{"id":4616,"date":"2020-06-18T16:41:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T16:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalsuccess.us\/blog\/?p=4616"},"modified":"2023-07-14T09:31:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T09:31:29","slug":"the-no-fail-guide-to-growing-monetizing-a-digital-news-website-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalsuccess.us\/blog\/the-no-fail-guide-to-growing-monetizing-a-digital-news-website-in-2020.html","title":{"rendered":"The No-Fail Guide to Growing & Monetizing a Digital News Website in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

The No-Fail Guide to Growing & Monetizing a Digital News Website in 2020<\/span><\/h1>\n

At a recent conference I attended, a fine entrepreneur explained to me why growing a digital news website in 2020 is nothing short of an uphill task.<\/p>\n

Rightly so, with the conventional media investing big time in the digital realm and the already established publications doing everything in their power to not let go – it is in fact tough.<\/p>\n

The best thing about the internet, however, is that the playing fields are fairly level. Engagement one can buy with ad spends is nothing more than what shareability or virality can fetch you. Getting your site to the top with ads can work for those who afford it, but nothing beats the good-ol\u2019 thorough content that ranks at the top and generates organic traffic<\/a> for years.<\/p>\n

On to digital news websites, space is far from being saturated. But it\u2019s definitely competitive.<\/p>\n

\"Digital<\/a><\/p>\n

From gathering a sizable readership to putting the right tools and workflows in place for generating revenue, it takes a lot of effort and patience.<\/p>\n

Before we discuss the monetization aspects, first things first:<\/p>\n

Invest in a great site<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having a high-performance and reliable website must be a top priority for a digital news website in the beginning.\u00a0 The reason behind this is pretty simple. As your publication grows, you would want to keep the users engaged and boost retention.<\/p>\n

Now, that would mean adding a lot of features. Some of them – very useful, some of them – not so much. But you\u2019ll need to experiment to reach a conclusion.<\/p>\n

The variety of network and device conditions out there is another important factor that your website should be prepared for.<\/p>\n

More than anything, it is about credibility<\/strong><\/p>\n

Viewers across the world are always trying to solve their problems on the internet (search and sites). Were they interested in beating around the bush and killing their time, they would be watching memes on the internet, not that I don\u2019t love memes. The point is – users are looking for experts who can answer their questions and enlighten them.<\/p>\n

Something an unresponsive website can\u2019t deliver; because UX!<\/p>\n

Google and other research tools have already explained this in so many ways over the last few years. According to DoubleClick, a project by Google, more than 53% of users would abandon a mobile site if it took longer than 3 seconds to load.<\/p>\n

Cruel, I know.<\/p>\n

BBC, one of the pioneers in digital news, has found that they lose an additional 10% of their users for every single second their site or affiliate sites take to load. This makes site infrastructure too important not to be serious about.<\/p>\n

Open-source is not a bad option<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all know a lot of publications from the era of print journalism find it pretty hard to stand on their feet. The same goes for new publications that are yet to cement their place.<\/p>\n

Not only are they starting things from the beginning, but they are also needed to do it on a fairly tight budget – translating into a need for great but cost-effective digital solutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Open-source frameworks such as drupal can be highly effective if you are looking for great infrastructure that can be customized as per your needs. Unlike the \u201ccanned\u201d software provided by corporations, you get to command a large extent of customization that meet your brand guidelines.<\/p>\n

From The Economist in England to various government departments across Australia, drupal and other open-source frameworks are used to build and scale publications with high levels of customization:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

CDNs and Caches are your best friends<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scalability is one of the biggest challenges that digital news websites face at regular intervals. Whether it\u2019s an important sports event like the world cup and Olympics or a major event like the EU referendum – your site needs to be prepared for enormous loads on the servers.<\/p>\n

By using the cache, your site can store copies of data into the user\u2019s computer and then use it when they come back – reducing crucial seconds of loading. It does that by making sure that the users do not end up downloading the same files repeatedly, hence the lower number of requests made to your web servers.<\/p>\n

\"cache\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Caches are awesome, but they have their own limits. Beyond a certain load, caches are not going to save you from crashing.<\/p>\n

Enter CDNs.<\/p>\n

A CDN (continuous delivery network) allows you to deliver all your static as well as dynamic assets to handle larger traffic for sustained periods of time. If you intend to create high-quality content<\/a> for your audience, it is important to use images, videos, and all sorts of rich media elements. These heavy files can slow your site down unless you implement CDN effectively.<\/p>\n

SEO for your Digital Newsroom<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you are just starting a new publication or trying to grow one, getting new users from search engines must be a top priority.<\/p>\n

You may look at any of the top news sites, you\u2019ll find that organic search traffic<\/a> is a priority for them. Here\u2019s what a site with serious SEO strategy<\/a> looks like:<\/p>\n