5 Tips on how to build a noteworthy online newsroom

July 20, 2021

Published by Jennifer Hammers

You’ve done it, you’ve made the decision to invest in your brand and build an online newsroom. Now what? If you’ve been doing your homework and looking around to see what makes a great newsroom, I bet you’ve found some pretty great sites. Here, I’m going to share with you the qualities of a newsroom that differentiate the good from the mediocre, and what you can do to achieve a quality newsroom.

Here goes…

#1 Customize

The best online newsrooms do an incredible job of truly reflecting their brand. As you look to the journey of creating your own company newsroom, ensure that you have the ability to customize your site to truly represent your brand identity and voice. Choose a hero image that speaks to your brand values, utilize fonts and colors that represent your brand guidelines, and include images that reflect your company’s missions and goals.

Also ensure you include quality imagery and categorize your images to make it easier for your visitors to find. Include such items as logos, brand guidelines, executive photos, and any news related images such as new headquarter images, or event images.

#2 Synchronize

KEEP YOUR NEWSROOM UP TO DATE!!! No sense in an online newsroom with only old news. Ensure that your newsroom is synced with the latest and greatest while still offering visitors the opportunity to view archived news.

#3 Organize

The best sites make it easy for their followers to find exactly what they need at the drop of a hat. The last thing you want is someone giving up on what they are looking for solely because they are frustrated at the amount of time they are spending to look for it. Here are some key tips to create an easily navigated newsroom:

Organize your news by date, showing the most recent news first
Categorize your images, make it easy for folks to find images relevant to their needs
Make it easy to find contacts at your organization for any additional questions, comments, or assistance requests
Include links to social media and make them visible.

Seal your newsroom with a KISS and Keep it Simple Stupid!

#4 Prioritize

According to a recent survey, 98% of journalists visiting newsrooms prefer email alerts vs having to search and comb through various press releases to find what they are looking for. Make sure you have the ability to both upload your most important contacts into your newsroom and allow visitors to subscribe to your site so they can receive the most recent, targeted information most relevant to their needs.

#5 Analyze

We live in a data driven world and are fortunate for the opportunity to gain insights we have never been offered in the past. The best newsrooms provide insight into their organizations such as who is visiting their newsroom, which assets are being downloaded, and where their stories are being picked up. Make sure you have the ability to see the efficacy of your site to ensure you can make data driven decisions.

Now that you have all the insight into what the building blocks are to a great online newsroom, let’s talk about choosing the right partner to help you construct it. First and foremost, ask yourself this question….who is my current newswire distribution partner and do they offer this service? Keeping content up to date by having to manually upload all relevant information and news about your brand can be time consuming and a pain in the you know what! So much so, that this is where many newsrooms fail and have outdated or disorganized content because it is such a laborious task to keep it up to date. If you are already working with a communications company to distribute your news and they have a newsroom offering, it’s a no brainer to work with them to ensure your newsroom always stays updated and organized. Have your press releases and other relevant news automatically populate into your newsroom and always keep your followers in the know.

Start thinking about building your newsroom today!