Creating a magazine for your website or your business is not as difficult as it may seem. In fact, with just a few guidelines and goals in place, you can easily create an ezine that will be both successful and beautiful.
Before you decide anything else, you will need to evaluate the type of publisher you wish to use. My own preference is for Adobe InDesign, as this program produces absolutely beautiful copy with very little difficulty involved for the user. It is a straight-forward interface with wonderful compatibility in some of the best formats for web display. I love to export my completed ezine each month in both .swf and .pdf files. Adobe .pdf files offer the convenience of downloads for readers, while the .swf files give the feel of a real book with turning pages for website viewing.
Next, think about your traffic at your website or business. Decide what type of content you wish to develop for the ezine. Your ezine's content should be relevant to your readers and viewers. It should offer your particular audience fresh information or entertainment and add to their overall experience within your website or business.
Once you've decided upon your content, you will need to decide if outsourcing the writing of the content is beneficial to you or if you will write the content yourself. If writing your own content, make sure to check your grammar and spelling. InDesign has some wonderful features that make editing a snap.
After you've written your content, think about the presentation of that content. Do you need images or do you have illustrations available to use? If you own your own images, simply insert them at the appropriate places. If you do not own your own images, make sure you purchase royalty free images to enhance your text. Do not simply grab an image from anywhere on the web or from any other source. Images are copyrighted to the creator and cannot be used in publications without the express permission of the creator or without purchasing a license for their use.
Once your text and images are in place, decide what colors best present your content. Using simple aesthetics, even non-artists can find a look that is appealing to a reader.
After all of this, you may think your ezine is ready for launch. However, the most important page of the ezine is yet to come: the cover. The cover of your ezine will determine the amount of interest it produces in your viewers. It should be pleasing in both design and offer a peek into the information held inside the ezine. Remember, as with web pages, you have less than a minute to entice your audience into reading your ezine. Take your time and experiment to get the perfect look and feel for the cover. I usually spend about two days creating only my cover for each issue of my own ezine.
Once the cover is complete, export your ezine into the proper format. Keep in mind that .swf files can't be downloaded, but they are also very difficult to copy or hotlink to as well. Pdf files allow for users to download them, but they are relatively easy to alter. I use pdf's with a security feature added in order to offer copies of my ezine when selling them online. I use swf's when I want to place the ezine directly on the site for my viewers.
And finally, make sure you advertise your new ezine on social networks as well as through email and friendship connections. Remember, the more interest you create, the better your ezine will perform.
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