5 monetization tips for a digital news website
Monetization looks different everyday because of the growing trends across the globe. Publishers need to be on the lookout for new tips to stay aligned with their target audience. More people are keeping away from news as tensions rise globally. So where does a news website stand? Where can you make money? Let’s dive right in.
Pay per click Advertising
The PPC model of advertising can be a good start. It’s run through google’s Ad sense however, a number of other vendors cater to independent local news media publishers too!
It isn’t a model that favours local news publishers because the rates are lower when compared to selling those ads directly. For popular websites that hold mass appeal, the numbers go up pretty impressively. THey’re able to make thousands of dollars through this model, so if you’ve got an audience flow that is large, this model could help you make a lot of money gradually. If however you’re a smaller website and looking into this model, your PPC ads could fill up the display ad space. It would be a small sum but overtime it adds up!
Subscriptions are hot cakes, sell them!
As digital media gets more and more domesticated, this is a good time to put a price on your news. Rather than earning a few dollars you could provide subscription packages to your loyal members and benefit from long term payments.
The more premium, subscriber only content you put out, the more members are going to be intrigued. And this is important to take your readership forward. A successful subscription model would include looking into user behavior, readership patterns, conversion rates, promotions, a variety of other benefits for subscribers, and different levels of payment bundles. The question is, do you want subscriber focused revenue or ad focused. Take your pick!
Newsletters - because everyone checks their emails!
Exponential growth has been observed in the newsletter world where publishers are able to sell more subscriptions of both their content online and through the medium of newsletter! That’s right, you can capitalize your newsletters as well. Newsletter subscription prices are usually significantly lower than website subscriptions but this is also the trick to expanding your newsletter subscribers and inevitably - email list. You can get your newsletter subscribers to eventually become website subscribers but until then, you get to reuse your native content and make revenue by simply wrapping it up in the box of newsletters.
Try different formats!
In the spirit of the previous point, it’s important to look into cross-channel opportunities. At Quintype, we’re constantly adding more channels for journalists to distribute content in. You’ve just written and published a news story, great but now what? Can you do a web-story on it too? How about a podcast? Maybe even an animated video that could break down the story in sizable chunks. How about author notes? There’s so much content out there, it could all be presented in ways that your audience appreciates. And more channels would mean more revenue opportunities.
User Experience
The last and most important tip is to focus on the subscription experience you provide your readers. Do you have a tool that provides safe and seamless transactions? Are there reminders set? With the right tool, you wouldn’t have to keep too many tabs, the interface would be easy for you and the readers, it would be a tool that allows you to explore the possibilities of revenue. Get the right tool to get your monetization journey right and if you’re not sure how, we have you covered.
Conclusion
Monetization is a tricky playground. But the only way to make the best results is by experimenting and really listening to your readers. Coming up with effective monetization strategies and then using tools to facilitate the same can get difficult.
This is where Accesstype comes in. It’s our monetization tool that makes subscribers happy and publishers even more happier.
Do you want to start your monetization journey a little differently from today?