polski
español
Aleksander Janicki
In short:
- Running a news portal generates costs (e.g. hosting, server, etc.), but if an internet service generates big traffic and has decent range, you'll see a return on the investment, not only from ads
- The more unique users your news website has, the better
- There are two ways of creating traffic: following the newest trends and current events or writing with SEO in mind, which means creating universal and seasonal content
- If you avoid overloading your page with ads and make sure they’re diverse and create placements, ad banners will create income
- Google AdSense, partner programs, and affiliate webs are other good ways to make money off your news website
- Sponsored articles are both good and easy money. However, they have to prove useful to the users, and before you get such a possibility advertisers will check the statistics of your page
- Turn on the sponsored and paid announcements module on your news portal webpage
- Hide the best content behind a Paywall or allow a paid subscription to use your news portal website without ads
- Or just use all of the above, thanks to CMS 4media
- See also: open source CMS VS proprietary CMS. A brief chat with Ryan Dohrn & Piotr Marek before Niche Media Conference 2023.
Table of contents
- Traffic, range, and visibility of a news portal website
- Optimizing content
- Making money off of news outlets
Traffic, range and visibility of a news portal website
There are a few ways to monetize your news outlet. All of them have one common denominator: ranges.
Your income is directly tied to ranges, meaning the number of unique users that visit your website.
It doesn’t matter whether you want to fill your news portal with ads or establish a long-term cooperation with a selected brand.
Brands care about promotion, and the more traffic on your news website, the better promotion, and the more cash you can make off it.
That’s why it’s important to focus on creating appropriate and original content for a certain standard.
If you rely on copying texts from other media outlets, users will quickly find out and stop visiting your website.
Optimizing content
A certain approach is needed when it comes to publishing on a news outlet. On one hand, it’s important to be up-to-date, on the other, have a base of so-called 'evergreen' articles.
Are you familiar with the term SEO? It stands for Search Engine Optimization.
The name is pretty self-explanatory. What it means is, basically, that you can extend your organic (free) range.
That can be achieved thanks to the knowledge of Google algorithms, the most popular search engine in the world.
You see, it’s not an accident that among millions, or even billions of search results that show up after entering a phrase, some of them are at the very top of the list.
Texts cut for SEO, containing keyphrases in the right places in the text, that are long enough and yet filled with useful knowledge, will find their way to users much more easily.
Another valid aspect is the originality of the content.
Google detects copies with ease and then drastically cuts their ranges, even if the original source is credited/linked.
Whatever you post should be useful to the users.
So-called ‘clickbaits’ work wonders for the ‘clickability’ of our news portal website, especially on social media, but only in the short term.
Misleading titles that aren’t backed in the articles cause damage to credibility and disappointment among users, who immediately leave.
The above conditions have a direct impact on the visibility of your media outlet and the traffic on it.
There are many rules like the ones listed, which doesn’t necessarily mean you have to meet all of them. It is worth it, though.
It’s not secret knowledge or rocket science – just read on the subject at the best source possible – Google (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/beginner/seo-starter-guide?hl=en).
What content is suitable for SEO on news websites?
- Lists like ‘10 ideas for...’
- Guides, e.g. ‘How to upload a video to YouTube? Step-by-step guide’
- 'Encyclopedic’ articles – typical informational articles, for example explaining what CMS is
- Product reviews like ‘Realme GT 2. Better than the iPhone? Review’
- Video materials – everything above, but in the video format + interviews, talks, unboxings, etc.
But SEO writing isn’t everything, especially if you intend to run or already run a local news outlet.
In such a case, the most important thing is providing current information and using the Google News presence (or trying to get access to this service).
It is linked to meeting a series of requirements, among them technicalities. You can read about the subject in the Publisher Center (https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/?hl=en#topic=10630761).
The process of writing articles, using keyphrases, or the time of publication are entirely different things.
In this case, the most important thing is the reaction time.
If you observe that in the last hour other media outlets have reported on the war in Ukraine, you should do it as well if you want to gain significance and have your articles shown on Google News.
The Google News service uses editorial titles as heads of articles, which makes them the most significant.
You have to keep in mind that they should contain certain keywords corresponding to given trends.
For more details, check out the Publisher Center I mentioned before. Make sure to pay attention to the size of the thumbnail, the format of NewsArticle on Schema.org and the website map newsmap.xml!
Making money on news outlets
There are many ways to earn money on your news portal website. Here are some of the best solutions:
1. Ads
The first thing that pops into everyone’s minds when it comes to monetizing their news websites are ads.
It is, by far, the most popular source of income from media outlets. So naturally, it’s worth making some space for them.
You have to realize that aggressive ads and popups cause users to not want to use such a portal website anymore.
Or they’ll just use software to block ads, depriving you of income.
Ok, but where can one get ads to make a profit?
It’s easy. First of all, prepare some areas on your portal website in advance, at the stage of designing its appearance.
Why is it worth doing so?
Because these will make you the biggest profit. You won't have to share it with any middleman, because this advertising space will be 100% yours.
But these aren’t the only ways.
Let me introduce you to the Google AdSense tool.
It’s an advertisement platform. It displays banners, videos, or texts on websites.
Thanks to this solution, you don't have to worry about advertisers willing to put their products on your media outlet.
If you already own a news outlet, all you need to do is create an account in Google AdSense.
In order to do so:
- Click the link: https://www.google.pl/adsense/start/, and then ‘Get started’.
- Create a Google account, or log into an existing one. You most likely already have one – Google account is the same one used for Gmail.
- Type the URL address of your news outlet. You can return to this step later by clicking ‘X’.
Decide whether you want AdSense’s help. If so, they’ll contact you using the data you provide.
Pick a country/region you live in. You’ll receive a PIN code at your postal address.
After accepting the terms of use, you’ll need them to activate your account.
The whole process takes up to two weeks and will require verifying the data you’ve given and whether your news portal website meets the rules of the program.
After fulfilling these steps, you’ll be given a code you have to put on your media outlet.
Then decide if you want the software to choose the types of ads (video/banner and so on) and their frequency by itself, or you’d rather do it yourself.
An alternative is to change these settings manually.
Google AdSense will choose ads based on the interests of users that are suitable for your webpage.
While we’re on the subject, meeting certain conditions will help you earn more with this tool.
The more time internet users spend on your news webpage, the more you’ll make off of it.
That’s why it’s worth having a developed menu and linking your other articles.
However, you can’t click on ads on your own page or ask others to do it because Google will block ads on your website.
It’s doubtful they’ll position it high as well.
Remember, though, that Google AdSense isn’t the only source of ads you can use on your news portal.
There are a wide number of other services that provide advertisements.
Those could be programmatic ads like optAd360, or different systems of native advertising like Taboola or MGID.
Implementing them requires special codes, which can be really tricky without knowledge or skills and can result in the failure or malfunction of advertisements on your news website.
Luckily, there are solutions that make it easy.
In the case of CMS 4media, publishers receive both the Content Management System and access to Ads 4media, where all they need to do is paste their advertiser’s code into placeholders, as shown in the picture below.
2. Sponsored articles
One of the most popular ways to make money off of news portals are sponsored articles.
It’s the least invasive form of advertisement – most usually it occurs in an informational article about a certain type of product. It is simply a mention/recommendation of a specific brand with a link to an online shop where you can buy it.
This solution has its advantages.
Users usually don’t like ads. This type, however, also offers informative value and isn’t so aggressive.
They also can’t be blocked by the likes of AdBlock.
As a media outlet owner, you have a bigger impact on the content shown on it, and what would you like your brand to be associated with.
Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages. Sponsored articles require consideration because:
- A bad partnerships will question your credibility
- Too much sponsored content will push users away from using your news website
- The articles need to be useful and interesting to readers to gain good ‘clickability’, especially the placed links
- Often, you can’t interfere with the articles and can only post them
As a publisher, you have to make sure that links put in sponsored articles will have positioning power, meaning they are equipped with the ‘dofollow’ attribute – SEO specialists pay special attention to this, because they use local media outlets for positioning links.
Another issue is the short-term thinking of advertisers in terms of sponsored articles.
It is often seen that an advertiser posts the same sponsored article on ten different pages, basically leading to duplicate content.
This is not a desirable action, because Google algorithms will see the unoriginality, and no matter the order of publication, all articles will lose range. That’s why it’s important to post unique content, especially if you take sponsored articles.
3. Affiliate networks
Also called ‘partnership programs’. They are somewhat related to sponsored articles.
The method here is to put links in your content, leading to advertisers’ products.
You receive money each time someone buys a product after clicking the link on your news website. Of course, not right away – depending on the network you choose, you have to either reach a certain sum (e.g., 50$) or reach the settlement period, which may be extended even to 3 months or more.
You have to be cautious – there are many affiliate networks, and it’s easy to get lost. It’s worth trying out one or a few before drawing conclusions about effectiveness and income.
Affiliate networks are divided into branches – financial, books, and so on.
The most popular affiliate networks are:
- ClickBank
- ShareASale
- CJ Affiliate
- Awin
- AffiliaXe
- GiddyUp
- Impact
4. Selling
You can use your website to help sell other brands’ products.
They should be tightly connected to the contents you usually post.
Your readership has certain interests and goals that drew them there in the first place.
It’s them you want to reach with such an offer.
A bad choice of partnership, spamming with offers, and impudence while advertising will push them away from your local news webpage.
5. Announcements and company catalog
This solution consists of adding offer subpages to your website.
It’s just ideal for local media outlets because it works best in small communities.
‘Add your company to our catalog’:
In exchange for payment, you can add companies’ names, logos, addresses, and links to their pages in the appropriate tab.
Companies expand their clientele, and you have money in your wallet.
‘Add an announcement’:
You can also allow users to add announcements on your news website.
Sell, buy, swap – you know the drill.
It provides two benefits for your news outlet.
Firstly, you earn from paid announcements.
Secondly, your website can become a place regularly visited by users interested in them.
Naturally, it will generate you income from ads and increase your attractiveness in advertisers’ eyes.
6. A complex solution – CMS
As you can already see, there are many ways to make money off of your local news website. And we still haven’t reached the end of the list.
Obviously, it’s a great idea to maximize income using a few solutions at the same time.
If, other than running your website, you have other duties and lack time of them, we can offer you a complex solution in which you’ll find all other solutions.
We mentioned it a bit earlier.
Establishing cooperation with the advertising network will make it easier for you to monetize your website.
All advertising content will be handed to you on a silver platter from an experienced team, which helped to make money for countless other companies and entrepreneurs.
Other than various types of ads, you’ll also receive informative content to simply post on your page.
They’re being prepared up to date and guarantee increased traffic and, in turn, ad-related income.
What makes this a truly complex solution?
Other than ads, we provide a CMS 4media, which will allow you to easily create and run a portal without a care in the world.
You don’t know what CMS is? Make sure to check out our article on it!
7. Premium content behind Paywall
If you post a lot of content, you can afford to make some of it paid. The most interesting and developed ones, of course.
You want to make sure that if the user decides to pay for reading it, they will be content with it.
And will do so again. And they will not badmouth you, damaging your PR.
Many newspapers use this solution.
Keep in mind that when it comes to newspapers, people are used to paying for them.
It’s different with news websites. To make this option profitable, you have to earn a certain renown and a loyal audience.
Make sure to keep most of the content free!
8. Paid subscription
An ad-free portal in exchange for a monthly subscription for a registered user.
The downside of this solution is ad blocking software. Remember that users have this possibility for free.
In order to combat this, you have to fill your news portal with interesting content that will draw users and encourage them to consider paying.
Also, you can technically protect your website against ad blocking software.
Remember, users will only pay if they like your content.
You can combine the last two methods: – no ads and premium content behind Paywall.
Summary
As you can see, there are many ways to make money on your news portal webpage.
Most of them require balancing a fine line between chosen methods of monetization and keeping users happy.
If you don't have time for it and if you want at least some things to work themselves - check out our CMS 4media system or register your website on our free advertising platform for publishers and advertisers Ads 4media.
