How to Promote Your News Web Site Online and Get Quality Traffic
Promotion of a business that sells physical products requires less diligence than promotion of a news website. Similar to the name of your website, your domain name should be unique, recognizable, and easy to remember. After establishing the brand and creating content, the following step is to promote the news articles and ensure that they are read. Promotion via social media is one option.
Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter enable readers to interact directly with web content. Create profiles on the most popular social networking sites. To syndicate your news feed on these services, you must meet certain requirements. Ensure your news website has an RSS or Atom feed. Using the RSS/Atom feed, create an account with the TwitterFeed service. Follow the instructions and link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to the RSS/Atom feed. When you publish an article, it automatically appears on Facebook and Twitter.
Log into your accounts at your convenience and interact with readers and potential readers.
There is limited personal interaction between page administrators and fans on Facebook fan pages. Facebook encourages organic growth. You promote articles on your website’s fan page and wait for people to “like” you: this is not a successful strategy. You can do significantly more with a Facebook fan page.
Consider placing advertisements on your news website. This allows your website to be displayed on the user profiles of your target demographic. Facebook Ads enable businesses to broadcast advertisements based on age range, location, and interests. You will also see very specific estimates of the number of people your advertisement will “reach.” These estimates will be useful when preparing a presentation for prospective advertisers. Consider the nature of your news website before investing in Facebook advertisements. If your news website caters to a limited or specialized audience, you should instead focus on free site promotion via Twitter and search engine submission.
According to critics of Facebook’s advertising program, Facebook advertisements are too discreet and not very engaging. To overcome these obstacles, you must create advertising copy that compels people to read the news on your website. Think like someone at a news desk. You need a compelling headline and concise teaser copy to attract visitors. Consider mentioning publication milestones (“More than two million subscribers!”) and announcing or reminding potential readers of helpful sections (i.e. Classifieds). Your teaser copy must be concise and subject-specific. Advertise your publication’s contests and giveaways without hesitation. Advertising a news website on Facebook will always be an exercise in trial and error, but longer ad campaigns increase the likelihood of gaining new visitors. Continuously revise your advertisement’s text and target audience until you find the optimal combination.
Your Facebook page content needs constant maintenance. Your Facebook page must be regularly updated with news articles. Be sure to interact with and converse with your readers frequently. For businesses, human interaction is a popular social media trend. Encourage readers and viewers to not only read and view your content, but also to comment and participate in other ways. Similarly to print publications, readers respond positively to visually appealing content. Readers tend to respond to photographs of breathtaking and colorful landscapes, photographs of food, and timeless portraits with which they can identify. It is preferable that the images you post to your Facebook page correspond to content on your website. Follow up with some text that entices readers to explore your articles and features.
Twitter advances the state of affairs. The popular social media platform enables news sites to interact directly with individuals. Use Twitter’s features, such as the “Find People” option, to your advantage. If you have a Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL email account with contacts, you can use it to search for contacts who also have a Twitter account. Be sure to “follow” Twitter users who are already following you. Sites such as “Twellow” (http://www.twellow.com/) can assist you in discovering followers based on categories. Tweet Grader (http://tweet.grader.com) enables you to locate and follow local Twitter users. Follow members who would be interested in your website’s news updates. The people you choose to follow should also have a large number of followers and regularly post updates. Never consider the number of people you follow. Always consider the kind of people you wish to follow. The adage “quality over quantity” is well-received on Twitter. You will be successful if you prioritize finding the right people rather than following a large number of people.
Connect with users who either benefit from or would be interested in reading the articles you publish. Follow popular users who are likely to express interest in the business and its products, as well as the business’ Twitter account, if you are writing an article about a particular business. If you have an article about an event, follow prominent users who are likely to tweet or retweet event-related information. Moderately engage these users in conversation. Imagine you are in a bar and you overhear people discussing a topic that interests you. The best way to join a conversation is to observe its flow and then participate when the opportunity arises. If someone asks a question about a topic covered in one of your articles, you may provide a link in response. People will appreciate your friendliness if you focus on being resourceful rather than directly promoting your news site. Remember that you’re attempting to promote your news website, so resourcefulness should be your top priority. As soon as you amass a large following or subscriber base, you will no longer be required to do so.
Importantly, message boards are effective for article promotion. Despite the fact that message boards have fallen out of favor due to social media, they are still useful for generating buzz and traffic. Register accounts on message boards relevant to your content and participate regularly. It is recommended that you link to your content sparingly and responsibly. In other words, refrain from flooding a message board with links. Give self-serving links only when they are relevant and there is a lack of information. Include a hyperlink to your domain in your forum signature. Additionally, feel free to customize your forum profile. People will pay more attention to those with a powerful human presence. And once you feel that your site has developed a steady, substantial amount of traffic, you will no longer need to promote it on message boards.
There are numerous news websites, which is why it’s crucial to have quality content. Regardless of how you choose to promote your news website, you should strive to publish articles that are concise, interesting, thought-provoking, and informative. People will use your news website as a resource when they can see that it is dynamic in design, organization, and content. In the digital marketplace, news is frequently viewed as a disposable commodity, but it takes a good content provider with promotional expertise to make news worth reading.