News sites provide online publications covering topics like current events, sports, politics and business. Some news sites feature their own original content while others act as aggregated news providers by compiling headlines from other news sources.
Some news websites use RSS (really simple syndication) technology to distribute headlines, articles and editorials directly to subscribers before it appears on the website itself.
Free
Press release sites offering free press releases are an effective way of spreading news to the masses, but be wary: some charge fees even though their advertised as free plans – such as only allowing news distribution to a handful of websites under free plans; premium plans typically offer additional distribution and features.
There are several excellent, free news sites to use, such as Free PR Now, MeriNews and Newswire. Newswire is particularly effective for breaking news releases and event announcements and offers both an English and Spanish version, in addition to mobile support. Other top news sources include BizEurope UK PR Wire TMC Net as well.
Hazel Trice Edney is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Trice World News wire service. A frequent guest on TV shows and radio programs such as Tavis Smiley Show, CNN, C-Span and Bishop T.D Jakes’ Potter’s Touch; Hazel graduated from Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Power Executive Leadership Program.
She’s particularly drawn to art that incorporates space and environment, particularly technology that transforms ordinary activities into magical ones. Most recently she collaborated on creating an interactive art piece for Trace Reddell’s Expanded Cinema class with sensor-equipped punching bags which were projection mapped with ecological catastrophes and Donald Trump speeches – an experience she found truly magical!
Paid
News websites often rely on various revenue-generating mechanisms, from selling advertising space and paywall subscriptions, to hiring freelance writers for article production on certain topics and paying them per published piece on the website. Selling articles can be an excellent way for publishers to generate income; however, for some of them it can prove challenging.
Affiliate marketing can also help monetize a news website. This method involves promoting products and services to readers in exchange for commission on any sales made by them – an effective strategy but takes considerable time and dedication to achieve success in this area.
When creating a news website, select an attractive domain name and tagline that will make visitors recall it and return. Social media promotion is another effective method to draw in visitors to your site.
There are several paid news submission sites that provide various features, including paid submissions, free distribution to newswires and partners, search engine optimization services and subscription plans that grant users access to exclusive content. Examples of such sites are RTIR, Nanotech Now, Beta News and Thomas.
Manual
Manual news posting sites require more effort, but may be worth it for certain niches. Nanotech Now provides a press release submission form specifically targeting nanotechnology news; RTIR allows for radio and TV interviews; MeriNews accepts debate topics and newsworthy photos; many of these sites use WordPress which offers free website creation with an editor optimized for text content.
Automatic
When it comes to building an automatic news website, there are various approaches you can take. One popular option is using a content aggregator – an option which pulls information from multiple sources and reposts it to your site – known as curating content if done right. Google News and Drudge Report are good examples of content aggregators; other examples could be PopURLs which re-posts content from thousands of blogs and websites, making for easy traffic generation while saving yourself from writing much yourself – it’s great way of creating traffic without writing much yourself; provided that when linking back to these sources you should always include original source links!
Utilizing free news feeds is another approach to setting up an automatic news website; however, this may prove tricky due to copyright concerns with publishing other people’s material and search engines’ tendency to penalize websites that repost others’ work.
Some aggregators offer free news feeds to allow you to embed their content on your own site, making the easiest way to do this WordPress’ news feed plugins are the perfect way. There are numerous versions out there and some are very user-friendly; such as Flipboard’s magazine-style interface with topics and publications you choose; others, like Google News have more traditional layouts.
