SODP Dispatch - 7 March 2024

Last Chance to Register: How Can Newsrooms Capitalize on Election Season to Drive Growth | 8 March 2024

2 billion voters in 50 countries are set to go to the polls this year.

This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for publishers to capture new audiences and demonstrate the value of their platforms.

Reserve your seat at our upcoming 1-hour webinar: How can newsrooms capitalize on election season to drive growth.

🗓 8 March 2024
🕚 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST | 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET

You will learn:

✅ Real-world examples showcasing how newsrooms are using innovative storytelling formats
✅ Tactics to increase audience engagement and repeat visitors
✅ Checklist to ensure the digital newsroom is election-ready
✅ Effective paywall strategies to build a direct revenue model

Experiential Marketing Lessons: Q&A with Frank Arthur, Co-Founder of Man of Many

By Vahe Arabian

Founded in 2012 by Scott Purcell and Frank Arthur, Man of Many is an Australian independent digital publication on men’s lifestyle.

Earlier this year, Man of Many partnered up with NBC Universal to create an immersive experience for the premiere of Argylle in Sydney. Featuring a curated guest list of more than 400 attendees, this red-carpet event was a masterclass in experiential marketing, featuring brand partnerships, luxury brand integrations, interactive experiences, and high-profile collaborations.

💡 In this Q&A with Frank Arthur, you will learn:

• How the collaboration reflects a shift towards experiential marketing in the publishing industry

• Man of Many’s innovative approach to event management and audience engagement

• How publishers can diversify their monetization avenues beyond traditional content creation

Community-based entrepreneurs are leading the way in solving the local news crisis

By Dan Kennedy

There is no question that the local news crisis is real and growing. According to the most recent report by the Local News Initiative, based at Northwestern University’s Medill School, nearly 2,900 newspapers, mostly weeklies, have closed since 2005. That’s about a third of the total.

There is an old saying that goes back a dozen years to the earliest days of hyperlocal digital news: Local doesn’t scale. In fact, Dan Kennedy argues, the real solution to the local news crisis needs to come from the bottom up – from folks at the community level who decide to take their news and information needs into their own hands.

💡 In this post, you will learn:

• Examples of community-based entrepreneurs stepping up

• Which communities experience the disappearance of local news outlets the most

By Barry Pollard – Web Performance Developer Advocate on Google Chrome, Google

⚙️ Preparing Your Site for INP

Last week, we hosted WP Publisher Success Week. Day 3 featured a workshop on workflow and website performance. This tip of the week is a summary of the advice Barry Pollard shared with the attendees on Google’s introduction of the INP metric.

On March 12, 2024, Google will replace FID with a new metric called Interaction to Next Paint (INP).

FID has been a part of CWV since its launch. According to recent performance data of the top websites from major CMS platforms, almost all websites are passing FID (above 90%).

Google decided to replace the metric with something more comprehensive. While FID only focuses on input delay for the first interaction on a webpage, the reality is that people often perform a lot more actions on a page after it is loaded.

Instead of looking only at the first interaction, INP also looks at the processing time or subsequent clicks or mouse actions, and any additional presentation delays. It can give a more accurate overview of the general performance of the website.

INP Tips For Non-technical Site Builders

For non-technical site builders, Barry Pollard suggests doing the following to prepare their sites for INP:

• Uninstall any WordPress plugins and tags on your website that are no longer in use.

• Avoid loading fancy widgets and expensive plugins unless absolutely necessary.

• Consider reducing the number of ads to find a balance between monetization and user experience, especially on mobile.

• Try to avoid excessive page sizes for your sites.

Suggested Workflow for Identifying Performance Issues After INP

• Evaluate the site performance with PageSpeed Insights and Google Search Console.

• Get page-level guidance by running a Lighthouse audit.

• Follow it up with a real-time analysis of CWV using the Web Vitals extension.

• Debug performance issues with the Chrome Dev Tools (performance panel)

• Use PageSpeed Insights and Search Console to monitor changes over 3 – 4 weeks.

• CrUX data, which is released on a monthly basis is also a good option.

Google’s March 2024 core update – bigger than before | Search Engine Land

Google is releasing the March 2024 core update and a number of spam updates (aka March 2024 spam update). Also, Google’s helpful content system has been incorporated into its overall core ranking system. In addition, Google announced several new and updated spam policies that it will begin enforcing through automated algorithms and manual actions.
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LinkedIn doubles down on news as social rivals retreat | Axios

LinkedIn alone won't be able to make up for the dramatic reduction in traffic referrals from social media sites to news publishers, but it does offer outlets and journalists a platform to meaningfully grow their audiences amid a broader tech crackdown on news content.
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Threads enables post-scheduling in live API pilot, plans to add analytics capabilities | Search Engine Land

Post scheduling on Threads allows brands and publishers to manage and expand their presence on the app more easily, while analytics provides businesses with more insights into Threads engagement enabling brands to optimize their content more effectively.
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TollBit raises $7 million to solve the AI vs. publisher conflict | Axios

TollBit, co-founded by Toast alumni Olivia Joslin and Toshit Panigrahi, basically lets publishers make their verified content available to AI companies, for a fee. Those fees can be dynamic — based on keyword prompt trends, for example — with TollBit providing both sides with pricing insights.
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