It’s no secret that print magazines are at a crossroads. For over a decade, the internet has been eating up print magazine sales. If you’re hoping to launch a new magazine, you’d do well to consider going digital instead.
Fortunately, launching an online magazine can be easier than you might expect . Creating the content is the hard part, but with WordPress and the right tools, the technical end of the process isn’t too daunting.
Reading: How to create a magazine website in wordpress
In this article, we’re going to talk about why online magazines are the future of the industry . Then we will explain how to create an online magazine with WordPress in just three steps. Let’s get to work!
Why online magazines are the future of the industry
Magazine sales aren’t what they used to be. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for this type of content, but it does mean that people are changing the way they consume information.
These days, you’re much more likely to catch up with news or read articles on the web than through a print medium. With the right tools, there’s no reason why you can’t convert your own magazine into a format that readers can access from their laptops or smartphones.
Additionally, digitization gives you a Variety of benefits publication. For example:
- You don’t have to worry about printing or distribution costs
- The number of sales you can make is not limited by the offer
- You can cut out the middle man and sell issues or subscriptions directly
The nature of the internet makes for a much faster publishing environment. While with a print magazine you might only offer one issue per month, with a website there’s nothing stopping you from publishing more frequent updates.
Similarly, you can set up a digital companion for your print magazine if you want that don’t want to give up the classic format. All in all, if you are considering publishing your magazine digitally, the question is not so much “should I?”. like “Why haven’t I done this before?”.
How to create an online magazine with WordPress (in 3 steps)
For this tutorial we assume that you already have hosting and a new WordPress website. This way we can jump right in and focus on building an online magazine website.
Step 1: Choose a stylish WordPress theme for your online magazine
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Magazines are usually sleek and elegantly fashionable, and your website needs to reflect that style. The default themes that WordPress offers by default can be a bit too basic for this use case:
With the right theme, you can completely overhaul the style of your website and customize it to your heart’s content. For an online magazine theme, it is best to focus on the following features:
- It should emphasize blogging since you plan to publish a lot of content.
- Image galleries need to look amazing since magazines rely heavily on visual elements.
- Navigation should be easy so your readers can quickly find the sections and information they want.
When it comes to themes, you have thousands of options to choose from. To save you some time, we recommend checking out this list of some of the best online magazine themes to use in WordPress.
If you’re new to WordPress, it’s one too good idea to try a free theme until you are familiar with the platform. One of our favorite free online magazine options is Metro Magazine:
Metro Magazine offers a clean and modern design and excellent interpretation of galleries. It also integrates with social media platforms so readers can share your content.
Step 2: Decide how you want to publish your content
Publishing content on WordPress is a no-brainer process. This content management system (CMS) features a powerful block editor that lets you control every aspect of your post’s layout and formatting:
There’s an important decision to make when it comes to around your online magazine, however: whether you want to make it fully public or restrict some or all content.
If you want to monetize your online magazine, there are two main ways:
- Pay for each new issue. With this model, visitors pay to access your magazine and either download a copy or get access to restricted articles
- Charge a subscription fee. With the subscription model, you hide some of your magazine’s content behind a paywall and give subscribers access to it.
Both models have their pros and cons, but on a large scale and whole, subscriptions tend to be simpler too administer. With the right tools, you can create restricted WordPress sites that only subscribers can access. If you wish, you can also compile each new issue of your magazine into a PDF and offer it for download.
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In any case, it is not advisable to restrict all the content of your magazine behind a paywall.You need something to attract new paying readers, and that’s where public content comes in.
Step 3: Set Up and Configure the MemberPress Plugin
WordPress comes with registration features out of the box. However, it doesn’t offer any basic functionality to restrict content or process payments.
This means you need to use plugins if you want a full-featured online magazine website. Plugins are WordPress add-ons that you can use to extend the functionality of your website.
For an online magazine, you need a way to restrict access to certain content, offer subscriptions, and process payments. With MemberPress you can do all that and more:
MemberPress doesn’t take long to configure, although the exact process depends on what kind of restrictions you want to set up. Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Set up access rules for your online magazine.
- Configure the available memberships that you support.
- Set up your subscription options.
Once that’s done, all the features for your online magazine will be available to you. That means you can start publishing content and get your first subscribers.
Conclusion
Magazines are all about content and there is no better forum than this Internet to share your content with as many people as possible. Going purely digital increases the chances of your magazine hitting the big leagues. But to get there, you need to use the right platform and tools.
If you want to use WordPress to launch and distribute your online magazine, here’s how:
- Choose a stylish theme for your online magazine.
- Decide how you want to publish your content.
- Set up and configure the MemberPress plugin .
Do you have any questions about creating an online magazine with WordPress? Let’s go through them in the comments section below!
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