6 Easy Ways to Make More Revenue From Your Digital Magazine
It’s going to take more than just great content to make money from your digital magazine.
Here are six simple (but effective!) ways to unlock multiple revenue streams, boosting your bottom line and securing a consistent return from your digital magazine.
1. Offer subscriptions that stick
A successful subscription model will turn casual readers into paying subscribers – and keep them there. Focus on offering content that feels exclusive, valuable, and worth paying for.
While you’re at it, make sure the process for readers to sign up and access content is straightforward. If they have to jump through a million hoops just to subscribe, they’ll bail. The simpler it is, the more likely readers are to stick around.
Here are some key tips to help shape your subscription model – from deciding on access levels and entitlement types to optimizing user experience and crafting user journeys that keep your subscribers coming back.
2. Integrate digital ads
Ads within your digital magazine are a great way to bring in consistent revenue without relying entirely on subscriptions. Depending on your publishing partner and platform, you can even integrate Google Ad Manager to easily manage and sell ad space.
How much can you actually make from digital ads?
Here’s an example of a publication that could earn $135k a year just from digital ads.
Imagine they have 250,000 subscribers, and about 50% of them are active readers. That’s 125,000 active readers per issue.
Now let’s say each issue has 4 articles – 2 ads within the article, and 1 ad on the home screen. Let’s do the math:
- Step 1. Calculate total ad impressions per reader
(4 articles × 2 ads) + 1 home screen ad = 9 impressions per reader
- Step 2. Multiply by total active readers to get total impressions
125,000 readers × 9 impressions = 1,125,000 impressions per issue
- Step 3. Calculate revenue at $10 CPM
1,125,000 ÷ 1,000 × $10 = $11,250 per issue
If they’re publishing monthly, that’s $135k a year – just from ad revenue. Not bad for letting a few ads do the heavy lifting.
Use these calculations to see how much you could earn!
3. Start using affiliate links
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to earn money through your digital content. By including affiliate links to relevant products or services, you can earn commissions on purchases your readers make.
The best part? It’s non-intrusive. Your readers get helpful and relevant product recommendations, and you get a cut of the sales.
4. Integrate your ecom store to drive sales
Whether it’s exclusive content, branded merch, or relevant products tied to your editorial, integrating ecommerce into your digital magazine will help you earn more from your products. Direct shopping links also means a more seamless shopping experience for your readers.
5. Engage readers with interactive features
Keeping readers engaged isn’t just good for retention, it’s good for revenue. When readers stick around longer, they’re more likely to click ads, subscribe, and even share your content.
Adding rich media like videos, audio, and interactive features (think puzzles or quizzes) transforms passive reading into an immersive experience.
Plus, engaged readers are more likely to share content, which means more traffic and higher revenue potential.
6. Boost your reach and visibility
More eyeballs = more money. The more people discover your digital edition, the more ad impressions and subscription opportunities you have.
Boost your reach and visibility by:
- Optimizing for SEO – Make sure your content is easy to find.
- Encouraging social sharing – Make it simple for readers to spread the word.
- Using push notifications – Bring readers back with timely updates and relevant content recommendations.
Start earning more with Smart Mags
Our Smart Mags solution has everything you need to turn your digital magazine into a revenue generator.
Powered by a Progressive Web App, Smart Mags enables you to easily transform your printed content into dynamic, interactive editions.
And with features like in-app ads, push notifications, affiliate links, e-commerce support, and easy subscription management, Smart Mags makes it easy to drive revenue. Everything is managed in one place, so you can boost your income without the extra hassle.
Life & Style, US Weekly, and Sports Illustrated are just some of the publications already using this tech to level up their digital magazines and drive revenue – and you can too.
