How To Drive Loads Of Traffic With News Partnerships

Is your blog not getting enough traffic to generate a meaningful income? Do you wonder what it would be like if your blog got hundreds of thousands of hits a day? Believe me, I know exactly how you feel.

My name is Joshua Rodriguez and I’m the founder of CNA Finance. Today, my website is a news provider that commonly ranks #1 in both Google News and Bing News. Traffic over the past few years has been amazing and I’ve been able to live the life I’ve dreamed of.

After my website became a partner to Google News and Bing News, my world changed so much that I had to share it. I then helped friends at iWatch Markets, Modest Money, Sport.one, and more through the process of becoming a news partner to Google and Bing. Today, these websites are enjoying improved success as well.

Don’t worry, I’m not telling you this so that I can sell you my secret. I’m more interested in sharing this success with fellow bloggers. Here’s a complete guide to how I did it. If you follow it to a T, you’ll soon become a Google News and Bing News partner, enjoying all of the benefits that come with it.

Write With Confidence In The Fact That You Are Newsworthy

One of the first responses I tend to get when I reach out to a blogger friend to let them know that I can help them get into the news is, “I own a blog, I don’t follow the news.” Well, my response to that is to simply look up the definition of the word – NEWS. That goes by:

“Newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent or important events.”

Based on this definition, any time you write a unique post, you are providing your readers with newly received, and in their likely opinions, noteworthy information. These posts are sometimes about recent events in your life, your industry, or of importance to you. Every part of the definition of news is what you provide through your blog.

So, when you dive in, dive in with confidence that what you write is newsworthy. Keep in mind that as always, content is important and quality content is king!

Perform A Website Audit

Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to look for a bunch of technical information that most bloggers wouldn’t know how to find. All I want you to do is make sure that your blog meets simple requirements set forth by Google and Bing. These include:

• Contact Information – To be approved as a news provider, your blog must have a contact page. After all, news providers need to be held accountable for their work, and contact information allows that to happen. Make sure that your contact page offers a phone number, physical address, and email. A contact form is also a plus.
• Author Bio – Make sure that every article has a clear author bio. This is a short paragraph about the author. It’s also a good idea to offer readers a way to contact the author within the bio. Adding an email address or social profile link will do the trick.
• Functionality – Before you publish your blog, make sure that it is functioning properly. Any downtime in your site during the application process could lead to immediate rejection.
• Updating Content – In order to be a news provider, you need to be continuously updating your content. That simply means that there should be a new post published on your blog every day. The more posts you have going out, the better your chances of approval.
• Promotion – While most blogs will qualify to become a news partner, there are some that will never make it. These are the blogs that are heavily promotional. If your blog has been created for the sole purpose of selling a product or products, rather than for the purpose of providing quality articles for entertainment purposes, chances are that you will be rejected.

Once you’ve performed the site audit, covering these important factors, fix anything that is amiss before moving on.

Sign Up For Google Webmasters Tools

Google’s Webmasters Tools platform is something that all website owners should have. It provides detailed information about your website. However, for news purposes, it’s an important step that verifies the ownership of your website. The bottom line is that without verifying your website in Google Webmasters Tools, you won’t be able to apply to become a news partner.

Once you sign up, you’ll be asked to place a verification code into the <head> section of your website. Once this is done, Google is able to verify that you are the owner of the website, allowing you to take advantage of the different tools and partnership opportunities, such as Google News Partnerships, that they have to offer.

Sign Up For Google News Partner Dash

Now, we’re getting to the real meat and potatoes of the process. It’s time to apply to become a Google News Partner. To apply, you’ll need to sign up for Google News Partner Dash, also known as the Google News Publisher Center.

If you’ve properly verified your website through Google’s Webmasters Tools platform, when you log into the News Partner Dash, you will see your website. To the right of your website name, you’ll see a button that allows you to apply to become a news partner.

The application is very straightforward. Simply fill out all the fields and you should be good to go. Here are some tips to consider when filling out the application:

• Be Honest – We’re talking about Google here. They can probably do a better background check than the FBI! If you make your site out to be something that it’s not or lie in any way, there are higher chances of your application being declined. Just be you and you’re good to go!
• Be Detailed – If you own a mommy blog and just put “Mommy blog” in the description of your news source, well, you’re going to get denied. Offer a clear and relevant description of what your website has to offer.
• Tell Google That It Is A Blog – There is one section that asks what kind of content you post on your website. Since your site is a blog, choose the blog option in this section. Make sure not to mislead Google in any way.

Once you submit your application to Google, it becomes a waiting game. While the company says that it can take up to three weeks to receive a response. My experience shows response time to be between two and three days.

Sign Up For Bing News Pub Hub

Now that you’ve submitted your application to Google News, it’s time to submit your application to Bing. To do so, you’ll need to sign up for Bing News PubHub. Once you sign up, you’ll have the opportunity to apply to become a news partner.

The application in the Bing News PubHub is very similar to the application in the Google News Partner Dash. Following the same tips as those provided for Google News will help to improve your chances of approval.

Final Thoughts

If you’re tired of writing article after article and only getting 50 reads per post? Good, it’s time to change that. By following the steps above, you can become a partner to Google News and Bing News, showing up in news feeds and greatly improving your traffic. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to start your site audit!