WordSesh is a live, highly-curated, free virtual conference centered around WordPress. WordSesh Americas 2020, happening this Wednesday, May 27, includes 12 sessions that touch on topics like headless WordPress, client services, and communication skills.
I am excited to be a part of the lineup, sharing how developers can make the most of a development tool they are probably already using: Github.
Github is used by many developers to build and manage both public plugins and themes and private work. My session takes a closer look at GitHub Actions, a newer feature to help with automation for repetitive tasks like testing and deployment. It will cover WordPress-specific Actions, tying multiple Actions together in a workflow, and ideas for how to continually improve development processes.
In March 2019, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) finalized app-ads.txt, an extension of the original ads.txt standard that provides publishers a mechanism to declare their authorized digital sellers. By August, Google began blocking the serving of unauthorized ad inventory based on app-ads.txt files.
Today we’re happy to share that our WordPress plugin, Ads.txt Manager, now supports both ads.txt and app-ads.txt file types.
Extensive experience working with some of the world’s largest content creators has given 10up unique insight into the needs of digital publishers: increasing audience engagement, improving workflow efficiency, enhancing search engine performance, and growing revenue. As market challenges in digital publishing mount, parallel growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies offer important opportunities for content creators that will only grow in importance in the future.
While still relatively new and not yet widely adopted within the publishing industry, AI and ML can already provide forward-thinking content creators a chance to get ahead of the competition.
Our new whitepaper, Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Digital Content Creators examines how AI and ML are spurring innovation in content management, personalization, and website experiences. It also highlights real world solutions — including ClassifAI, our plugin that augments WordPress-powered websites with AI/ML technology — that help digital content creators save time and streamline workflows.
10up is joining forces with Kinsta for a free webinar focused on optimizing the work from home experience. Featured on the webinar will be our own Brad Miller, a Vice President who has worked from home for several years.
Happening on April 15 at 12:30 pm Eastern time, the webinar will cover:
Tips for setting up an at-home workspace
Ways to eliminate distractions
How to create opportunities to casually connect with colleagues (and talk about something other than work)
How to prioritize time effectively
Insights on finding work-life balance when work and home are the same place
WordPress 5.4 was released this week, featuring new and better blocks, a cleaner block editor UI, improved user data privacy features, and a handful of under the hood performance and developer improvements. Seven 10uppers helped make this release possible, including myself, who was recognized as a Noteworthy Contributor.
Thank you for helping make WordPress: Ben Greeley, Fabian Kaegy, Felipe Elia, John Watkins, Ryan Welcher, and Tung Du!
Consumers have become accustomed to optimized mobile experiences. Billions use popular apps — WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Gmail, and Twitter — to perform small acts of publishing, like sharing content, editing photos, uploading videos, and inserting URLs. These applications deliver carefully constructed user experiences focused on a narrow set of specific content creation tasks.
But what does the mobile experience look like for those managing website content?
10up conducted a user experience study to understand how consumers are creating, publishing, and managing website content from mobile devices. The study included live user interviews and a survey of 148 qualified participants from 30 countries about their individual experiences using website admin dashboards on smartphones.
ClassifAI — our plugin that augments WordPress-powered websites with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technology — was released last year. As a connector to cloud-based services like IBM Watson and Microsoft Azure AI, ClassifAI introduced the automatic tagging and classification of content as well as the assignment of descriptive alt text to images to WordPress.
Since that time, 10up has shipped the 1.4 and 1.5 releases, representing a substantial ongoing investment in ClassifAI and our commitment to driving applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology forward in the content management and open source industries. Highlights of ClassifAI’s recent releases include automated image tagging, smart focal point cropping of images, bulk scanning of existing content, and other vital enhancements.
When I joined 10up two and a half years ago to lead our strategic and commercial growth across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), I was not only starting a new position, I was beginning an entirely new remote work experience. Inspired by companies like Automattic and Basecamp, and fueled by the explosion in video conferencing and digital collaboration tools, 10up was founded as a fully distributed digital agency: our entire team, now 200 full-time team members, works from home or in some cases, co working spaces, around the globe.
As a social person who enjoys collaborating with others, I didn’t know what to expect from a work-at-home culture and I wondered how I would be able to collaborate effectively with colleagues located around the world. Thankfully, my nerves were laid to rest quickly as I learned that a remote work culture can operate and even feel very similar to an in-office culture.
Faced with global health concerns and efforts to contain a rapidly spreading virus, many traditional in-office workforces are asking employees to work from home. For many professionals, this will be their first time navigating a remote work lifestyle. With that mind, I thought it might help to share some of the ways we approach remote work, foster meaningful connections, and cultivate a vibrant team culture.
In 1994, the first website banner ad appeared on HotWired.com, boasting a 44% clickthrough rate. Since then, publishers have been investing in monetization strategies like direct display advertising and sponsored content to boost revenues. Today, distracted consumers, increased competition, banner blindness, and ad blocking tools make website monetization an increasing challenge for publishers.
This February, 10up wrapped its ninth year with much to celebrate. The company saw continued team and financial growth, with our most significant expansions across our European division, productized Managed Services offerings, and strategic Audience & Revenue consulting services. We also doubled down on our contributions to a broader open web community, and team culture.
The result: We continued to expand our client roster with some of our most impressive wins to date. In 2019, we welcomed some of the most respected brands and organizations in the world into our portfolio, and expanded existing relationships with industry leading clients like Google and Microsoft.
Consistent Revenue And Team Growth
10up’s eighth anniversary celebrated significant financial and team growth, which continued into our ninth year. We achieved 18% revenue growth and gained 48 new clients across verticals including healthcare, publishing, government, high tech, architecture, and financial services. We’re especially pleased by the increased diversification of that revenue across pillar accounts, which we see as vital to a healthy, sustainable workplace in the services sector. While in 2018, 20% of our revenue came from a single client, 2019 included five seven-figure clients, with the largest accounting for only 9% of company-wide revenue.
The growth of our client portfolio along with our commitment to exceptional client delivery drove the expansion of Team10up to 200 full-timers. This includes two full-time, in-house recruiters and 10uppers spread across six continents and twenty-four countries (tell Antarctica we’re hiring). The executive team also expanded, as we welcomed our first full time Chief Financial Officer, Chuck Barlett, and made three internal promotions:
Helen Hou-Sandi
Jeff Paul
Phil Crumm
Christine Garrison
Chris Wallace
Gabe Karp
Katie Wilkerson
Jake Goldman