I work with a few independent publishers, each well-regarded in their niches, generating over 1-2 million pageviews monthly—though numbers have dipped lately.
A big issue this year has been the sharp decline in organic reach on Facebook, which was a major traffic source. This isn’t a new problem, but it’s hit especially hard recently. Even big players with millions of followers are now only getting double or triple-digit likes per post, which is tough.
Rather than dwell on it, I’m looking for new traffic sources. Most of the publishers focus on news (like sports and entertainment), so I’m considering Newsbreak and SmartNews as alternatives.
SmartNews has been effective overall. It provides decent clickthrough to main sites and has good tracking options.
Newsbreak is a bit trickier. One of the platforms is getting traffic from it automatically, but manual submissions for other sites haven’t had any response. Does anyone have experience with how long it takes to get approved on Newsbreak or know of a contact there?
Apple News has mixed reviews from what I’ve heard—lots of high-profile publishers, but the monetization hasn’t been great. I recall trying ad integration a while back, and it came with a lot of restrictions. Any recent changes there that might help with monetization?
Flipboard hasn’t given a great traffic return for us, and we’re already on Google News.
Are there other platforms worth trying? Any lesser-known sources that might help diversify traffic? Would love any tips or feedback!
Kayden said:
I contribute on Newsbreak, and while it’s a decent platform, I’m not happy with how it’s managed.
What issues have you had with the management? I’m struggling to get an article approved, even though I’ve included attribution and minimized links to my site.
@Brody
They don’t seem to value contributors much. Many of us helped get them established, but now it feels like they’ve shifted priorities. Unfortunately, it’s a trend in the writing world these days.
Erick said:
Curious if you’ve found a solution. I’m dealing with similar challenges right now!
No major updates so far. I’m still holding out hope that Facebook may eventually support news outlets more directly. I also wonder if Meta might use Threads as a way to give publishers new traffic opportunities.
It’s tough seeing major publishers with huge followings barely getting any engagement on Facebook. That might push more publishers to explore other platforms.