How can you effectively build your online news audience? This is a question that many journalists and news organizations face in the digital age, where competition is fierce and attention is scarce. In this article, you will learn some practical tips and strategies to attract, engage and retain your online news readers, based on the best practices of successful online news outlets.
The first step to building your online news audience is to know who they are, what they want and how they consume news. You can use various tools and methods to research your audience, such as surveys, interviews, analytics, social media, feedback forms and user testing. By understanding your audience's needs, preferences, behaviors and challenges, you can tailor your content, design, format and distribution to match their expectations and interests.
Monitor your audience for what they want; do not rush. As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. Knowing your audience is the first thing to build a good follower base. This targeted audience will help you in curating news on a regular basis.
The second step to building your online news audience is to create content that is valuable, relevant and trustworthy. You can use the principles of journalism, such as accuracy, fairness, balance, transparency and ethics, to produce high-quality content that informs, educates and entertains your audience. You can also use the techniques of storytelling, such as hooks, headlines, leads, angles and narratives, to craft engaging content that captures your audience's attention and curiosity.
Be consistent with your content and save certain posts for specific days. It's essential to see which days your page generates the most traffic so you can save your most important posts during that time.
The third step to building your online news audience is to optimize your website for user experience, performance and search engine visibility. You can use the best practices of web design, such as responsiveness, accessibility, readability, navigation and layout, to make your website easy to use, fast to load and appealing to look at. You can also use the best practices of SEO, such as keywords, metadata, links, images and headlines, to make your website easy to find, rank and click on.
The fourth step to building your online news audience is to promote your content across various channels and platforms. You can use the power of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, to share your content, interact with your audience, build your brand and drive traffic to your website. You can also use the power of email, such as newsletters, alerts and subscriptions, to deliver your content, nurture your audience, increase your loyalty and generate revenue.
One of the most effective ways to fasttrack your audience growth is by building relationships with trusted publishers. You can take the approach that advertisers do, and search for audience alignment, then get your content featured on a popular publisher with an audience you think will be receptive to your content. The general rule of thumb when trying to build audiences across any platforms is to meet them where they already are whether that's on a particular social platform or another publisher’s website. By getting your reporting featured on a trusted publisher’s site, you can leverage some of that established authority. Substack built referrals and opportunities to share other newsletters and similarly, that can be a big audience boost.
The fifth step to building your online news audience is to analyze your data and measure your results. You can use various metrics and indicators, such as page views, visitors, bounce rate, time on site, engagement, conversion and retention, to evaluate your performance, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and discover your opportunities and threats. You can also use various tools and methods, such as Google Analytics, A/B testing, heat maps and user feedback, to collect your data, visualize your data and improve your data.
The sixth and final step to building your online news audience is to experiment and innovate with new ideas and approaches. You can use the principles of innovation, such as curiosity, creativity, collaboration and iteration, to explore new possibilities, test new hypotheses, learn from new experiences and adapt to new changes. You can also use the principles of experimentation, such as design thinking, lean startup and agile development, to define your problem, validate your solution, build your prototype and launch your product.