Promoting your news website online requires more due diligence than promoting a business that sells a physical product. Like your site name, your domain name should be unique, recognizable, and something that people can easily remember. After branding and generating content, the next step is to promote your news articles and make sure they get read. One way is to promote through social media.
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter offer opportunities for readers to connect directly to web content. Create accounts on the most popular social media platforms. To distribute your news feed on those services, there are some prerequisites. Make sure your news site has an RSS / Atom feed. With the RSS / Atom feed in hand, create an account using the “TwitterFeed” service. Follow the instructions and link the RSS / Atom feed to your Facebook and Twitter. Every time you post an article, it appears on Facebook and Twitter automatically.
When convenient, be sure to log into your accounts and engage with potential readers and readers.
On Facebook fan pages, there is limited personal interactivity between page administrators and fans. Facebook calls for more organic growth. Promote articles on your site’s fan page and wait for people to like it – that’s not a formula for success. You can do more with a Facebook fan page, so much more.
Consider running sponsored ads for your news site. This allows your site to receive exposure in the user profiles of those within your target demographic. Facebook Ads offer businesses the opportunity to run ads based on a specific age range, location, and interests. You will also see very detailed estimates of how many people your ad will “reach”. Those estimates will be helpful in crafting a presentation for potential advertisers. Before investing money in Facebook ads, consider the nature of your news site. If your news site appeals to a limited or niche demographic, you should focus on promoting your site for free using Twitter and submitting your site to search engines.
Critics of Facebook’s advertising program have said that Facebook ads are too low-key and unappealing. To overcome these problems, you need to have ad copy that will emotionally invest people in reading the news on your website. Think like someone at a writing desk. You need a captivating title and a concise teaser copy that will draw people in. Consider mentioning your posting milestones (“Over two million subscribers!”) And announcing / reminding potential readers of nifty sections (ie classified ads). Your teaser copy should be clear and focused on one topic. Feel free to place ads announcing giveaways and contests run by your publication. Advertising a news site on Facebook will always be trial and error, but the likelihood of getting new visitors will increase when you invest in longer ad campaigns. Continually tweak your ad content until you find the right copywriting and demographics.
The content of your Facebook page needs constant maintenance. You need to fill your Facebook page with news articles regularly. Make sure to regularly interact with your readers and chat with them. Human interaction is a popular trend on social media for businesses. Encourage readers and viewers to not only review your content, but to comment and get involved in other ways as well. For example, readers respond favorably to captivating images, just as they do in print publications. Readers tend to respond to stunning and colorful landscape photos, food photos, and timeless portraits that readers can relate to. It is preferable that the images you upload to your Facebook page relate to articles on your website. Follow up with text that encourages people to check out your articles and features.
Twitter takes things to the next level. The popular social networking service allows news sites to interact directly with people. Take advantage of the features that Twitter has, such as the “Search People” option. If you have a Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL email account that has contacts, use that email account and Twitter will search for contacts who also have a Twitter account. Make sure to “follow” those who are already following you on Twitter. Sites like “Twellow” (http://www.twellow.com/) can help you find followers based on categories. Tweet Grader (http://tweet.grader.com) allows you to find and follow users who live in your community. Follow members who would be interested in the news on your website. The people you choose to follow should also have a large following and be updated regularly. Never think about the number of people you follow. Always think about the type of people you want to follow. Quality over quantity is a welcome adage on Twitter. If you focus on finding the right people, and not following too many people, you will be successful.
Connect with users who benefit from reading the articles you post or who would be interested. For example, if you have an article featuring a certain company, follow popular users who are likely to express interest in the company and its product, including the company’s Twitter account. If you have an article covering an event, follow popular users who have a high probability of posting or re-tweeting event information. Interact with these users in moderation. Imagine that you are in a bar and you hear people talking about something that interests you. The best way to participate is to study the flow of the conversation and then participate once the opportunity to do so arises. If someone asks a question about a topic that appears in one of your articles, feel free to respond with a link. People will appreciate your kindness as long as you focus on being resourceful and not promoting your news site directly. Remember, you are trying to promote your news site, so your main goal should be to be resourceful. Once you develop a large fan or subscriber base, you no longer need to do this.
It is important to note that message boards are good for promoting articles. While message boards are now in the background due to social media, they are still very useful for generating buzz and traffic. Register accounts and participate regularly in message boards related to your content. It is recommended that you link to your material responsibly and in moderation. In other words, don’t spam a message board with links. Only provide self-interest links where there is relevance and an information gap. Provide a link to your domain name in your forum signature. Also, feel free to customize your forum profile. People will be more attentive to those who have a strong human presence. And once you feel like your site has developed a substantial and consistent amount of traffic, you won’t need to continue promoting your site on message boards.
News websites cost a dime a dozen, which is why having quality content is so important. No matter how you promote your news site, the goal of your news site is to have articles that are clear, engaging, thought-provoking, and witty. When people can see that your news site is dynamic in design, organization, and content, they will use your site as a resource. News is often seen as a throwaway product in the digital marketplace, but it takes a good content provider, with the promotional knowledge, to make news worth reading.