Launch a news site step by step

Welcome aboard! This guide gets your news site up and running quickly and correctly. A few small choices now save you a lot of time in the months ahead.

How Ulakom works (and what you’ll set up with this guide)

Think of Ulakom as both your newsroom desk and your technical team: you focus on content while hosting, security, speed and SEO run automatically.

To make that happen, you’ll need:

• A site (name and address)
• Categories and a menu (the reader’s path)
• Content sources (editors, bots, Discover)
• A domain and Search Console (so Google finds you)

Ulakom features you’ll use

Step 1: Create the site

Open your site in three steps with Websites → + Add new site at the bottom left: name and address, starter design, plan. If you started from a template, clear the sample stories with Delete demo content on the Publish page. See create your first site.

Step 2: Choose the design

Choosing a template

Start with the template closest to your publication: general, local, sports, business or lifestyle.

Brand settings

Set the logo, site icon and colors as described in branding. Change the page layout with Websites → Manage → Design → Edit Design.

Step 3: Categories and menu

Start with no more than 6–8 main categories so readers don’t get lost. See categories and menu.

Step 4: Publish your first stories

Have a few stories in every category before going live. Write them, set up a news bot or import from Discover.

Step 5: Connect your domain

Add the domain in Websites → Manage → Subscription → Domain. Nameservers for a root domain, a dns.ulakom.com CNAME for a subdomain. See connect your domain.

Step 6: Search Console and sitemap

Once your domain is active, add your site to Search Console in one click with Manage → SEO → Connect with Google; your sitemap is submitted automatically. See Search Console connection.

What comes next?

• Get ready for Google News
• Set up ad slots
• Turn on web push

Common questions