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Avoid Assumptions: Using Research To Define Audiences In Their Own Words

Amy Grace Wells on October 12, 2020

Amy Grace Wells

We hear about audiences from stakeholders. We learn about audiences from analytics, demographics, and surveys. But hearing their feelings, hopes for your product, and motivations is an invaluable tool in shaping content, calls to action, and platform strategies. By exploring audiences in-depth, you can better, and more accurately, define segments.

On October 15, 2020, in partnership with GatherContent, I am presenting the webinar, Avoid assumptions: Using research to define audiences in their own words.

Increase ad impressions with 10up’s Ad Refresh Control plugin for WordPress

Katie Wilkerson on October 8, 2020

Ad Refresh Control WordPress Plugin

Over the past year, in partnership with Google News Initiative (GNI), 10up has been working with hyperlocal publishers like Long Beach Post, VT Digger, Oil City News, and BK Reader to drive digital strategies for audience and revenue growth.

One strategy — refreshing ad slots after a set amount of time — successfully leveraged existing web traffic to increase ad impressions. This revenue-boosting strategy typically requires an ad-savvy web engineer for implementation.

Ad Refresh Control for WordPress

In keeping with the vision of our GNI partnership — providing widely applicable solutions that are relatively easy to implement — 10up created Ad Refresh Control, a free, open source, WordPress plugin that empowers publishers to easily control the refreshing of ads.

Ad Refresh Control works immediately upon activation, enabling active view refresh for Google Ad Manager ad units without needing to modify any code. Active view refresh helps publishers recoup lost impressions by reloading a visible ad unit after a set amount of time.

Christina Gazzia on October 5, 2020

This Thursday, I’m speaking alongside experts from Automattic and MeetEdgar in a panel discussion aimed at improving the onboarding of new remote workers so they feel connected to their team, aligned with company culture, and confident in expectations, communication, and corporate structure. The panel, Creating a Great Remote Hire Experience — Onboarding Strategies to Ensure Retention, is part of the WFH Virtual Conference happening October 8-9, 2020.

Distributor 1.6 Introduces New Setup Wizard, Improved Tooling, and Official Hook Documentation

Jeff Paul on September 17, 2020 • 8 Comments

Distributor is our free WordPress plugin that empowers content managers to safely reuse and syndicate content across websites within a WordPress multisite network or across the web using the REST API. Designed with an intuitive user experience, Distributor integrates both “push” and “pull” use cases for sharing content and media between sites.

The release of Distributor 1.6 — with a new setup wizard, improved push/pull management, clearer warnings to facilitate swift troubleshooting when issues arise, and Site Health Info integration, as well as added developer hooks — exemplifies our continued investment in making the plugin easier to use and empowering developers to tailor it to fit even the most complicated workflows.

The Role Of Open Source: A New make|Shift Documentary Short Film

Phil Crumm on September 3, 2020

Ben Ilfeld, Jake Goldman, Phil Crumm

Earlier this year, the feature length make|SHIFT documentary explored the history of modern advertising and the role open-source technology played in its evolution. The film highlights the brands, makers, and agencies — including 10up — who harness new technology, test new business models, and question the status quo in an age that gives consumers the power to determine how, when, and where they connect with brands.

A new make|SHIFT short film, clocking in at just under four minutes, highlights the critical role open source plays in creating the complex experiences consumers demand and features insights from myself, 10up’s President and founder Jake Goldman, and our CEO John Eckman.

Helen Hou-Sandi Announced as Core Tech Lead for WordPress 5.6 All-Women Release Squad

Jeff Paul on August 31, 2020 • 1 Comment

Helen Hou-Sandi speaking at WordCamp Europe

Aiming to increase the number of women involved in leading and regularly contributing to WordPress releases, earlier this year WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden shared an official stretch goal of an all-women release squad. A May update on the 2020 release squads confirmed the realization of that goal for the WordPress 5.6 release.

With WordPress 5.5 released, the WordPress 5.6 planning announcement officially introduced the women leading the release, including 10up’s own Director of Open Source Initiatives Helen Hou-Sandì who will serve as Core Tech Lead.

NESN Launches New Digital Experience

Jason Clarke on August 26, 2020

Last Wednesday, we were thrilled to be a part of NESN’s launch of the new NESN.com and NESN Apps, which were fully reconceptualized to deliver a cutting-edge, cross-platform experience.

NESN Website Redesign

John Eckman on August 25, 2020 • 2 Comments

This Thursday I’m participating in the CoRise Summit — a free global startup summit to CoLearn, Collaborate, and CoRise with the community. As a panelist in a session on Building Remote Teams and Company Culture (August 27 at 12:30 PM ET), I’m looking forward to sharing some of our insights on building and managing a distributed team.

I’m also happy to be a contributor to Remote Teams Work. It’s a new book out this month that provides strategic and practical guidance on establishing and running a successful remote team, including tools and methodologies, hiring and salaries, and creating a remote culture.

As more and more companies adjust to remote work and the value of distributed teams, hopefully they can benefit from the best practices we’ve seen and experienced.

WordPress 5.5 Released, Block For Apple Maps Included In Block Library

Jeff Paul on August 18, 2020 • 1 Comment

Block for Apple Maps in the Block Directory

WordPress 5.5 was released last week, featuring automatic updates for plugins and themes, lazy-loading images, extensible XML sitemaps, improvements to the block editor, and as always, supplemental under the hood security, performance, and developer improvements. As always, many 10uppers contributed to this release.

This latest release introduces a number of improvements to the block content editor. Highlights include inline image editing that lets you crop, rotate, and zoom photos within image blocks; device previews that show how content will appear to visitors with different screen sizes; and a Block Directory that lets you find, install, and insert third-party blocks in the editor, without ever leaving the page.

GNI Ad Revenue Lab Presents Free Workshop Series For Local News Publishers

Mike Bal on August 12, 2020

Tomorrow, August 13, 2020, 10up kicks off a free, four-part workshop series covering lessons and tactics used in the GNI Ad Revenue Lab to accelerate participating publishers’ advertising revenue.

The GNI Ad Revenue Lab, which kicked off in September 2019, is a Google News Initiative project conducted in partnership with LION Publishers and 10up to establish a web-based revenue optimization blueprint local news publishers can use as a reference point for website improvements.

As part of the Ad Revenue Lab, we have been working with seven hyperlocal U.S. publishers, like Long Beach Post, to provide and measure reader revenue-focused digital strategies, often testing new tactics. From ad viewability and fill rate optimization to article markup and sitemaps to Google AMP and the optimization of ads, images, and page speed, we’ve documented our findings and are now sharing them more widely.