Fashion magazines are by far among the most popular forms of literary entertainment in the world today. Despite a general decline in the sales and circulation of printed magazines and newspapers, fashion magazines continue to thrive across the world, as people continue to rely on them for keeping their finger on the pulse of the latest fashion trends. The Internet has taken a huge bite out of the market share once solidly held by printed magazines and online magazine websites have emerged as a popular alternative. Many printed fashion magazines now offer online editions, in an effort to keep up with the e-commerce revolution. Every fashion magazine must create a website version of its publication if it wants to stay competitive in today’s marketplace.

If you are looking to create a website for a fashion magazine, there are certain design elements you will need to adopt if you want the website to be successful. The fashion niche enjoys a huge readership worldwide from both men and women. So it is extremely important that you design a website that caters to the needs and desires of your intended audience. You want to establish your fashion magazine website as an authoritative source on all things pertaining to the world of fashion.

Competition is extremely fierce in the fashion magazine website industry. It’s not enough to merely hash together a simple website with some content and some pictures, and call it a day. Your competition will eat you alive if you do that. What you must do is create a website that is attractive, compelling, and engaging. It needs to exhibit the “wow effect”. It must be “sticky”, in that readers will want to frequently come back to your website for more, eagerly anticipating the publication of the next issue.

Here are 3 of the most important elements that should be incorporated into the web page design templates of a fashion magazine website design:

1. Offer plenty of free content.

If you are concerned that by giving away too much free information on your website, you risk losing potential revenue, then you need to understand the concept of the “sales funnel”. Not everyone who is looking for fashion information on the Internet is willing to pay for it. You should provide as much free information as possible, to attract people to your website and pique their interest. You need to establish credibility among your readership as a source of authority on fashion. Once they begin to trust you, they may be willing to buy from you. If your website is thin on free content, you will end up with a higher abandonment rate than desired. The more free information you provide, the better your chances are to generate revenue in the long term. Offer free articles and fashion advice columns, and a free photography portfolio of models sporting the latest fashions.

Some recommended topics when you create a website for a fashion magazine website should focus on include: latest fashion trends, fashion tips, fashion mistakes, designer critques, men’s fashion, women’s fashion, and even children’s fashion.

2. Your Fashion Magazine Website Needs To Be “Sticky”.

As mentioned above, every website owner needs to monitor their abandonment rate carefully. If your fashion magazine website’s abandonment rate is too high, this is a clear indication that readers are not finding your content to be relevant to their needs, nor is it engaging enough to retain their attention. You can’t expect to make a sale off of a visitor on the very first time he or she visitors your website. You need your website to be “sticky” in order to keep them coming back to your website again and again. Some examples of how to make your fashion website sticky include:

● a free opt-in e-mail newsletter through which you can send your subscribers free content periodically
● a blog that reader can subscribe to that discusses various fashion trends, do’s and don’ts
● a discussion forum where readers can interact and engage in dialogue with one another on fashion-related topics
● a way to share the information with a social network such as Facebook

3. Diversify your monetization venues.

You can include links to relevant affiliate programs interspersed liberally throughout your website as outbound links from your articles, blog posts, or e-mails, or even as banner advertisements on the margin of each web page. Or you can rely on pay-per-click advertisementing to monetize your website as well. Or, if you have your own product or service to sell, you could include links to these instead. As much as readers want free content, they will appreciate the eye-candy and the persuasive allure of advertisements for products that can help improve their fashion sense. Be sure not to go overboard and come across as overly aggressive, spammy and advertorial though.

By incorporating these 3 design elements when you create a website for a fashion magazine, you will be able to increase your readership, increase your customer loyalty, and improve your sales conversions.

Author Bio: Maria Wixman Website Builder by WIX.com I have been in the online marketing industry for over two years and love all things related to e-marketing, writing for the web, SEO and SEM. I’ve been working for a large company that specializes in web design, and love how dynamic this field is – I am constantly learning new strategies and concepts as the world of online marketing evolves.

Category: Internet
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