You may have guessed, but BenitoLink has rolled out a new website design. Created by NewsPack, the new site will keep more news articles on the home page and better highlight both investigative and popular features. BenitoLink was fortunate to receive a $20,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the News Revenue Hub “to support the acquisition or management of a content management system that will increase revenue, grow audience and improve user experience.”
“We are very excited and grateful for this chance to keep BenitoLink up-to-date and improve the way it serves our community,” said BenitoLink Executive Director Leslie David. “It does two great things: improve the experience for the residents of San Benito County and increase our revenue opportunity, which helps ensure that BenitoLink can keep serving the community.”
The new design offers more news stories at the top of the page, keeps important stories handy and easy to find and it will reduce space used for announcements and news releases. The home page will also make articles like our Eat, Drink, Savor series or informational water series more accessible.
BenitoLink asks that readers remain patient through the transition to the new design. NewsPack has created over 200 nonprofit websites and will be managing most of the technical “back-end” of the website while BenitoLink staffers become familiar with the site’s expanded capabilities.
Another goal of the project is to improve BenitoLink’s revenue potential.
This would include:
- Moving from the Paypal payment system to Stripe and connecting directly to the website.
- Moving Mailchimp to the website instead of operating as two separate systems.
- Preparing to monetize newsletters or paid memberships.
- Preparing to publish notices, obituaries, and other announcements on the site.
- Improving the header banner and the About, Support and Donate sections.
The grant was made through the Miami Foundation, which regularly partners with the Knight Foundation. In its letter awarding the grant, the foundation wrote, “The Miami Foundation is grateful to partner with the Knight Foundation and the News Revenue Hub to support the Sustainable Publishing Solutions initiative that helps publishers leverage technology tools and strategies to provide informed news to their local communities.”
BenitoLink appreciates the work of these nonprofit organizations in support of nonprofit newsrooms like ours, as we all share an interest in continuing to develop more “informed and engaged” communities.