News portal and media website development for Indian publishers
Fast, editor-friendly news sites with ad slots, newsletters and workflows for reporters, desks and editors. For regional dailies, digital-first outlets and niche magazines.
A news site is judged in the first two seconds. A reader taps a link from WhatsApp or Google Discover, and if the page jumps, loads slowly or hides the story behind an ad, she is gone. News portal and media website development starts with that reader, and then serves the people who feed her: reporters, sub-editors and the ad team.
We build publishing systems that editors can run without a developer on call. That means a clean article template, a desk workflow, sensible ad placement and pages that stay fast on a mid-range phone even when a story spikes.
Why news sites struggle online
Ads slow down the story
Several ad scripts, a chat widget and a video player can push a page past ten seconds on 4G. Layout shifts as ads load make readers lose their place and tap the wrong thing.
A CMS that fights the newsroom
Reporters paste from Word and get broken formatting. There is no draft, review and publish stage, so a half-edited story goes live or sits unpublished at the wrong moment.
Archives that cannot be found
Years of stories sit under messy URLs, with no tags, no author pages and weak search. Old explainers that still draw readers are buried and never linked from new stories.
Scripts and fonts for several languages
An outlet that publishes in English, Hindi and Marathi needs correct fonts, readable sizes and separate language sections. Poor Indic typography lowers time on page and trust.
What we build for news and media portals
Editorial CMS and desk workflow
Roles for reporter, sub-editor and editor, with draft, review and scheduled publish. Reporters get a clean writing screen with image captions, credits and tags, and a proper paste-from-Word cleanup.
Fast article and section pages
Server-rendered pages with compact templates and lazy-loaded images, built for Core Web Vitals on a mid-range phone. We do not need AMP, since ordinary pages can be as fast.
Ad slot planning
Fixed placements with reserved space so layout does not jump, plus support for ad networks and direct sponsor banners. You decide frequency, and we keep page weight in check.
Newsletters and alerts
Email sign-up with a daily or weekly digest, breaking news by email or web push, and a WhatsApp channel link. Readers manage their own preferences and can unsubscribe in one step.
Archive, tags and author pages
Migration of old stories with redirects, topic hubs, author profiles and a search that works. Evergreen stories are surfaced inside new ones so old work earns readers again.
Paywall, membership and video
Optional metered access or paid membership through Razorpay, and embedded video from a hosting service. We add these only if your business model needs them, since they add cost and risk.
How a news portal build runs
Discover
We sit in on a normal publishing day and follow one story from tip to publish. We also review your analytics, ad setup and how many stories you migrate.
Define
We fix the content types, roles, sections, languages and ad placements, and decide what moves from the old site. You get a written scope and fixed quote.
Design
We design article, home and section templates around reading comfort and ad space, in each script you use. Editors review the writing screen as closely as readers review the front page.
Build
We build the CMS, templates and integrations, then migrate a trial batch of stories first. Editors publish real stories on a staging site before the switch.
Ship & extend
We launch with redirects, sitemaps, news schema and monitoring, and support you for one month. New sections, a mobile app or a paywall can be added in later phases.
What it costs
A small publication on an existing CMS can start at the business website anchor of ₹45,000 (excl. GST). A multi-language portal with an editorial workflow is custom software, quoted after a discovery call.
- Number of languages and sections
- Stories to migrate
- Editorial roles and approvals
- Ad, newsletter and membership features
- Hosting for traffic spikes
All prices exclude 18% GST. See also website costs and app costs.
Questions we get asked
Do we need AMP for a news site?
No. Search engines no longer require AMP for news carousels. A normal page with compact templates, deferred scripts and optimised images can load as fast. That avoids a second version of every story and the maintenance that comes with it.
WordPress or a custom CMS for a news portal?
WordPress works well for most publications and has a large editor community. A custom or headless build suits multi-edition outlets, strict approvals or very high traffic. We compare running costs and editor needs before recommending one.
Can you move our old stories without losing search traffic?
We map old URLs to new ones with permanent redirects, carry over titles, dates, authors and images, and check the sitemap after launch. Some movement in search is normal for a few weeks. Messy archives may need clean-up first.
Will the site survive a traffic spike?
Yes, with caching and a CDN, most spikes are handled without a server upgrade. We test article pages under load and advise on hosting. A viral story can still stretch limits, so we discuss your expected peak before launch.
Can you build a mobile app for our outlet?
Yes, in Flutter or React Native, reading from the same CMS. An app is worth it if you have a loyal daily audience that returns. Many outlets do better with a fast site and web push first, and we will tell you.
Do you handle ads and ad revenue?
We place and test ad slots and connect the ad network scripts you choose. We do not sell ads or run your ad operations. We design the layout so ads load without moving the text and keep page weight reasonable.
Ready to scope it?
Tell us what you want to build. You get a fixed written quote after a free discovery call.