Tips for Starting a News Website

Starting a news website can be a rewarding experience; it allows you to highlight issues or events in the news which you feel should receive more attention, can generate revenue in various ways, and gives you complete control over the news you create and/or link to. The process of starting such a website is relatively easy and doesn't have to be very expensive.

Although you can use a free hosting service when starting the news website, it will probably not be taken as seriously and there will likely be advertisements placed at the top of its pages which you do not have control over. Many hosting services will host your web site without advertising for under $10/month, and quite a few domain name registrars (such as namecheap.com) offer registration for less than $10/year. These relatively minor expenses will give your news website more capabilities and capacity, as well as an easy-to-remember URL (like .com or .org). Following this, you will need to carry out the process of creating the webpages, either with HTML code, a website development program, or templates.

After the news website is online and the pages have been set up, you will want to decide whether to create your own news stories, link to recommended news on other websites, or a combination of both. Your own news or commentary articles have the advantage of potentially attracting more traffic to the website if other websites link to them. Some other websites will link to your news stories and/or re-print them with a link if requested. Linking to articles on other news websites can be beneficial as well, as it keeps the news on the web site current with less effort; however, a combination of both is often preferable to make sure the website is differentiated. Either way, multiple interesting articles and/or links should be placed on the web site before starting to promote or submit it to search engines.

You should also determine if and how to gain revenue from the news website so as to pay its expenses and/or compensate for your time. Services like Google Adsense and Yahoo! Publisher Network display ads on your web site and pay you when they are clicked. Many retailer websites offer affiliate programs, but most of these only pay if someone clicks their ad on your website and makes a purchase. Advertising can sometimes be directly sold on the website or through a service such as eBay.com. Alternatively, users of the website can be asked to make contributions, something they are more likely to do if it caters to a particular political group, ideology, or cause. Contributions will probably be few or none as the website is starting, but may increase after it has been established for a fairly long time and attracted regular visitors.

Keeping these tips in mind should be helpful in the process of starting a successful news website with relatively little cost or difficulty.