With 27 sites launched and 50 more preparing to go live, Newspack is picking up speed. But we want to move even faster, so we’re now offering a half-price discount for three months to the first 25 European newsrooms that are accepted into our subscription plan before November.
A project of Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, Newspack is designed to streamline publishing and revenue generation for small and medium-sized news newsrooms. And it takes over the tech burden of running a website, letting journalists focus on what they do best.
Of course, it’s easy for those of us working on Newspack to say we’re satisfied, so don’t take it from us. Take it from the sites already using Newspack.
In a recent survey, Newspack users gave us a Net Promoter Score of 76 (considered exceptional) and top marks on product features and customer support, among others. When Newspack’s customers were asked to select one or more categories in which they’d seen improvement on their sites since relaunch, over 75 percent cited ease of authoring and publishing, site design and layout, and mobile display; 67 percent cited improved page load speed; and 40 percent noted improvements in SEO, audience acquisition and revenue.
We’re also pleased with the geographic range of Newspack’s clients, which, in addition to many U.S.-based sites, includes news organizations in Hong Kong, Uganda, Palau, Chile, China, Germany and Czechia. So we’re excited to add even more countries to the list via this application process for Europe (where, incidentally, part of the Newspack team is located).
After the discount period for the selected sites ends, publishers will pay the regular Newspack fees as outlined on our pricing page.
By joining Newspack, you’ll get a new website, including, in most cases, the migration of your existing site. We provide hosting, security, updates, backups and support on WordPress.com. You’ll get exclusive performance benchmarking against your peers.
One thing you’ll get that isn’t as obvious, but is central to the Newspack experience: substantial discounts on services such as Parse.ly. And membership in our community of users, which means full participation in our Slack channels and our weekly calls — both of which offer direct access to Newspack’s developers. Our clients determine what new features we spend time developing, and those priorities often come from these direct discussions. It’s also hard to overstate the benefit of being in constant contact with people working at dozens of other sites solving the same problems you have.
After joining, you’ll provide invaluable feedback to Newspack’s development team. You’ll help us refine existing features and test new ones. And you’ll be able to foster our spirit of collaboration and shared goal of creating a better experience for all Newspack users.
The deadline for this application is Sept. 29. You can find the application here. For more information on Newspack, see our product and support pages.
The main selection criteria for this application process are:
- Your site should be based in Europe.
- Your site should be designed to meet the news and/or information needs of a distinct geographic region or distinct subject area of coverage.
- You should be able to articulate a clear editorial and business approach to the development and growth of your site.
- You should be producing original content and not be a pure aggregator.
- Your site should have:
- A track record of serving its intended news audience and a budget that credibly forecasts 12 months of continued operation, OR
- A launch plan that addresses how you intend to serve your target market and funding commitments sufficient to operate for at least 12 months
If you’re interested in hearing more about Newspack, but you’re not located in Europe, no need to worry, We’re still adding sites from the rest of the world as well. To learn more about Newspack, fill out our inquiry form.
