The Weekly Bulletin | November 19, 2024

Hi SODP community,

Let’s recap on what’s been happening, the new content, industry updates, tips, and more.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Successful publishers don’t just have a content creation process. They have also documented their processes, thereby making it easier to ensure quality content and transfer the existing knowledge pool to new staff.

An editorial workflow encompasses the processes that determine how a publication creates, edits, publishes and manages content. While the term “editorial” may conjure up images of writers, sub-editors and editors working to create content, these workflows can affect so many other team members – e.g., content strategists, SEOs, social media teams, production managers, photographers, etc.

Having a streamlined editorial workflow in place is a key step toward helping businesses realize their content strategy goals.

How to Establish and Optimize Editorial Workflows

1. Identify and Document. There are many ways to collect a list of steps and their associated actions. One of the simplest ways is to create a “living” cloud-based document that the whole team can readily access and update. Be patient. The documentation process can be a journey of discovery for the entire team and it is one that should be pursued in granular detail. Start with identifying the overarching phases of the editorial workflow and then delve deeper.
   

2. Ownership. After a process has been documented, the team needs time to fold it into their schedule and then identify gaps in the workflow. This step empowers each team member to work on identifying the shortfalls in their own capabilities, such as time management. Have checklists that the editorial team has to follow. If possible, divide each step into checklists so that the process is clear and there’s a proper handoff between colleagues.
   

3. Feedback. Give the team time to adopt the documented processes, but then schedule a time to secure feedback. It’s not enough to understand where the bottlenecks are, it’s important to understand why they’re appearing. Those responsible for the task can provide valuable insight into fundamental problems and guide the development of practical solutions.
   

4. Opimize. As workflows are documented and adopted, structural problems will slowly begin presenting themselves. This is a good thing. Publishing companies need to find as many “edge cases” as possible before sharing the solutions with the entire team. This will reduce the likelihood of having to create bespoke, siloed solutions in the future.

SEO & LLM's in the Age of AI

On Monday, we kicked off PubTech2024 - the second annual virtual event for digital publishing and news media professionals. The event is spread out across the entire week. We’ve had two amazing sessions. Day 1 was a panel with product and growth experts from The Financial Times, The Economist and Gear Patrol. On Day 2, product and automation specialists from Theorem hosted a workshop.

On Wednesday, we have a panel focused on SEO and LLM’s in the age of AI: emerging opportunities and battles. This session will explore cutting-edge solutions for automating advertising workflows, revenue operations, and data management, enabling businesses to scale effectively while maximizing profitability and freeing up human resources for strategic initiatives.

LEARN MORE

JOB BOARD

➡️ The Times is looking for a head of audience to oversee its editorial strategy to grow, engage and retain audiences across platforms (London, UK). SEE MORE

➡️ Vanity Fair is looking for a creative and innovative media talent to join its audience development, social and analytics team (NYC, NY, US). SEE MORE

➡️ Reach plc is seeking an SEO and trends writer who will work across several South East and East Midlands titles (Remote). SEE MORE

COMMUNITY BUZZ

Industry News

➡️ Google Analytics 4 (GA4) users report data collection issues affecting websites globally, with many experiencing up to 50% drops in reported traffic since November 13. Google has acknowledged the GA4 reporting issues through its Google Ads Status Dashboard. READ MORE

➡️ Beehiiv, a newsletter startup taking aim at Substack, says it's making a "multi-million dollar investment" to create a new "beehiiv Media Collective" of journalists on its platform. READ MORE

Social Media Discussions

➡️ Google Search Central on LinkedIn:

We're removing the Page Experience report in Search Console. That page summarized data from the Core Web Vitals and the HTTPS reports, which will continue to be available as they are.

We decided to remove this page to reduce unnecessary clutter within Search Console and simplify navigating to this information. We still encourage you to focus on providing a good page experience to your readers and monitoring the status of your sites page experience in the CWV and HTTPS reports.

Farewell, Page Experience report 👋 

READ THE FULL POST

These are the highlights for the last week.

Until next!

Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP