filled with suspense looking for more. A lot could equally be leanrt from their designs. Keep it up.
Dan King you are right. Magazines are very careful and skillful in their choice of titles. They take their time to put their designs in perfect order. Everything is perfectly arranged to entice and arouse the curiosity of the reader. Job well done
Still playing catchup.
I hadn't ever considered magazines as being similar to a blog but you're right. However I'm still a little slow in that department as I like my paper based products to be real paper and not an ebook or similar. Though I must add that some of my fav mags are available at approx a third the price of the paper ones electronically.
I will eventually move entirely to the e-format I guess, but for now I still like real products.
And thanks for the links – will enjoy following through on some of those,
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Hey! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.