Making a News Website: Steps and Best Practices
The majority of adult Americans (86%) get at least some of their news digitally, whether it comes from a website, a dedicated news app, or directly through zero-click results on a search engine.
As web users continue to broaden their views on what is considered a source for news, including influencers, public figures, online networks, and other alternative sources, there’s ample opportunity to make a news site and grow an online audience.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a news website, including important steps and best practices to ensure quality content and a high-performing site.
Step 1: Define your news website’s purpose
Small, up-and-coming news sites are unlikely to compete with leading news organizations like CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC. Before you start to create a news site, you’ll need to figure out the unique value you intend to provide, whether that’s local coverage for a small area, news specific to a particular topic, or something else entirely.
Defining the purpose of your news site is vital to finding and engaging with the right audience.
Identify your target audience
Understanding the audience you want to target is key to shaping the content strategy of your news site. For example, a local, independent newspaper in the Midwest might not appeal to readers on the East Coast, but it might have a massive appeal for readers in the Heartland and Great Plains regions.
In addition to knowing key demographic information about your target readers, you’ll want to see how your competitors target the same individuals. Evaluate competitors’ sites and top-trafficked articles to see what resonates and what you can emulate in your own site design.
By designing with your target audience in mind, you can ensure that each reader gets a high-quality user experience from the moment they land on your site.
Choose a news niche or focus
Another way to stand out among your competitors is to focus your content around a specific niche topic. This ensures that your site’s visitors will be highly likely to engage with your content and continue to come back for more because they are already seeking information about your chosen niche.
This could manifest as a news site focused on a geographic location, like the hypothetical Midwestern newspaper mentioned above. You could also concentrate content around a niche industry, like tech or agriculture, or specialize in a specific topic, like climate news or global politics.
For example, Politico covers only information related to the global political landscape, while Morning Brew focuses on business and the economy. While certain topics will bridge both of these publications, other stories may be suitable for coverage on Politico that would not be suitable for Morning Brew, and vice versa.
Step 2: Select a platform for your news website
When building any website, the digital platform you choose to build on is among the most critical aspect that will affect your final results.
While you can build an effective news website using any site building software, like Joomla, Squarespace, and Wix, WordPress offers a unique opportunity to build using a low-cost publishing framework with plenty of flexibility and scalability.
Why WordPress works for news websites
WordPress is already the world’s most popular CMS, powering more than 40% of sites globally. It is an ideal framework for building news media sites due to its flexibility, scalability, and extensive ecosystem of themes and plugins.
Its open-source codebase enables developers to customize functionality and design to meet a news outlet’s specific needs and allows publishers to truly own their site content, which can be a point of contention with proprietary software like Wix and Squarespace. With a user-friendly interface, even non-technical users can manage content, update stories, and upload media efficiently.
WordPress also supports a range of publishing tools, enabling scheduled posts, author management, and collaborative editing. Plugins like Yoast SEO optimize content for search engines, enhancing visibility, while caching tools improve site performance for high-traffic periods. WordPress’s mobile responsiveness ensures that news is accessible across devices, which is critical in today’s mobile-first environment.
Scalability is another key strength. WordPress can handle large volumes of content and traffic, making it suitable for growing news sites. Integrations with ad networks, subscription platforms, and analytics tools enable monetization and audience insights, allowing media businesses to thrive. Furthermore, its multilingual capabilities and international plugins make it suitable for reaching diverse audiences.
Security is also a priority, with regular updates and plugins designed to protect against cyber threats. The vibrant WordPress community provides extensive resources, from tutorials to professional developers, ensuring support is readily available.
WordPress combines ease of use, powerful features, and robust scalability, making it the go-to choice for news media sites aiming to deliver fast, reliable, and engaging content.
Step 3: Plan your content and features
Once you’ve identified your target audience, the niche sector or sectors your news site will cover, and the platform you’ll build your site on, it’s time to plan your content strategy and essential site features.
Regardless of the subject, there are certain functional elements all news sites will require, and a solid content strategy will ensure you can provide frequent, consistent articles related to your chosen topic.
Identify essential features for a news website
When thinking about how to create a news site, there are a few functional elements you’ll want to consider.
The first is your site’s search experience. To keep your visitors engaged, you’ll need to ensure they can quickly and easily find the information they’re looking for. A robust site search experience that uses tags or categories to label content paired with a search algorithm that can understand semantics and see past typos will help your users find the best, most recent content you’ve published on a topic.
Tools like Smart Search AI offer a natural-language-based search experience that can help deliver more accurate results without bogging down performance. Plus, the insights you gain from Smart Search AI can help you identify trending topics or “no-result” queries to show you what types of content your users want and fill holes in your content strategy.
You’ll also want some way for your editors or contributing authors to access your site to publish new content. Typically, the backend access offered to content creators should allow them to access only functionality essential to the publishing process.
Providing too much access to development tools or features creates an opportunity for publishers to disrupt or break your site accidentally, so aim to provide them with only the functionality they genuinely need.
For WordPress users, the ability to lock down certain site elements comes baked into your website thanks to the user roles created by WordPress itself.
As a site owner, you automatically take on the role of Administrator, which gives you full access to make changes to any and everything on a site. From there, you can set other users as Editors, Authors, Contributors, or Subscribers, each of which comes with varying degrees of access.
Develop a content strategy
Now that you’ve identified your niche, audience, and the tools your site will require, it’s time to create a content strategy. Your strategy will include everything from the types of content you offer (articles, videos, infographics, podcasts, etc.) to the frequency of your publishing cadence to the brand guidelines you intend to follow.
Publishing frequently ensures visitors always have new information to digest, allowing you to position your site as a source of relevant, up-to-date information. That said, frequency is not more important than quality. Choosing the right publishing frequency balances your ability to create high-quality work and publish at a sustainable pace.
For most news sites, adherence to AP Style guidelines will help you promote a polished, professional presence, but you’ll likely have some unique branded guidelines that are specific to your organization. Ensure these guidelines are clearly communicated to all contributors so your content remains consistent regardless of author.
Speaking of contributors, another critical part of your content strategy is deciding how you’ll source your content. Even for the most prolific writers, running an entire site, including all content creation and management, is not feasible.
When looking to bolster your content, you have a few options:
- Outsourcing: Outsourcing work to freelance journalists or partnering with a larger publisher is a great avenue for finding high-quality content. This strategy comes in handy when you need experienced writers or to increase the frequency of your publishing.
- Licensing: Content licensing refers to the practice of purchasing a copyright license to republish a piece of content. This allows the original owner to maintain legal ownership of an article, video, or image while allowing others to disseminate their work on different platforms and channels. It’s a great option for news sites with limited editorial oversight, as licensed content will already be well-researched and edited for accuracy and clarity.
- Guest Posting: Guest posting or guest blogging happens when someone outside your company writes an article to publish on your site. The main difference between outsourcing and guest posting typically lies in the knowledge base of the guest. Where a freelance journalist may have limited experience with or understanding of your niche, a guest poster will typically be someone in your industry who is very knowledgeable on a topic, and they may or may not use the opportunity to plug their own products or services.
When publishing, include direct links to your sources whenever possible to build trust with your readers—they’ll want to know exactly where you’re getting your information.
Step 4: Design and develop your news website
With your pre-planning in a good place, you’re now ready to design and develop your news website.
Your design should include all the essential features you’ve deemed necessary, create a pleasing user experience, create a foundation for easy content optimization, and work seamlessly on any device.
The following sections address some elements WordPress users should consider during development.
Choose a suitable theme or headless configuration
For WordPress users, the theme you choose for your news website should prioritize performance, flexibility, and functionality. A lightweight, fast-loading theme ensures a smooth user experience, which is essential for retaining readers and handling high traffic.
Themes with built-in customization options, such as drag-and-drop builders or flexible layout configurations, allow for unique designs tailored to highlight breaking news, featured stories, and multimedia content.
Your chosen theme should include multiple pre-designed layouts to accommodate various content types, including long-form articles, video segments, and live updates.
Monetization features are also crucial, as themes with integrated ad spaces and compatibility with ad management tools streamline revenue generation. Additionally, your chosen theme should support essential plugins, like caching or newsletter tools, to ensure the site can scale and adapt as needs evolve.
A reliable theme provider offering regular updates and active support is vital to maintain security and compatibility as technology advances, and themes can range in cost from entirely free to $100+ annually. These factors collectively create a dynamic, user-friendly, and robust platform for delivering news.
For media-rich news sites with high growth potential, a headless WordPress configuration is another option to consider. By decoupling the frontend (presentation layer) from the backend (content management), a headless WordPress environment allows developers to build highly customized and performant user experiences using modern JavaScript frameworks.
For any news site, speed and performance are critical. Headless WordPress sites enable content to be delivered via APIs, allowing faster page loads and smoother browsing, even under heavy traffic, helping to improve engagement and search engine rankings.
Headless architecure also offers flexibility in design and functionality, making it easier to implement unique layouts or interactive features tailored to your audience. Content can then be distributed seamlessly across multiple platforms (web, mobile apps, or social media), ensuring maximum reach.
Additionally, headless architecture supports scalability, which is essential for news websites expecting fluctuating traffic or expansion. Developers have the freedom to integrate advanced tools without being restricted by traditional WordPress themes or plugins.
Lastly, headless setups can also boost security, as the frontend is separated from the backend, reducing vulnerabilities to common attacks and providing a future-proof solution for dynamic, fast-paced news platforms.
Install essential plugins and tools
To create a successful news website on WordPress, integrating the right plugins and tools is critical for functionality, engagement, and growth.
Search engine optimization is vital for ensuring your content reaches the widest audience. Plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math help optimize headlines, meta descriptions, and keyword usage, improving search rankings. These tools also generate XML sitemaps and manage schema markup, which is essential for making your articles stand out in search results.
News websites thrive on shareable content, and plugins such as Social Snap make it easy for readers to share articles across platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Encouraging social sharing can boost traffic and broaden your audience organically.
As you work to grow your audience, understanding what content is resonating with your readers will help you continue to refine your content strategy. Tools like MonsterInsights or Site Kit by Google provide insights into page views, user demographics, and engagement patterns.
There are also a few specialized tools for news websites that can further enhance functionality and user experiences. For instance, Ditty allows you to display breaking news headlines in an eye-catching ticker format. Plugins like WP News and Scrolling Widgets can organize and dynamically display articles to keep your homepage fresh and engaging.
By combining these tools, you can optimize your website for search engines, foster reader engagement, and deliver an exceptional news experience.
Importance of responsive design
With a growing number of readers accessing news on smartphones and tablets, a mobile-friendly site is critical for retaining users and boosting the reach of your content.
A responsive design adapts your website seamlessly to different screen sizes, allowing content like articles, images, and videos to be displayed clearly for all your readers. Coupled with simple navigation, this makes it easy for readers to explore categories, find articles, and read stories without frustration.
Themes optimized for mobile will also improve responsiveness, which boosts search engine rankings, making it an indispensable component of a successful news website.
Step 5: Optimize for SEO and performance
Once you’ve built your news site and you’re publishing at a regular cadence, you have the opportunity to refine your site content to climb the search engine results pages (SERPs).
The best way to move up in the rankings is to edit your content using best practices for on-page search engine optimization and ensure it’s as fast and performant as possible.
On-page SEO best practices
Refining your on-page content with best practices for SEO is essential for driving traffic to a news website and ensuring content ranks well in search engine results.
Start by crafting compelling, keyword-optimized headlines that are clear, engaging, and under 60 characters to avoid truncation in search results. Use focus keywords naturally within the article and avoid keyword stuffing, which can harm rankings.
Meta descriptions are equally important, providing potential readers with a summary of the article. Your meta descriptions should be concise (120–160 characters) while incorporating primary keywords.
Incorporate structured data, like schema markup, to enhance your site’s visibility in search results. Structured data enables rich snippets like headline previews, author names, publication dates, and thumbnail images, making your content more appealing to users and search engines.
By adhering to on-page SEO best practices, your news website can achieve better visibility, attract more readers, and establish a strong presence in competitive search results.
Improve site speed and performance
Fast-loading pages are crucial for a news website, as visitors expect immediate access to breaking news, so even slight delays can result in lost readership.
To optimize performance, start by using a content delivery network (CDN) that caches and delivers content from servers closer to your audience. Image compression can significantly reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality to improve performance further. For WP Engine customers, Cloudflare’s CDN is included in all plans, and add-ons like Page Speed Boost can automatically optimize images without any additional work.
All-in-one performance tools like Nitropack can drastically improve loading speeds by optimizing code, minifying CSS and JavaScript, and enabling advanced caching techniques without extensive coding.
Site monitoring tools are also useful for news sites, keeping a beat on your performance to help you detect and respond quickly to outages. Regularly check your site speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify and address bottlenecks.
By prioritizing performance, your news website can handle high traffic efficiently while providing an exceptional user experience.
Step 6: Monetize your news website
Monetizing your news website is key to sustaining its growth and funding future goals and operations.
By diversifying revenue streams and implementing them in a way that doesn’t interfere with user satisfaction, you can earn more from your efforts without alienating the audience you’ve worked so hard to grow.
Explore different revenue streams
To diversify income from your news site, consider a mix of advertising, subscriptions, sponsored content, and affiliate marketing.
Advertising is the most common revenue stream for news sites, and plugins like Ad Inserter or Advanced Ads can help you manage display ads efficiently.
Implementing a subscription option can help you monetize your site and provide another easy revenue stream you can build over time. For WordPress sites, tools like MemberPress and MemberMouse can help you manage subscriptions, create members-only content, and maximize revenue.
Sponsored content, such as paid articles or collaborations with brands, is another lucrative option that aligns with your site’s niche. Allowing collaborators to write promotional blogs or display ads directly on your site gives you more granular control over the types of products and services promoted on your site to ensure they align with your specific news niche while also earning you more money.
Affiliate marketing can also complement your revenue strategy. Plugins like ThirstyAffiliates allow you to earn commissions on recommended products or services. Make sure to promote only products or services that will resonate with your chosen audience and abide by the Federal Trade Commission’s endorsement guidelines.
Any of these strategies can help you ensure the continued success of your news website.
Balance monetization and user experience
While monetizing, avoid intrusive ads that disrupt reading, as excessive pop-ups or irrelevant ads can drive users away.
You can build trust with your readers by prioritizing non-intrusive placements and relevant advertisements to deliver real value while monetizing your site effectively.
Step 7: Ongoing promotion and refinement
Once your news site is live, your content is publishing regularly, and your revenue streams are deepening, you should have time to focus on promoting your news site and growing your audience.
Promotion and growth strategies ensure your content reaches the right people, expands your readership, and establishes your brand. Some of the best ways to build your readership are leveraging social media and email for your marketing efforts and using analytics to continue refining your approach.
Social media is a powerful tool for promoting to a general audience and driving traffic back to your site. Share your articles on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or other smaller sites where your target audience is most active.
Scheduling tools like Buffer or Hootsuite can help you share your content consistently and engage with social media followers by responding to comments and discussions.
Email marketing can help you foster a more direct relationship with your audience. Tools like Mailchimp or HubSpot allow you to create newsletters, deliver updates, and share exclusive content.
Encourage email sign-ups by offering value, such as breaking news alerts, emails, or premium content, through strategic pop-ups or embedded forms on your site.
Measure growth with analytics
Understanding your audience is key to continued improvement.
Tools like the Google marketing platform track site traffic, engagement, and reader demographics. You can use these insights to identify high-performing content, optimize underperforming pages, and refine your promotional strategies.
Best practices for running a modern news website
Running a successful news website in the modern age requires agility and credibility.
Adapting to the 24/7 news cycle means leveraging the latest tools, staying informed about trends, and maintaining high ethical standards, which are crucial for building a loyal audience and staying competitive.
Stay updated with trends and technology
Incorporating AI-driven tools can streamline content creation and management.
Tools like GPT-powered assistants or AI-based content generators can help craft engaging headlines, summaries, meta descriptions, and more. Automation can also optimize workflows by handling tasks like scheduling posts or analyzing reader behavior. That said, infusing human intervention into any AI outputs is essential to ensure clarity and accuracy.
With the rise of personalized news consumption, implementing features like tailored content feeds or push notifications ensures users stay engaged.
Stay informed about emerging tools and technologies, like voice search or augmented reality (AR), which can help you innovate and reach broader audiences.
Maintain credibility and ethical standards
In an era of misinformation, credibility is paramount.
Ensure all published content is thoroughly fact-checked and all sources are cited transparently. Avoid sensationalism and prioritize quality content over clickbait to establish a reputable brand that readers can rely on.
Consistently delivering accurate, unbiased reporting builds trust with readers and ensures your audience sees you as a reliable source of unbiased news.
Keep a beat on performance with WP Engine
Creating a high-performing news website requires strategic planning, the right tools, and a clear content focus.
By defining your niche, understanding your audience, and leveraging WordPress’s powerful ecosystem, you can build a platform that captivates readers and grows your reach.
Ready to create a standout news website?
Explore WP Engine’s hosting plans to power your news site with the speed, security, and reliability you need to stay ahead of the next breaking story!
