Okay, I admit it.  I have a bit of an addiction.  I love my craft magazines.  Show me how to create a stuffed owl out of a pair of socks and googly eyes and I’m busy all weekend.  Want to know 12 uses for your discarded light bulbs?  I can find you 15.  And I’m not the only weekend hobbyist who loves her niche magazines.  There are trade magazines that cater to RV enthusiasts, flyfishers, scrapbookers, even bloggers.

While magazines are a great way to get in front of your target audience on a consistent basis, for most companies, the time and costs of creating, printing and distributing are prohibitive.  Enter the online niche magazine.  Web video magazines allow you to quickly and easily cover a range of topics and highlight your products in a useful, informative way.  Best of all, it costs a fraction of the time and money you’d invest in a hard copy magazine.

“The Fit Show,” Bodybuilder.com’s online video magazine, has taken the world of bodybuilding and made it accessible to weekend warriors and hardcore athletes alike.  By offering short (1-2 minute segments) on a variety of topics from weight lifting to nutrition, they appeal to a diverse bodybuilding audience.  And because video is portable, they can show proper weight lifting form in a gym and proper cooking techniques in a kitchen, allowing them to show, not just tell.

Their Web video show also keeps people coming back to their Web site.  “The Fit Show” is chock-full of interesting, value-added information for bodybuilding enthusiasts.  They offer a training tip of the week, which features big name bodybuilders demonstrating the proper form of weight lifting techniques and insider tips.  They interview celebrity athletes, offering an inside look into their lives and training schedules.  As well, they feature a “Posing Routine of the Week” (which I’m pretty sure I saw flaunted last week at my local 24 Hour Fitness).

Because the format of each Internet video episode stays the same, viewers know what to expect and can return weekly for new tips and poses.  By building continued rapport with their audience, Bodybuilding.com establishes itself as the expert in their field and gives them multiple opportunities to turn viewers into buyers.

Bodybuilder.com does a great job of promoting their products (and ultimately, making money from their Web video) in a soft sell manner.  Their segment, “What’s Hot at Bodybuilding.com” features different supplements, wallpapers and nutrition plans that, you guessed it, Bodybuilding.com sells.  They highlight the features and benefits of each product and answer commonly asked questions.   Because the product highlights are just another segment of a larger show, they feel informative and helpful rather than sales-y.

They also promote other parts of their interactive Web site, which includes a myspace-style networking forum, articles, blogs and contests.  Viewers are encouraged during segments to enter contests for “Best Amateur Bodybuilder” or “Best Supplement of the Year,” as well as give feedback on episodes.   They even have a specific forum to chat about the just-watched show.  They give viewers multiple opportunities to participate in their community, as well as multiple reasons to return.

Have you created an online video magazine?  We’d love to check it out.  Share your link in our comments section and we may even feature it in an upcoming post.