Many of the structures and foundations that are used in publishing print newspapers do not work as well for online news publications.
Do not treat the newly started website as an afterthought. You will be reporting from multiple platforms when on the Internet and the news will be breaking first on your online website. Put the website first and the news will pull through to your print version.
Use a content management system for all the thousands of stories that you will need to handle. A content management system will make it possible to organise the large amounts of information coming through your website.
Concentrate on readers and keeping your content open and accessible when you start up a website. Build trust and growing readership before you attempt to acquire paid subscribers.
On your news website, you can publish anytime. You publish stories and events as they happen online. If you advertise a 24/7 news outlet, you need to keep your news up to date from minute to minute and hour to hour. On the Internet, time is not measured in days. Real-time reporting happens when you use live video streaming to report from an event.
You do not need to archive the stories you publish. Once a story is published, leave it online, forever. It will still attract readers and will also appear in search results later on.
Communicate with your online news readers, and supply a link for them to comment on stories and news events, and to communicate their thoughts with you. Newspaper websites are not expected to only provide news.
They should also create a community of readers, building loyal relationships.
Be patient. Like with all things worthwhile, it requires hard work, and persistence, and won’t happen overnight. Eventually, it will happen.
