5 Ways To Monetize A News Website From Scratch

Writer : Rashmi Singh

Tech advancement has made the online news publication process seamless. From efficient workflow tools to flexible content management systems, news publishers now have a web stack that makes it easy for them to publish news. But there is one thing that most news websites still struggle with – monetization.

The secret behind monetizing a news website successfully lies in knowing all the available options and then selecting one or more options according to your content and niche.

Down below are 5 ways through which you can monetize a news website from scratch. Keep reading:

Probably the quickest method of monetizing a news website is to join a Pay-Per-Click network. As their name suggests, these networks put ads on your website and pay you according to the number of clicks they get from your website visitors.

Pay-Per-Click network ads are deemed the easiest option to monetize because it is their job to deal with advertisers while news websites have to worry only about website traffic. However, these networks often take a huge cut from the advertisement money, and hence you might want to choose another option. A few examples of Pay-per-click networks are Google Ads, Binge Ads, and Taboola/Outbrain.

Banner ads are an old and reliable way of monetizing news websites. In this method, all you have to do is partner with an advertiser and publish their ads on various banners on your websites. Advertisers pay according to the number of times that banner was seen or the amount of traffic that the banner sent to the advertiser’s website.

The benefit of displaying banner ads is that you get the whole advertisement fee as there is no middleman between you and the advertiser. If you manage to get an advertiser on board that is relevant to your target audience, banner ads might work surprisingly well for you.

Sponsored or paid articles are another way of monetizing a news website with advertisement. Unlike banner ads or Pay-Per-Click ads, sponsored articles do not affect the user experience of the website visitors. They look like regular articles but actually talk about the advertiser instead of a regular news topic.

The biggest benefit of sponsored and paid articles is that you can merge them with other methods of monetization. However, one needs to be careful while publishing sponsored and paid articles as phoney or too-pushy articles can damage your website’s reputation.

If your news website reviews products along with publishing regular news, affiliate marketing can be an additional source of income. In this method, you have to put affiliate links in the reviews of products.

Every time a person buys the product from your link, you will get a small portion of the sales. The reviews can be of books, tech products, appliances, and so on.

The trendiest method of monetization in the news world is selling access to content behind a paywall. Many news publishers prefer this method over other methods because it creates a direct relationship between the publisher and readers. On top of that, news websites do not have to rely upon a third party for advertisement.

There are many types of paywalls you can use in this method. A few examples are hard paywalls, soft paywalls, freemium paywalls, dynamic paywalls, and so on.

Quintype can help you if you are planning to monetize your news website. We have built a robust content monetization platform called Accesstype. It helps you tap into the hidden strength of subscription and generate a predictable income from your news website. Click here to know more about Accesstype.