Regardless of your platform or theme, learn best practices to make your news website stand out with these 50 tips.

1. 50
TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE
Kari Koshiol // Knight Errant, MN // School Newspapers Online

2. 50
TIPS ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE

3. 50 TIPS
Publish often.
Don’t be tied to print
publication dates. The website
should be used to communicate
news immediately.
Go online first.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
1

4. Consume online journalism.
Pay attention to how you read
it, what works and what doesn’t.
Figure out how to emulate the
models you like.
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
2

5. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
2
Consume online journalism.

6. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
2
Consume online journalism.

7. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
2
Consume online journalism.

8. Plan for breaking news.
Have a plan so your staff is
ready to report immediately and
add to coverage as time allows.
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
3

9. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
3
Plan for breaking news.
Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Mo.
thekirkwoodcall.com

10. 50 TIPS
Trim the categories.
Only include those categories in
your navigation bar or on your
homepage to which you publish
regularly.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
4

11. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
4
Trim the categories.

12. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
5
One category
per story.
Assign a story to
just one category,
either a parent or
child. Stories
should not show
up in multiple
places on the
homepage.

13. 50 TIPS
Include widgets that make
sense.
Content categories, polls, most
popular stories, video/photo
streams.
Reconsider weather widgets —
no one relies on your website
for a weather report.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
6

14. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Create a clear hierarchy on
your homepage.
Help your reader know what’s
important.
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
7

15. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Redesign your homepage for
special events/reports.
Understand why the viewer is
coming to your site that day.
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
8

16. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Redesign your homepage for
special events/reports.
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
8
Benilde-St. Margaret’s School
St. Louis Park, Minn.
bsmknighterrant.com

17. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Redesign your homepage for
special events/reports.
YOUR WEBSITE
ORGANIZING THE HOME PAGE
8
Wenatchee High
School
Wenatchee, WA
whsappleleaf.com

18. 50
TIPS DISPLAYING CONTENT

19. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
9
Tabs or indents are not
necessary.
WordPress will insert space
between paragraphs to indicate
a break.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE

20. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
9
YOUR WEBSITE
Tabs or indents are not
necessary.

21. ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Link related stories together.
Use a related stories box,
hyperlinks or chapters to
provide backstory to the reader.
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
10

22. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Link related stories together.
YOUR WEBSITE
10

23. ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Use contextual linking within
your stories.
Direct the reader to explanatory
pages, source documents or
more information.
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
11

24. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Use relative paths for all links
within your site.
This means just the part after
the domain name and slash
(start with the slash)
www.yourdomain.com/news/majorstory
TO IMPROVE
/news/majorstory
YOUR WEBSITE
12

25. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Use short links, not URLs. Even
better, use relative short links.
This makes it easy to find
stories even if the headline or
category change.
www.yourdomain.com/?p=1234
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
/?p=1234
13

26. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Your main image should be set
as your Featured Image.
This ensures an image will come
up with the category widget
and will be more likely to be
seen on the homepage or
category page.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
14

27. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Separate the writer’s name into
a custom field.
This helps with search and
organizing the site because the
byline won’t show up as the
preview text.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
15

28. ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Use original images.
(or at least Creative Commons
images with appropriate “share”
qualities)
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
16

29. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Add captions (and credits) to
all photos.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
17

30. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Be an editor. Curate only the
best images for a gallery or
slideshow.
Don’t add dozens of photos just
because you can. Avoid poor
quality or repetitive images.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
18

31. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Have a plan for tags, which
allow readers to quickly search
for related content.
Use tags for recurring people
and topics, and to cross-categorize.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
Tag clouds don’t
help much.
19

32. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Have a plan for tags, which
allow readers to quickly search
for related content.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
19

33. 50 TIPS
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Humor and lighter content can
bring readers to your site.
Once they are there, have more
substantial content for them to
discover.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
20

34. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
YOUR WEBSITE
Embed Web elements for
interactivity.
https://www.thinglink.com/
http://infogr.am/
http://prezi.com/
http://www.easel.ly/
21

35. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
YOUR WEBSITE
Embed Web elements for
interactivity.
21
Grosse Pointe North HS
Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.
mygpn.com

36. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
YOUR WEBSITE
Embed Web elements for
interactivity.
21

37. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
YOUR WEBSITE
Embed Web elements for
interactivity.
21

38. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
ORGANIZING & DISPLAYING CONTENT
Use text as needed.
Videos and pictures can tell a
full story.
YOUR WEBSITE
22

39. 50
TIPS UNPUBLISHED CONTENT

40. 50 TIPS
Use Preview Changes button.
Avoid awkward characters and
formatting.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
MANAGING UNPUBLISHED CONTENT
23

41. Resize your photos before
uploading and use Photoshop’s
Save for Web option.
This guarantees faster load
times because only the essential
information is stored.
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
MANAGING UNPUBLISHED CONTENT
24

42. 50
TIPS DESIGN PRACTICES

43. 50 TIPS
Select a color scheme that
evokes your school but doesn’t
necessarily match it.
Colors for sports uniforms don’t
always look good online.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
25

44. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Select a good color scheme.
25
Community HS, Ann Arbor, Mich.
www.chscommunicator.com
Peninsula HS, Gig Harbor, Wash.
www.phsoutlook.com

45. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Select a good color scheme.
25
Lewisville (Texas) HS
www.farhar.net
Manchester (Ct.) HS
www.mhsredline.com

46. 50 TIPS
Keep photos in color.
The Web has all colors, so don’t
use black and white photos.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
26

47. 50 TIPS
Use horizontal photos.
Vertical images are not as
Web-friendly as horizontal
images in most themes.
Vertical or square images might
be awkwardly cropped.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
27

48. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Use horizontal photos.
27

49. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Use horizontal photos.
27
Lots of empty space
from an irregular
photo size.

50. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Use horizontal photos.
27
Face is cropped
from photo.

51. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Design applies to the
home page and the
story page.
Consider “the look”
of each story.
Don’t just use
the default
template.
28

52. 50 TIPS
Use other material
B-roll, pics, pull quotes, ads,
related links can help keep the
reader’s attention on the story
page.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
29

53. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
Design a favicon.
Find instructions online to
create a 16x16 pixel icon to
insert into your header code.
30

54. 50 TIPS
Go wild! Design a bullet point
image.
You can add code to use an
image or character.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
DESIGN PRACTICES
31

55. 50
TIPS TECHNICAL TIPS

56. 50 TIPS
Prevent your site from being
hacked by performing updates
to WordPress, theme and
plugins.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
TECHNICAL TIPS
32

57. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Use plugins sparingly
Plugins can slow the speed at
which the site loads.
YOUR WEBSITE
TECHNICAL TIPS
33

58. 50 TIPS
Use the iframe embed code
(not plugins) for YouTube,
Vimeo, Issuu.
If the plugin is deactivated, the
rest of your site will not be
affected.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
TECHNICAL TIPS
34

59. 50 TIPS
Use responsive design
Sites will be viewed on multiple
devices.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
TECHNICAL TIPS
35

60. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
TECHNICAL TIPS
Use responsive design.
35

61. 50
TIPS STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT

62. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Break up the workload.
Have staff reporters initiate
story in draft status with text,
headline, pulled quote, links.
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
36

63. 50 TIPS
Have a key student responsible
for the website with a title and
position equivalent to
managing editor or editor in
chief.
There are multiple
configurations, but the website
should not be an afterthought
or a clerical position.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
37

64. 50 TIPS
Develop a social media editor
position.
Have that person be an expert
in social media. Teach the other
staff members. Develop and
implement policies.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
38

65. 50 TIPS
Use Google Analytics to learn
about your audience.
Who’s visiting?
When?
What did they look at?
For how long?
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
39

66. 50 TIPS
Use Google Analytics to learn
about your audience.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
39
Infrequent posting
then content dump.

67. 50 TIPS
Use Google Analytics to learn
about your audience.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
39
Steady weekday traffic

68. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
Develop and implement a
comments policy.
40
Sample Comments Policy
{insert publication name} intends for this area to be used to foster healthy,
thought-provoking discussion. Comments are expected to adhere to our
standards and to be respectful and constructive. As such, we do not permit
the use of profanity, foul language, personal attacks, or the use of language
that might be interpreted as libelous. Comments are reviewed and must be
approved by a moderator to ensure that they meet these standards. {insert
publication name} does not allow anonymous comments, and {insert
publication name} requires a valid email address. The email address will not
be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments.

69. 50 TIPS
Push your staff. Write more.
Gain followers. Try new things.
Set goals based on analytics.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
41

70. 50 TIPS
Accept local advertisements to
create revenue.
Combine with print for a
package.
Use analytics to pitch to certain
advertisers.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
42

71. 50 TIPS
Install an AdSense widget on
your site to create revenue.
This will serve ads to users
based on their browser history,
and you can limit to broad
categories.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
STAFF & CLASS MANAGEMENT
43

72. 50
TIPS PROMOTIONS

73. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
Use the same social media as
your audience. Follow all
students, teachers and
coaches.
Use as a source for promotion
via sharing.
Use as a source for potential
news and story ideas.
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
44

74. Use your Twitter feed to tease
to your website.
You don’t need your feed on the
site unless it is sharing news
that is not on your site.
50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
45

75. 50 TIPS
Consider having more than one
Twitter feed that brings new
news to the site.
A sports account for live tweets
at sporting events helps for
those who might be interested
(while not annoying those who
aren’t).
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
46

76. 50 TIPS
QR codes and apps like
Aurasma can link print material
to the Web — and drive traffic.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
47

77. 50 TIPS
Post your links on Google Plus
to increase prominence of your
stories in the search results.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
48

78. 50 TIPS
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
Send original Tweets and
Facebook posts to create
traffic.
Have a personality, not
an auto-feed.
49

79. 50 TIPS
Broaden your audience beyond
students and parents.
Use Reddit or other social
media to share and discuss
articles.
TO IMPROVE
YOUR WEBSITE
PROMOTIONS
50

80. QUESTIONS?
FIRE AWAY.
Kari Koshiol
kari@snosites.com
http://www.slideshare.net/snosites/50-tips-to-improve-your-website