Online Teen Magazine... Tips?

[Young Spark]

Alright, so here's the deal.

I am looking to start a online teen magazine (and of course bootstrapping will be my choice of funding.) I am looking though for some help as I am having a hard time on deciding what to surround the topic about.

I know I wanted to start a online magazine for youth entrepreneurs but I am not sure though as it seems like the idea will be bland and boring. So I've been trying to plan another way out for coming up with a topic that will interest teen's, but will also give them some knowledge in saving their money and the business world.

I am not necessarily looking to start entirely a "Teen" magazine but you should get what path I am on. My question is, what kind of online magazine should I start and how can I diversify the topic's to make it interesting to teen's but also give them entrepreneurship knowledge. I was thinking of a youth entrepreneur magazine but I am not sure right now though. (It'll be directed at youth aged 16-21 year old's mainly.)

[akula]

Alright, so here's the deal.

I am looking to start a online teen magazine (and of course bootstrapping will be my choice of funding.) I am looking though for some help as I am having a hard time on deciding what to surround the topic about.

I know I wanted to start a online magazine for youth entrepreneurs but I am not sure though as it seems like the idea will be bland and boring. So I've been trying to plan another way out for coming up with a topic that will interest teen's, but will also give them some knowledge in saving their money and the business world.

I am not necessarily looking to start entirely a "Teen" magazine but you should get what path I am on. My question is, what kind of online magazine should I start and how can I diversify the topic's to make it interesting to teen's but also give them entrepreneurship knowledge. I was thinking of a youth entrepreneur magazine but I am not sure right now though. (It'll be directed at youth aged 16-21 year old's mainly.)

okey dokey..

1. forget all this entrepreneurship rubbish. if you're starting a teen mag, it's gonna be about parties, sex and celebrities. anything else won't sell...you're gonna have to decide whether you're gonna sell to guys or girls...sell to guys...I hear that category is growing and easier to break into (less competition). what about wired meets playboy, with a new CD in every issue?

2. magazines are started by you going around to get LOI signed by prospective advertisers/sponsors

3. if you can do that, you can then think about how to get an editor

[akula]

err..scrap all that

what you need is an online only mag for social networking sites

low infrastructure cost, plus you'll get all your content for free (videos, pics, interviews, stories)

the premise is to have a mag that profiles cool people on myspace, facebook and bebo

the site would have an option where people can submit their online profiles for a chance to get reviewed and becomme a myspace celebrity...with an official badge/widget and everything

overall: the problem you should be solving is to help people find cool stuff/profiles on popular sns. you can do this by running a mag. that's where the opportunity is.

[Will]

I think there are huge numbers of teens nowdays who are interested in entrepreneurship, like myself, though not really enough just yet to start a magazine just for this group. I like akula's ideas about gearing it towards the popular social network sites, you could definately make something out of that!

[Mikey1205]

I disagree.
If you want to target the sort of people on this forum a good online magazine with good interviews etc would do well.

I like living it social too but I wouldn't buy a magazine about it.

[akula]

that's right. entrepreneurship has the fastest growing demand as an area of study at universities, compared to other subjects.

people are interested in it and if anyone wants to tell them about it, they can start a school, publish books or put together bootcamps or what have you

entertainment, howver, is entertainment. mixing entertainment with education does not work...as far as mags go anyway

[akula]

I disagree.
If you want to target the sort of people on this forum a good online magazine with good interviews etc would do well.

I like living it social too but I wouldn't buy a magazine about it.

good point, but it doesn't matter whether you or I second guess what people "might like" (or what would "do well") one way or the other

spark doesn't have the risk capacity to back anything other than an online mag, based on user generated content and word of mouse distribution

do you see entrepreneurs posting online pics and videos? no..that's what 16 y.o. lohan wannabes are doing. it's these chics who are gonna make the mag work. it's any teenage girls dream to get on the cover of anything....an entrepreneur mag just would have access to this much free content.

errr...disclaimer...I hate all entrepreneur related sites.....they are dull and irritating....errr, some people however (cough **stealthy**) probably get off on reading how to register an LLC...not that there is anything wrong with that!!

[akula]

having thought about it, the best way to test the waters and get something off the ground is to do a "digg for myspace" play

1. do a hacked up pligg installation
2. spam a thousand odd myspace junkies and get them submit their profile
3. get the said junkies to put an equivalent of "digg this" on their profile
4. get the junkies to vote on other people's profiles
5. put some other content on the site if necessary

that's a fair v1.0 in my opinion

two guys can get this done by next weekend

really...the point is to discover the most popular profiles on myspace

http://bestmyspaceband.com/ is a great example of what i mean

[The Stealthy One]

^^^ I like that idea a lot.

[Young Spark]

Akula I think your idea can be successful but I can't really see myself putting together such a website. Why? Because:

1. The site would lack credibility (if any at all.) I mean, look at MySpace now and how many hits its taking because of teen's and the risks of stalker's or pedophiles, would I really want to promote such actions in the form of an online magazine. My magazine would be the next (seeing how I'll be specifically targeting certain profiles that are cool.) Now, I'm not saying the idea is bad, just the fact that displaying individual teen's profiles.

2. Lack of interest, many people will think its kind of cool. Based in my own opinion it'll be taken as a joke if I were to say so. Look at how ridiculous MySpace is turning out to be, nothing but sexual exploitation if you ask me.

3. Spam CENTRAL would be what it would become. Seeing as the online magazine has a comments addon... look at the overflooded pages now and the "phishing" being done on MySpace (or just about any social networking site.) An online magazine site is sure to be a prime target.

4. Lack of features. Now, this issue isn't so big but what features could I offer that would interest members to want to stay. The way some are now would mean a step by step of "Let me read this article >> this article is boring >> let me check the rest of the site >> okay this magazine is focused on one thing, other people's profiles why not something that'll benefit ME."

Now don't get me wrong Akula, I am sure it is a successful idea but I see many flaws in such a site. Of course, every business has its own flaws, but this is definitely a recipe for disaster IMHO.

Now, when it comes to the teen magazine, there are many benefits in it, it can shed light and help youth decide whether its a career they'd like to persue or what. I am also looking for it to have interviews with some successful business entrepreneurs (and even people from the YE forum.) I'd be looking to have a unique visit rate of 5,000 in the first 3 months from hard and MAIN focus advertising and marketing through SEO, word of mouth and if it become really big, making small insertitions to distribute to magazine companies to insert into their magazines if they want.

But I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on what Akula recommended and if so (as I'd like to make sure its okay to use your original concept since you came up with it) I do go ahead with this, can I get your Okay Akula to utilize your idea for such a site??

[akula]

hehe...sure I'm not protective of ideas....do what ever

you have my Ok to "utilize [my] idea for such a site" :-)

get a second opinion from any of these vcs on your oppportunity selection

there's gonna be very few credible people who are gonna tell you that you can make money in the content business doing anything other than porn/free stuff, or a variation thereof (i.e. myspace)

sorry to disappoint, but there is no demand for content products with laden with lofty ideals (as far as content ventures go)...even the bible belt plays aren't doing that well

I know, it sucks, but it's the reality. There is simply no demand for the "have interviews with some successful business entrepreneurs" kind of stuff.

heard of nPost.com? touche. sites like that don't go anywhere.

note: I do like the idea of a minimag. a magazine that you can slip into other magazines....that could go places...but again - entertainment only...no preaching/teachning/howto stuff

if you wanna make a positive impact on your readers lives, then it's a whole different ball game 'caus you're talking "education market"...new rules, new players....a completely different space

[Young Spark]

Well honestly, its not much of a teaching/preaching or how to magazine (the youth business owner magazine scenario.) Its more targeted to those who are already in the industry. Its chance to succeed is high with the right marketing tools and the right audience direction.

Lastly, I'm weighing the options still of the myspace magazine... I honestly can't really see it going anywhere. I mean, right now, MySpace is in talks of putting out their own magazine, do you think I'd really be able to compete with them once they do release. On top of that, I haven't seen much youth entrepreneur magazines.

We'll see what happens, I'm not sure yet but I'll give it some time to develop.

[akula]

well yeah..there you go, you bring up three great points

1. like I mentioned above, similarly to the education market, trade publications are a whole different ball game...that said I can't think of any profitable trade pubs...although, calacanis did start and sell his vc pub to dow jones, so it must have been a good asset, but that may have been because venturewire was a good fit with WSJ..anyway..do you know any profitable trade pubs?

2. That's right. Publishing is a dangerous business. Low barriers to entry. Myspace/or another competitor can always enter the market. With other opportunities the barriers are higher.

3. There you go. I've seen dozens of these "helping entrepreneurs suceed" plays...from http://www.ysn.com/ (started in like 2001!) onwards. They are relaunching now. doing exactly what you wanna do. Ask Pete, he'll sum up exactly what's been happening with YSN for years - they're not gonna get anywhere. Why? because no one cares...there's a very limited supply of these "Annoyingly Ambitious Kids" (as Pete puts it)

If the problem that you wanna solve is "help entrepreneurs suceed", what solutions do you see really working out there? It certainly isn't magazines.

[Young Spark]

I see what your saying Akula... but I'd really like to get into such a magazine. I know I'd like to once start an online magazine but not sure what kind of topic I want it to be about. Maybe I'll figure that out later. If I do take up on the youth entrepreneur magazine, hopefully you won't hate me too much but either way, its worth a try, if I fail, I'll give you the benefit of being right.

There are always 2 options... I either fail or I make it... its a 50/50 chance. For right now, I'll let the idea develop out over time. I'll get onto it some other time as I need to persue mainly my cash flow consultant career right now. Anybody got any accounts receivables/cash flow notes in the U.S.?

[bballoakie]

Are you looking at a blog type Magazine like, iJoomla
or a digital magazine like this.

And I would be interested in working on that with you.

I would think that to produce a quality product, it would take at least $100, but I would think that after you put out an edition, depending on the response, you could put actual ads in the magazine. I would think you would want a team of people to work on it with you, so you can create a good product. Just some thoughts.