Hope that this venture is treating you well. Seems like 2015 has gone so fast so far, but I do hope you are getting a lot done!
To The Moon: 1 News Site + 365 Days = 1,000,000 Dollars [Weekly Journal]
- Thread starter seapunk
- Start date
News websites are notoriously difficult to make good profit from - even the biggest newspapers are having tough times.
With a big enough audience, you can go for the native advertising / sponsored posts. Those paid-for articles are not suppose to be included in Google News (if your news site is indexed there), according to GN's own words, but it looks like a lot/most/all news sites add them there anyway. I don't do it, but I know a competitor news site does. :-/
But the biggest factor to start making decent profit - from what I've read of small to medium news sites - seems to be getting a dedicated sales person whose primary/only job is to get ad buys for banners, native advertising, paid press releases, etc.
My 2 cents.
With a big enough audience, you can go for the native advertising / sponsored posts. Those paid-for articles are not suppose to be included in Google News (if your news site is indexed there), according to GN's own words, but it looks like a lot/most/all news sites add them there anyway. I don't do it, but I know a competitor news site does. :-/
But the biggest factor to start making decent profit - from what I've read of small to medium news sites - seems to be getting a dedicated sales person whose primary/only job is to get ad buys for banners, native advertising, paid press releases, etc.
My 2 cents.
Thank you for sharing, I have noticed the same thing as well. While it might be possible to monetize using Adsense alone, it's certainly not as effective as using other ad networks, sponsored posts, subscriptions to research etc. like many big publishers do.
You're right that paid-for articles, press releases and such shouldn't be marked on Google News as regular news articles. I think some publishers don't care or don't think anybody notices. I would not do that either though. Honesty is the best policy
And I agree entirely that finding advertisers is a priority. A lot of ad deals I've had came from companies in the industry we cover finding the site, but some of them were just from reaching out and letting them know that we have ads available.
And to update this thread, I just put up the gaming news site (included in Google News too) up on Flippa for $1, no reserve. The auction ends in 14 days and I'm quite curious how much it will go for. I will update this thread once the auction ends!
You're right that paid-for articles, press releases and such shouldn't be marked on Google News as regular news articles. I think some publishers don't care or don't think anybody notices. I would not do that either though. Honesty is the best policy
I don't need my news site to make me a lot of money right now, so that means I can afford to have journalistic integrity.
Lost a 4-figure per quarter banner ad client recently because of that.
Interesting. I'd guess that would happen more often with niche or trade news sites compared to more generic ones, because the audience is more targeted. Likewise, a hyperlocal news site may be able to rope in local businesses for that same reason.
Best of luck with that sale - looking forward to the update!
I don't need my news site to make me a lot of money right now, so that means I can afford to have journalistic integrity.
Lost a 4-figure per quarter banner ad client recently because of that.
Integrity will pay off in the long run, definitely!
Agreed, I have seen examples of that happening. And the site that I am running is quite niche compared to business as a whole, so your guess is correct
Thank you! My auction for the gaming news site ends in 2 days. I got a few messages from people asking to see the site, so here it is: https://flippa.com/5599997-google-n...eviously-sold-on-flippa-in-2013-for-2-650-usd
I'll update this thread once it's done, and I will also post an update about the "main" site too
Sold the site mentioned earlier for $1,175 USD. I probably screwed up by not enabling bids from everyone without approval towards the end of the auction. It could have gone for higher, but I'm still happy with the sale.
Also shoutout to Empire Flippers for the hilarious passive-aggressive replies they post on FB.
End of 2016 update (wow, it's really been 2 years...): been happy with life, not really working on the news website this thread was about. The news website is about a finance/tech topic which has grown very much in recent years (thankfully) so I think I can get a good offer if I sell it on Flippa if not privately.
Selling points:
- It covers a very popular finance/tech topic that has been - and still is - growing quickly (guess what it is)
- It's one of the few sites covering this topic that is included in Google News
- It is established and people do know it exists (it's been active up until the past year or so)
- It's ready to start running again when there's a new owner (will work straight out of the box, and I'll share so much advice/knowledge about this topic, even)
Wish me luck everyone
Selling points:
- It covers a very popular finance/tech topic that has been - and still is - growing quickly (guess what it is)
- It's one of the few sites covering this topic that is included in Google News
- It is established and people do know it exists (it's been active up until the past year or so)
- It's ready to start running again when there's a new owner (will work straight out of the box, and I'll share so much advice/knowledge about this topic, even)
Wish me luck everyone
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