There was a time when they were restricted to the main media outlets, such as newspapers, or were part of large portals and content sites. We are talking about news sites.
Since then, they have proliferated and gained space and the preference of internet users, going beyond this niche and it is possible to find them in the most diverse formats and linked to the most diverse proposals.
Understanding why there are so many today can be extremely useful for your Content Marketing strategy and, consequently, effectively expand your digital presence.
What is a news site?
Most of you might be thinking: “I know what a news site is!”
Indeed it is hard to imagine anyone not knowing. But answering this question is more than saying that it is the type of site that gathers news.
It involves understanding their proposals and the reasons that make them so common nowadays.
When you search on almost any topic, you will find one, or even several, among the different results displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs), depending on the topic and keywords you use.
Try searching for a topic that is not very common to most people, such as “golf championship”.
In the results list, you will have content from golf clubs, courses of golf, federations, but you will have news from more comprehensive sports sites and some more specialized, even if it is a sport not very popular in our country.
But for certain people, these news found, are like water in the desert.
This is where we wanted to get to!
Unlike the more generic sites that translate tionally intended to present news about almost everything, for the most diverse audiences, many sites today specialize in news for certain target audiences and some for well-defined personas.
By focusing on certain themes , they no longer “compete” with a content portal or a more comprehensive news site.
These are segmented news whose purpose is not only to inform, but to meet more specific needs and desires, many sometimes related to hobbies, passions, special expectations, needs that others are not able to satisfy.
At this point, they resemble the development of blogs, which, in the same way, brought together – and still gather – in a specific type of site, content about what interests a specific person.
Why are news sites successful?
The first reason or reason to justify the success of this type of site has already been presented – to meet the and a specific target audience and/or persona.
But it’s not the only one…
It’s essentially the same motivation that made the Internet and all kinds website that it offers, to develop and serve as a driving force for them – the democratization of information and the formation of groups with common interests.
When we go back in time and analyze the first social network to have a resounding success, Orkut, one of its most striking features, were the communities, which brought together people around common interests. People who liked gastronomy, photography, Rock ‘n’ Roll, caving or whatever you can remember.
In the communities, everything was discussed about that common passion. The doubts of beginners and lay people were clarified. Experiences were exchanged and, above all, information and news obtained from other sites were shared.
The resource of sharing, which is still one of the most used, is what makes the news reach the four corners. and everyone who might be interested in that, have access.
No matter what you like, you are certainly part of one or many groups of people who like it as much, or more, or less , but all without exception, send links to content related to what they have in common in terms of passions, tastes, needs and interests.
This is the so-called organic engagement, which manifests itself voluntarily and spontaneously. No one needs to ask or even suggest that they do. They do it because they want to and everyone in the group acts like that.
It’s all there, within reach of a click or a touch and it also allows everyone to give their opinions, comments, express their doubts or clarify those of others. others.
If that wasn’t a good enough reason, there is still the aforementioned specialization.
Let’s consider cell phones, an example more familiar to most of us, than golf .
How many news about cell phone launches are there? So many that it’s hard to make a list without being sure you’ve left most out of it.
The difference between the news of the launch of a new device, given by a “generic” news site and a specialized one, is that in the second one is likely to find:
- A more complete news, with more details and more technical information ;
- Perhaps a comparison with the models of competing brands in the same price range;
- A possible video showing how the main features work;
- Feature tests and performance benchmarks;
- Expert opinion and users.
In other words, with specialization, a targeted news site can go much more in depth and manages to cater for just any consumer, those passionate about, who they work with or any other reason to engage. be interested in that cell phone model that appears as the central term of the search.
From the moment the specialized news site becomes an authority, it will become a reference in everything that has a direct or indirect relationship with the subject.
If at any time you were in doubt between two or more devices when buying your future smartphone, you have already consumed all this type of content to take your decision.
Also think about the topics you are very interested in. It is quite likely that you have in your favorites and access more often, some related news site. Maybe there are even two or three, not counting blogs and groups on social networks.
It is much easier to find everything about, in addition to the freshest and most up-to-date information in one place, than having to browse through a lot of things that don’t arouse the slightest interest.
It is even based on this behavior that Google Discover and YouTube works, indicating content based on the your interests.
When and why to have a news site?
At this point, most could already realize that a news site is one of the possible varieties of the famous content sites, except for the fact that there will be little evergreen content.
And the fact that there is little or no evergreen content, there is another essential characteristic – the quantity and frequency of new content.
Attracting visitors to this category of site implies having a good amount of new content, without which there are great chances of not having success that. If a visitor returns and does not see new content, the chances of him not returning are immense.
Even if he eventually finds articles, articles, news that he is not very interested in, but if he does see that the site has been fed, it will return because it knows that there is always new material.
Therefore, if you are excited about everything you have seen so far, know that the main challenge you will have is this one.
However, there are alternatives to the typical news site and they are not an isolated site, but part of another site. There are many examples, as is the case of institutional sites that, in addition to the traditional pages, have one dedicated to this type of content.
It is very common on federations, associations and unions sites, for example, when all information that is relevant to members is published in a specific area of the site.
But it is not limited to just such cases. As a real and practical example, a web-hosting aware that works in the accounting / tax area, on its institutional website there is a news area, with articles about changes in legislation, launch of systems used by its customers, news in terms of services, interviews with professionals in the area and everything that may be of interest to their clients and that is related to their provision of services.
Given the good acceptance by their clients, most of them signed up to receive their newsletter and not miss anything that might interest you, in addition to the fact that they often share content on their social networks, which has been an important means of attracting new customers.
That is, if well planned and conceived , even a news area linked to your institutional website, can be an important instrument to bring visitors and possible new customers.
How to create and maintain a news website?
Well, once you understand the power and the reasons that make this type of website so popular and how it can contribute to the work of Content Marketing and, therefore, it has intentions of bringing visitors, whether you are wondering what to do to create one and manage it, right?
There aren’t many secrets about both…
The creation itself is very simple for most and starts by defining a CMS and which is basically a platform for creation and development of sites and which has WordPress as its main example.
Although WordPress itself is an option making use of specific plugins, there are other better options that were natively conceived to be portals of content.
Planning the site
But before evaluating and choosing among the dozens of CMSs that can serve, there is a step to be taken, which is the planning of the site itself, even if it is just an area of another existing site.
In this case, you have in which to find the best solution to reconcile both.
In short, just as you planned a blog, an e-commerce or a discussion forum, this one will also need to go through this step, which it’s when you define the content, how it will be presented and how often, the audience or personas it will speak to, the type of intended communication, appearance, integrations with any social networks and all these types of details.
All this matters a lot and will even help to find the best CMS to make what was idealized viable.
Using our tax / accounting client as an example, his news area is divided into sections such as: tax legislation, systems, news, interviews, clearing up doubts with the specialist, etc., which helped him to define a content plan, the people within the company responsible for each one and even even the structure of the pages and the CMS that best served what the company imagined for the news area.
Planning the content
As already mentioned, quantity and frequency of new content, is an essential feature of this type of site.
For this reason, content planning needs to be meticulous and done in a very professional way.
Furthermore , it is necessary to have sources for all the information that is produced and published and that, in the case of news, must be new, relevant, dynamic and, when possible, be given first hand.
The Internet itself has many channels that help in this work and one of the main and most used are the press offices.
The press office exists precisely with the objective of making public quickly and so comprehensively. as possible certain information. Many companies and organizations, from the most different segments, maintain channels of this type, through which it is possible to obtain not only textual information, but often photos, videos and other types of content for dissemination.
It is usually easy to register in the press area, which in most cases is enough to start receiving material, at no cost.
But there are also companies that offer this type of service and in that case there is c It depends on the type, volume and frequency of information that is desired.
Finally, although first-hand news is not guaranteed, there is also the way that many of us, as Internet users, are informed , that is, by registering to receive newsletters and news feeds on certain sites.
In these cases, time must be available to produce and publish your own news from another, after all, everything that is published must be original in terms of writing, otherwise it can be considered plagiarism, which is not good either in terms of your image before your visitors, or for the search engines and, consequently, for your positioning for organic searches.
Conclusion
A news site or just an area on your institutional site, but well planned and managed, can contribute a lot to the Content Marketing.
