When a print magazine closes, a world of opportunity opens for its portal
A few weeks ago Conde Nast announced that they’d be closing the print arm of Self magazine. And after their single-copy sales dropped from 148,055 to 44,000 over the last two years, who can blame them? If you think about all the strings that come attached to producing and distributing a magazine, you might have considered this move for yourself.
One thing we hope happens in the wake of this announcement, which left 20ish people looking for new jobs and online editors in cushy new positions, is a reach for ways to make the most of the content they currently have. According to The New York Post, “Condé Nast said it plans a ‘significant investment’ in a new content and distribution strategy that will ‘transform Self into a digital, video and socially-led brand.'”
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Which is great, but I think it’s also a good time to invest in recycling all the great content you have, and digitizing your old print content.
For example, I just spent ten minutes looking for a set of 12 related articles that Self could turn into a paid eBook or free download. When we’re recycling content, we like to come up with a list of 12 chapters using 12 different articles. I found a ton of articles on exercises you can do at home. Some of them are videos, but they could easily be transcribed and turned into chapters.
- 13 Bodyweight Exercises You Can Do at Home
- 9 Low-Impact Workout Moves You Can Do At Home
- 7 Fat-Blasting Cardio Moves That Require Practically Zero Space
- 8 Very Short Workouts You Can Do In Your Living Room Right This Minute
- 25 Ways To Get Fit If You Don’t Have A Gym Membership
- 6 Different At-Home Workouts To Tone Your Arms
- 4 Ridiculously Effective Obliques Exercises You Can Do At Home
- A 5-Minute Morning Workout You Can Do Straight Out Of Bed
- Sculpt Stronger Abs At Home In Just 2 Minutes
- An 8-Minute Cardio Boot Camp Workout You Can Do At Home
- These 3 Moves Will Give You A Total-Body, At-Home Workout
- 9 Incredible Butt-Toning Moves To Do at Home
I count 87 Easy Exercises You Can Do At Home. Or 87 Ridiculously Effective At-Home Exercises. Can they get it to a 100 for a more catchy title? I think they could.
They could put together a whole package on butts. They write a lot about exercising your behind and an eBook is just asking to be compiled from this content, which we guess probably came partially recycled from their magazine anyway.
- 15-Minute Cardio Workout That’ll Work Your Butt Like Magic
- The 10-Minute Morning Butt Workout That Will Fire Up Those Glutes
- This Barre-Inspired Workout Will Give Your Butt A Major Boost
- 3 Simple Butt Exercises You Can Do Right Before Bed
- 19 Exercises For A Butt That Just Won’t Quit
- The Ultimate 30-Day Butt-Sculpting Routine
- 6 Butt Exercises That Are Also Great For Your Abs
- 4 Effective Moves That Really Work Your Butt
- 6 Incredible Dumbbell Exercises For Your Butt
- Tone Your Abs And Butt With Just One Move
- 5 Ridiculously Effective Bodyweight Exercises That Work Your Butt
- The TIU Trainers Share A Booty Workout That’ll Kick Your Butt
That’s 58 Exercises for the Perfect Booty, or 58 Exercises for Your Butt You Can Do Anywhere. Don’t laugh, these products exist in the world and Self might as well capitalize on their assets.
Speaking of assets, one of the first things we do when a publisher comes to us, is do an asset inventory, and that’s exactly what we suggest Self does to further boost their online presence going forward. Now that their magazine will be off the air, they have no conflict of interest in recycling everything from their archives since their first issue debuted in 1979.
The cover stories in that first issue were:
- How to Feel Fit in Body and Mind
- Self-Appeal: Say it With Your Looks
- Is Your Contraceptive Ruining Your Lovemaking?
- Throw Away the Scales – Your Fitness Diet
- Prettier, Healthier Skin for a Lifetime
- How to Free Your Creative Self
There’s nothing I can tell from this cover, that would prevent them from re-publishing those stories now.
Portals like Self.com are the most important website archetype to a Mequoda System, as they are intended to build and feed an audience; they are specifically designed for SEO, email marketing, list building, and lead generation.
And if you publish a monthly magazine and each issue includes 50 articles, every year you have content for 600 free portal posts. Portal post types can include marquee stories, feature stories, magazine reviews, issue reviews, book chapter excerpts, book reviews, resource roundups, and more – the options are nearly endless.
Since Self will no longer be publishing print magazines, they can still recycle their old print content online, or put it in an online magazine library for a monthly subscription (and here are 8 good reasons why you should launch one of those!) to pair with their digital edition. We imagine their primary form of revenue will come from advertising going forward, and the more traffic they attract to their site through content, the faster they’ll grow.
What are your thoughts? Add them in the comments below.
