01 · websites for media and newsrooms

News websitesfor media outlets

Sections and authors, an editor-friendly admin panel, subscriptions, newsletters and labeled advertising. A story goes live in minutes and doesn’t crash the site at peak traffic

Timeline
from 6 weeks

Built for your publication, not a template

A city news feed and a business magazine have different readers and different revenue. We start a media website with how your newsroom works

  • 01

    City and local outlets

    Readers come for what happened on their street. The site has to surface what’s fresh and local fast, not everything at once

    • Sections by neighborhood and topic
    • A “top stories today” feed
    • Events and useful services
    • News tips from readers
  • 02

    News portals and wires

    Every minute counts: a story has to go live, reach search engines and aggregators and survive a flood of readers

    • Publishing in two clicks
    • Breaking tags and live blogs
    • News sitemap
    • Caching and traffic headroom
  • 03

    Magazines and longreads

    People read for a long time here and come back for the writers. Layout, photos and comfortable mobile reading decide it

    • Flexible block-based article layouts
    • Galleries, pull quotes and sidebars
    • Special projects with their own design
    • Author and series pages
  • 04

    Business and trade media

    A narrow, demanding audience: they value accuracy, a deep archive and finding a story a year later

    • Archive search by tag
    • Company and people profiles
    • Events and press releases
    • Subscriber digest
  • 05

    Paywalled publications

    Readers pay the bills. The site has to be honest about what they’re paying for and stay out of the way once they have

    • Paywall with free articles
    • Plans, free trials, promo codes
    • Subscriber account
    • Card payments and auto-renewal
  • 06

    Brand and creator media

    A blog, a brand magazine or a personal project: content builds trust, and subscribers drive sales

    • A magazine next to your main site
    • Newsletter sign-ups
    • Labeled partner advertising
    • CRM and analytics integration

The reader journey from headline to subscription

Six steps where a publication wins or loses its audience. At every step, the site works for the newsroom

  1. 01Search and aggregators

    Finds the story

    Each story goes straight into the sitemap and aggregator feeds, so search engines learn about it without delay. The headline and cover image look right in search results and messengers

  2. 02A light page

    Reads undisturbed

    The article loads fast even on the subway, ads don’t make the text jump, and type and spacing are made for reading on a phone

  3. 03Sections and related

    Keeps reading

    Below the story: related news, the full storyline and more from the author. Readers stay on the site instead of going back to their feed

  4. 04Newsletter and channels

    Follows

    A morning digest by email, breaking-news alerts, links to the newsroom’s channels. The sign-up form never covers the text

  5. 05Paid access

    Subscribes

    Part of the text is open, followed by clear plans and a payment in a couple of steps. After payment the article unlocks instantly, no second login

  6. 06Comments

    Joins the discussion

    Comments with rules, blocked words and reporting. Anything questionable goes to a moderator, and the newsroom sees it all in one queue

In every media website

  1. 01Newsroom admin panel with roles and drafts
  2. 02Sections, tags, storylines and author pages
  3. 03Scheduled publishing and breaking tags
  4. 04News sitemap and aggregator feeds
  5. 05Cover images for social media and messengers
  6. 06Ad slots with labeling
  7. 07Newsletter sign-ups and alerts
  8. 08Moderated comments
  9. 09Archive search
  10. 10Analytics with goals for subscriptions and reads

One story, every channel

The editor hits “Publish”, and the site updates the feeds, the sitemap, social cover images and the newsletter on its own. Nobody copies a story by hand

We connect the publication’s site to channels and services: News aggregators, Content platforms, RSS, AMP, Telegram channels, Social media, Email services, CDN, Ad networks, Online payments, Analytics

We add AMP and platform-specific formats only if they actually bring in your audience. Platform rules change, so we check their current requirements before kickoff

What matters for a newsroom

Media outlets have obligations an ordinary site doesn’t. We build them into the admin panel so editors don’t have to keep it all in their heads

  • Imprint in plain sight

    Registration details, publisher, editor-in-chief and newsroom contacts in the footer of every page and on a dedicated page. Editable from the admin panel

  • Age ratings

    An age rating for the whole site and separately for stories that need one. Editors set it when publishing instead of remembering later

  • News goes out fast

    Publishing without waiting for a site rebuild, an instant sitemap update and a ping to search engines. A typo fix shows up immediately too

  • Traffic spikes are no threat

    Caching and CDN delivery: a breaking story that spreads across channels won’t take the site down. We load-test before launch

  • Comments under control

    Discussion rules, pre-moderation for new users, blocked words and reporting. Deleted comments are kept in a log in case you need to review them

  • Labeled advertising

    The “Advertisement” label, the advertiser and the ad ID are separate fields on every story and banner. Sponsored content can’t be published without them

Media websites: packages

The cost depends on scope. We send a detailed estimate after the brief and don’t change it after kickoff unless the scope changes

  • News website

    Custom quote

    6–8 weeks

    • Sections, tags and author pages
    • Newsroom admin panel with roles
    • News sitemap and feeds
    • Ad slots and analytics
    Get an estimate
  • Publication with subscriptions

    Custom quote

    10–14 weeks

    • Paid access and plans
    • Subscriber account and online payment
    • Newsletters and alerts
    • Moderated comments
    Get an estimate
  • High-traffic media

    Custom quote

    from 16 weeks

    • Caching, CDN and load tests
    • Several publications in one admin panel
    • Live coverage and special projects
    • Archive migration from the old site
    Get an estimate

What drives the cost

  • Migrating a large archive while keeping URLs and rankings
  • A complex paywall: metered free articles, corporate subscriptions
  • A mobile app for the publication
  • Your own ad system instead of plugging in existing networks
  • Design from scratch and custom layouts for special projects

How a project runs

  1. 01

    Brief and estimate

    2–3 days

    A call with the editor-in-chief and whoever runs advertising. We go through how the newsroom works today and send a phased estimate

  2. 02

    Prototype and design

    2–3 weeks

    A prototype of the homepage, article page and admin panel, then the design. We show it to editors early so publishing feels right to them

  3. 03

    Phased development

    per estimate

    We show each phase on a staging site and sign it off. You pay phase by phase

  4. 04

    Launch and support

    30 days

    We migrate the archive, check load and indexing, and train the newsroom. A month of support is included

Common questions

Open 01 of 07

Didn’t find your question? Ask it on Telegram and we’ll reply during business hours

Ask on Telegram
  1. We handle the technical side; the platforms decide

    We set up feeds, markup and a news sitemap in the formats the platforms accept. The newsroom submits the application, and each platform sets its own requirements for publications, so we don’t promise inclusion

  2. Not for development; some platforms and legal status may require it

    The site can be built and launched without registration. If your publication is registered, we display the imprint as the law requires. Registration questions are best discussed with a lawyer; we take care of the technical side

  3. Yes, if it’s planned into the project

    Article pages are served from cache and via a CDN, and heavy blocks load separately. Before launch we run load tests and show how many concurrent readers the site handles on your server

  4. We design it together with your editors

    Drafts, roles for writer, editor and managing editor, scheduled publishing, revision history and preview. Stories are built from blocks: text, photo, video, quote, sidebar. We train the newsroom before launch

  5. A paywall, plans and a subscriber account

    Editors mark which stories are paid and how much text shows before the paywall. Readers pick a plan and pay by card; the subscription renews automatically and can be canceled in the account without emailing support

  6. We don’t promise numbers before launch

    Your audience depends on the newsroom, topics and publishing frequency. We make sure stories are indexed quickly and load without delay, and that analytics shows where readers come from and what they read

  7. Yes, with the old URLs or redirects

    We migrate stories, photos, authors and tags, keep the URLs or set up redirects, and check indexing after launch. The source code and all access go to the publication’s owner; we host the site where you choose or on your own server

Let’s talk about your publication’s site

Tell us about your publication, how many stories you publish a day and what the site runs on now. We reply within two business hours and send an estimate after the brief

Type of publication

By clicking the button, you agree to the processing of your personal data