We created Trellis for the publisher who is an expert in producing content, but perhaps not technically inclined or interested in committing a lot of time to maintaining the nuts and bolts of a website. We designed Trellis for maximum performance right out of the box with the specific goal of meeting Google’s tough Core Web Vitals standards. All without requiring any technical know-how from content creators.

However, we also know that sometimes a site owner wants a specific look or a special feature and needs help from a developer to create code customizations to achieve that end.

We’re pleased to introduce freelance developer Ralph Cope, who has worked with the Trellis framework on several projects and joins us today to discuss his “under the hood” experiences with Trellis.

Tell us a little about yourself: How long have you been blogging and working with other sites and bloggers?

I have been working with bloggers for about 5 years now. I started as a writer for a fairly large travel blog before transitioning to a more technical role. I learned the ins and out of SEO pretty early on and in the last few years have become quite involved in the more technical side of things, e.g. development, performance optimization, structured data, semantic SEO, etc. 

I am now a freelancer who mostly provides consultations and full website builds to clients — both with the most up-to-date SEO practices in mind, of course.

Where did you first hear about Trellis?

Jackson Groves, owner of Journey Era and a friend of a friend, approached me about switching his site over to a new theme. Being primarily a content creator, Jackson didn’t feel comfortable handling any sort of development-related work and asked for my help. 

Being a Mediavine partner, Jackson had heard about Trellis from his point-of-contact and decided to give it a shot. He shared the documentation with me, and we went to work.

Switching themes and frameworks can be a big decision. What convinced you to try Trellis?

Having received lots of positive feedback, Jackson was pretty adamant about using Trellis. The biggest selling point was the potential boost in website performance and speed it promised. Initial projections pointed to Trellis decreasing load times by around 30% and boosting ad revenue by about the same.

2021 was also a rough year for Journey Era. Between several waves of COVID and a few borderline-cruel Google broad core updates, the site had lost a considerable amount of traffic. If there was ever a time to try something new, such as switching themes, this was it. 

What WordPress themes/frameworks (or CMS) have you worked with before Trellis?

Personally, I have worked with several different themes prior to Trellis, including but not limited to:

• Child themes
• Theme builders e.g. Elementor, Kadence, and Thrive
• Enterprise-level bespoke themes

What technical issues were you hoping to resolve with Trellis?

Mostly site performance and load times. Trellis was marketed as the first theme ever built with Google Core Web Vitals in mind, so it seemed like the logical choice.

That being said, Journey Era was already quite fast before I began working on it. Average page load times were around 785 milliseconds (0.785 seconds) according to initial benchmarks I took, which is a pretty impressive number already. Trellis and I would have our work cut out for us if we were serious about trimming load times.

How easy was it for you to set up Trellis on a website? Did the process go smoothly?

Trellis appears to be a very simple framework but has a lot of complexities under the hood. The way it is coded (the PHP and whatnot) is quite different from any other theme I have used before. Needless to say, there was a bit of learning curve in the beginning. 

At first, Trellis felt quite rigid to work with. There are relatively limited built-in options when it comes to theme customization (compared to other theme builders), which is a decision I imagine the developers of Trellis made intentionally in order to keep it as lightweight as possible. 

This meant I would have to style the site directly using my own HTML and CSS. 

After getting to know it better, I really started to appreciate the Trellis framework more though. Yes, I had to customize almost everything myself — including some special JS and PHP — but once I got my rhythm, I really enjoyed the work. By the end, I actually ended up learning a few new tricks for website development.

Did you do any custom work on the site (e.g., a custom homepage or post layout)? If so, how easy/difficult was it to work within the Trellis environment?

There were a few functions that needed to be built into the new site build using Trellis that unfortunately couldn’t be done using pure CSS or HTML. As such, we had to resort to making a child theme, which is something that I usually like to avoid just from experience. 

Setting up a child theme for Trellis is also a bit of unique case, again mostly due to the way the framework is built. Luckily, Mediavine’s development team was quite helpful when it came to troubleshooting and actually went out of their way to help explain things.

What improvements have you noticed with Trellis? (Site speed, CLS scores, traffic, earnings, etc.)

We built the new site using Trellis first on a staging environment and ran a number of benchmarks to track performance. Once the new site was 100% ready to go, we pushed it to production, let it sit for a week and then ran a final set of benchmarks. All benchmarks were taken using GTMetrix.

Overall, all key performance metrics showed positive movement. First contentful paint, largest contentful paint, time to interactive, and total blocking time* were all improved (meaning less load time) by about 30-40%. Speed index, which roughly translates to total load time, saw marginal improvements but nonetheless improved. 

The real fruits of our labor showed a little while after final benchmarks. Within a month of implementing Trellis and doing a thorough SEO audit of the site, traffic rose by 140% i.e. more than doubled. Ad revenue was also up quite a bit.

* These four metrics (FCP, LCP, TTI, and TBT) are displayed first and foremost when anyone runs a Google Lighthouse test on a given page. Generally speaking, they are good indicators when judging overall page load times.

Would you recommend Trellis to other developers and bloggers? Why or why not?

Yes, I would recommend Trellis to any blogger or developer who was looking for a lightweight theme/framework for their site. Despite the learning curve, Trellis proved to be a good performer and return on investment. 

I will say though that I can only recommend Trellis at the moment to content creators. Whilst it does a good job of handling and rendering blog content optimally, I don’t know if or how it could be used for more complex websites, like e-commerce.

What advice would you have for someone preparing to move to Trellis?

If you plan on developing a custom site in Trellis, you need to be competent at least in HTML and CSS. JS and PHP are also a plus. 

You could get away with creating a website using just the customization options provided by Trellis but you will be limited in what you can do. If you really want to get the most out of this framework and have total creative control of the frontend, you need to be able to style and build everything yourself to a certain extent.

If you haven’t already discovered it yet, I highly recommend using Chrome DevTools for dev work. This was a godsend for me when I first got into development and really opened my eyes to a lot of technical know-how. I still use it on a daily basis and certainly when I was working with Trellis.

What is your favorite feature of Trellis?

I like how the developers of Trellis did their best to incorporate as many speed optimizations as possible into Trellis itself, thus removing the need to install additional plugins. CSS/JS minimization, image lazy loading, and code injections are all handled by Trellis, which means I don’t need to use plugins like Autoptimize, Code Snippets, or Asset CleanUp. 

That being said, I still do use WPRocket as a caching plugin, as its one of the best of its kind IMO. I just make sure to turn off its handling of CSS, HTML and JS optimizations so that it doesn’t conflict with Trellis’ own features. 

Any other comments about your experience?

For content creators who are looking to streamline their site and maybe learn a thing or two about web development, Trellis is a great option. It doesn’t have as many features as other theme builders out there, but that’s probably a good thing. It’s a lot faster that way and will require you to think critically about what you really want include on your blog or site.

Thanks, Ralph, for chatting with us today. We’re so pleased that Trellis is helping you help your clients achieve their business goals!

We’re really proud of the results that Trellis has produced, and our team is committed to improving and enhancing this framework to continue to serve content creators and their business goals. Learn more about Trellis, and if you’d like to read more testimonials, check out our other Case Studies.

The post Ralph Cope Interview: Trellis Case Study appeared first on Mediavine.

This series features interviews with bloggers just like you who want to maximize site performance and crush the all-important Core Web Vitals scores without having advanced technical skills or the hassle of constant testing and site edits. They turned to Trellis to get it all done.

Today we’re welcoming Libby Hakim of Cooking with Nana Ling, who’s been running Trellis on her food blog for almost a year now.

How long have you been blogging? What made you want to start a blog?

I’ve been blogging for nearly 4 years. I’d wanted to start a blog for several years before I actually began. I love writing and creating and was amazed by stories of people who actually earned a living from blogging.

I was a lawyer at the time and would spend my lunch hour listening to podcasts about blogging and dreaming about leaving my job to be a blogger.

Tell us about your blog and its niche.

My blog is a recipe blog and my niche is summed up nicely in my tagline: “Classic Australian recipes served up with a side of nostalgia.” It took me a few years to settle on an idea for a blog. I was initially going to start a parenting or career blog. However, I was inspired to create the recipe blog by my great grandmother’s recipe collection, which I’d inherited a few years earlier.

The collection contains her handwritten recipes from the 1930s and thousands of others that she collected from newspapers and supplements. I posted a copy of her handwritten recipe for Christmas pudding (and photos of my attempt to recreate it) to Instagram and it got a great reaction from people.

Things finally fell into place, and I realised a recipe blog would be perfect as I also love cooking and wanted to start doing more home cooking.

Where did you first hear about Trellis?

After joining Mediavine. I was using Divi, which isn’t great for speed, and was on the lookout for something that was still easy to use but not as clunky.

How long have you had Trellis on your site now?

Since April 2021.

Switching themes and frameworks can be a big decision. What convinced you to make the switch to Trellis?

I was really desperate to get away from Divi with the Google Core Web Vitals changes. Nothing I was doing (or I was paying developers to do) would make much difference to speed. I knew I had to change. I’d been with Mediavine for a little over a year and the whole experience had been fabulous. I was always helped and supported by Mediavine and so I trusted that the Trellis framework would also be a good decision. I’d also read good and honest reviews on the Trellis Facebook group so I felt confident any issues could be resolved with the support of Mediavine and the group.

What issues were you hoping to resolve with Trellis?

I wanted something that was less clunky than Divi and was already optimised for speed. And also something I could easily do myself, as I enjoy looking after all aspects of the blog myself.

How easy was it for you to set up Trellis on your website? Did the process go smoothly?

I ended up doing it myself as I didn’t want to wait for help. And I also just generally like the control of doing things myself on my blog. I have no tech background (I was a lawyer) and have just taught myself WordPress. I was a little overwhelmed but I still managed to set it up and even build myself a static homepage. If I had any little issue I could usually find a fix had been discussed in the Facebook group.

What improvements have you noticed with Trellis? (Site speed, CLS scores, traffic, earnings, etc.)

CLS scores and speed have improved a lot. I also think my blog looks cleaner and is more user friendly. My traffic and earnings have also been building steadily.

Would you recommend Trellis to other bloggers? Why or why not?

Absolutely! I love the simplicity and clean look. I have managed the switch and building a homepage myself (without having a tech background). I find it easy to update my blog. I’m passing Core Web Vitals without any help from a developer. I feel supported and confident that the framework will only get better with each update.

What advice would you have for someone preparing to move to Trellis?

If you’re using a theme like Divi, there will be some work involved in removing all the code that is part of Divi as you switch over. But it can be done and is totally worth the effort. I’d say to not get overwhelmed but to take things one step at a time and you’ll get there and be so happy you made the switch.

What is your favorite feature of Trellis?

I couldn’t single out one thing — I just love it because it’s easy to use, lets my blog perform well (without having to make adjustments and spend money with a developer) and because it’s part of Mediavine and comes with great support.

Any other comments about your experience?

I’m just so happy I made the switch and can now focus on creating great content and growing my blog rather than constantly feeling pulled back by a slow theme.

Thanks, Libby, for chatting with us today. We’re so pleased that Trellis is helping your online business succeed!

We’re really proud of the results that Trellis has produced, and our team is committed to improving and enhancing this framework to continue to serve content creators and their business goals. Learn more about Trellis, and if you’d like to read more testimonials, check out our other Case Studies.

The post Libby Hakim Interview: Trellis Case Study appeared first on Mediavine.

If you’re new to us (hi!), Trellis is our award-winning WordPress theme framework developed to help content creators solve the stubborn technical challenges that have burdened WordPress users for ages, including site speed and now Google’s Core Web Vitals.

Since Trellis was launched to the public last year, over a thousand WordPress users have installed it on their sites and are enjoying performance improvements that positively impact their businesses.

Over 80% of sites running Trellis are passing Core Web Vitals with many seeing dramatic increases in both sessions and revenue.

If you’re considering switching themes this year, you’ll appreciate hearing from some of your fellow publishers who have already made the move to Trellis.

To that end, we’re pleased to introduce Maartje Hensen of Once Upon a Journey as part of our ongoing series of Trellis Case Studies to share her thoughts and experiences.

How long have you been blogging? What made you want to start a blog?

Five years — I had a small blog when I did a study abroad in 2015, and when I went on a world trip with my girlfriend in 2017, I wanted to start a more “serious” travel blog.

Tell us about your blog and its niche

I run the blog with my girlfriend and onceuponajrny.com has grown to be one of the largest LGBTQ+ lifestyle and travel blogs in the world.

Where did you first hear about Trellis?

In the Mediavine Facebook group!

How long have you had Trellis on your site now?

Nearly a year.

Switching themes and frameworks can be a big decision. What convinced you to make the switch to Trellis?

Site speed and Core Web Vitals!

What WordPress theme (or CMS) did you use before Trellis?

It was something by developer “theme ruby” — I think it was called “Look.” I got it from Themeforest, as it looked nice.

What issues were you hoping to resolve with Trellis?

Site speed. Core Web Vitals.

How easy was it for you to set up Trellis on your website? Did the process go smoothly?

Very easy! Totally smooth. Got some great help with some customization questions too.

What improvements have you noticed with Trellis? (Site speed, CLS scores, traffic, earnings, etc.)

Everything. Site speed first and foremost, passing CWV. That made me excited to make the website better and better, and then my traffic and earnings went up.

Would you recommend Trellis to other bloggers? Why or why not?

Yeah. It’s great for speed. And although it’s not super customizable by itself, with Gutenberg blocks you can create custom pages and everything.

What advice would you have for someone preparing to move to Trellis?

Definitely make sure to convert pages with page builders or theme builders and stuff to normal WordPress pages. Try to think before moving about the customizations you will lose and how you’ll replace them in Trellis.

What is your favorite feature of Trellis?

Speed, looks clean.

Thanks, Maartje, for chatting with us today. We’re so pleased that Trellis is helping your online business succeed!

We’re really proud of the results that Trellis has produced, and our team is committed to improving and enhancing this framework to continue to serve content creators and their business goals. Learn more about Trellis, and if you’d like to read more testimonials, check out our other Case Studies.

The post Maartje Hensen Interview: Trellis Case Study appeared first on Mediavine.

But what gets us even more excited — always — is seeing the ways our Mediavine publishers find success for themselves and their websites with any of our products, like Create or Grow.

So today, we’re thrilled to welcome Sarah Auerswald of MomsLA to the Mediavine Blog to share another Trellis case study with us.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and your everyday life.

I moved to Los Angeles to work in the movie industry, fell in love with the place and the man who became my husband and have been here for 30 years. We live not too far from Venice Beach, although we don’t get there as often as we should for being this close.

Our two sons are both seniors right now — one in college and one in high school.

When I became a Mom I wanted to work a more flexible job, and thank goodness someone invented the Internet and blogging because after working on a few other business ideas before that, I found the right fit for me and my family.

When I’m not working, I love to learn about how other people run businesses, so I spend a fair amount of time doing that. I have been known to over-volunteer and was PTA President at my kids’ schools for way too many years. I founded and help run a local Chamber of Commerce because I think it’s great to support local businesses.

My hobbies include sewing, watching food shows on Netflix, trying to get my 17-year-old to talk to me and, prior to 2020, I spent a lot of time talking to humans in person. I hope to do that again someday.

How long have you been blogging? How did you get started blogging?

I started blogging regularly in 2008 with my baby site MarVistaMom.com which is all about my neighborhood where I’ve lived for 24 years. (And is still going, FYI.) I was inspired to start by a friend who had started one while she was traveling. She opened my eyes to the possibilities and I was hooked.

Once I got my feet wet doing that site, I was asked to join a group site — the LA Moms Blog — which was part of a network of sites all across the country managed by Silicon Valley Moms Group, and it was off to the races. Mom Bloggers were HOT and we got a lot of perks.

They ceased operations of the group suddenly in 2010, and my partner and I decided on the spur of the moment to form a new Mom Blogger group for Los Angeles on our own. MomsLA was born. But just like before, we had to figure out what people really wanted, sometimes the hard way. We have published over 2000 blog posts over the years, but it turned out that most of them were essays about motherhood that, by 2015, were no longer resonating with readers. Parents in LA wanted lists of summer camps, things to do with kids this weekend, where to get kids’ haircuts, or where the best playgrounds are, and other super-practical information — at least, that’s what they wanted from MomsLA — so we’ve adapted our content to fit.

How long have you had Trellis?

Since June 2020.

What theme/website setup did you have before Trellis?

A custom child theme built by our coder.

Was it difficult to switch to Trellis?

I felt it went very smoothly. And every question I had was answered right away by the Support team. That was great!

What would you tell anyone who is moving to Trellis to help them have a smooth transition?

Get your ducks in a row ahead of time. Do a plugin audit. If you don’t need any, get rid of them. And maybe hold off on publishing content for the couple of days prior to the switch.

Be sure you have site backups, and maybe go so far as to have backups of the last 10 posts in a Google doc or on your computer just in case.

Try not to have anything scheduled for publishing at a later date. Leave them all as drafts.

And keep trellis@mediavine.com ready in your address book!

What improvement have you seen in your pagespeed with Trellis?

Our pagespeed scores doubled immediately, going from 43 to 96. That was amazing! I will say a recent check has us not quite at that high point, so I need to dig in and find the reason.

Do you think Trellis has helped with your SEO? If so, how?

The pagespeed alone has had to have made a huge difference, but the font size and page layout is also important and they are so beautiful and easy to read now.

What excited you most about being part of the Trellis beta?

I really wanted to get in on the ground floor of the new theme for pagespeed improvements and ad optimization — and honestly, I’d forgotten I’d even applied (it had been so long)! So when I got the email saying we were in, I was thrilled!

Another big reason I wanted in was the site needed a facelift (we do live in Los Angeles, after all), and the Trellis theme gave us that. It’s so pretty!

Clean lines, legible fonts and I love the homepage with the circular elements for featured images. Even though I know not as many people actually go to the homepage, I still love it!

Would you recommend Trellis to other bloggers? Why or why not?

Yes! It has been an overall positive experience for us — pagespeed improvements, ad optimization and for us, a pretty, new site.

What is your favorite feature of Trellis? What do you like about the Bamboo theme?

Pagespeed! (And it’s pretty!)

The post Sarah Auerswald Interview: Trellis Case Study appeared first on Mediavine.

They impress us because instead of giving up, they worked hard, listened to their audience, stayed visible, updated old content and created new posts — while still sharing their expertise and skills to help others learn and grow.

Similar to our Publisher Interview series, Traffic Case Study and Trellis Case Studies, our Content During Covid series also shares success stories of how our MVPs started their blogs, their best posts, top traffic sources, plus how Mediavine has helped shape their businesses and lives for the better.

The difference with this series is that it focuses on how our over 7,600 and constantly growing list of publishers keep adjusting their strategy during Covid to create content that’s helpful and relevant, all while increasing their traffic.

Join us for our interview with Amanda of A Dangerous Business, a site all about showing people how to fit more travel and adventure into the lifestyle they already have.

We’re excited to have Amanda on the blog, so please say hello and learn how her goal of wanting to share about global destinations and bucket list-style trips, to show people how they can realistically replicate these adventures themselves, helped her achieve the goal of increasing her revenue.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and your everyday life.

I’m a full-time travel blogger who calls Cleveland, Ohio home. Since I am not traveling at the moment, I’ve had to tap into all my non-work hobbies as much as possible.

These include binging all sorts of things on Netflix, Hulu and Disney+, going on walks with my husband, trying to find spaces to do yoga, reading, eating lots of cookies and obviously dreaming about the day we’ll be able to travel again.

How did you get started blogging?

I started my main blog, A Dangerous Business, as a hobby back in 2010. At the time I was working full-time as a copy editor at a small newspaper, and I was just looking for a place to write as a creative outlet.

The blog organically grew fairly quickly, and it was my full-time job by the end of 2015. I was just as surprised as anyone and continue to be humbled by my good fortune at being able to turn my passion into a career.

How long have you been a Mediavine publisher? How did you first hear about us? What drew you to Mediavine as a partner for display advertising?

I joined Mediavine in April 2017. I had some blogger friends who were also joining, and I was tired of not making a lot of ad revenue using other methods.

My second site, a niche travel site called Cleveland Traveler, qualified for Mediavine back in December 2019. It’s been so exciting to see my business grow, and a lot of that is thanks to Mediavine!

Describe your experience with Mediavine. What do you love about working with us?

Mediavine genuinely cares about the success of its publishers. Not just in terms of how much money they make, but also in a broader sense.

I feel like the Mediavine team really cares about me as a person, and about providing me with tools and resources that help in so many aspects of my business.

When people ask me why I like Mediavine so much, I never talk to them about RPMs, fill rates or anything you’d normally expect to talk about in regards to an ad network.

Instead, I share about the awesome Publisher Support team members I know, the free educational resources and videos, as well as the warm, fuzzy feeling I get from being part of this network.

Joining Mediavine is one of the best decisions I ever made for my business!

How has your content strategy changed since COVID-19?

Well, as someone who usually writes 100% about travel, you can imagine that it’s been a bit of a struggle! Luckily, with 10 years of content under my belt, I’ve been able to identify certain types of posts that some people are still looking for now.

People aren’t searching for road trip itineraries or city guides in the numbers they normally would be, but they’re still interested in reading interesting facts about different parts of the world, looking at beautiful photos and thinking about how they can scratch that travel itch from home.

I haven’t been publishing as much as I normally do, and I’ve stopped writing detailed travel guides for the time being. On social media I also promote more aspirational posts and use messaging that suggests my content is to be used for inspiration — once people start traveling again.

What new content have you specifically created for this time?

I’ve tried to branch out into content that is relevant now, but that I might be able to tweak later so it can still be evergreen and relevant to my site.

On A Dangerous Business, I’ve published posts about travel activities you can do at home and how people can support the travel industry even when they can’t travel.

I think the most fun project though, has been the “Drinking Around the World Around the House” series my husband and I did. We chose 7 cocktails connected to the 7 continents, and made them in 7 different rooms in our house. We put the series up on Instagram Stories first and it was so popular that I turned it into a blog post — with recipe cards and everything.

On Cleveland Traveler, I’ve been using this time to publish more informational content about the city like fun facts, movies filmed in Cleveland, Cleveland gifts you can buy, etc.

What existing content is doing well right now? Have you updated it in light of the pandemic?

On my main site, I have a couple “fun facts” posts that are still performing well in search, so I wrote new ones like this one about Scotland fun facts.

I also updated a post about working remotely to include some tips for working from home.

Otherwise, the content that is still performing okay has just been left as-is. People are still searching for some US destinations and finding some of my content on Pinterest.

How are you engaging with your audience during this time?

I’m still using social media almost like normal. The types of content I’m sharing are slightly different.

I’m doing “Armchair Travel” features on my A Dangerous Business Facebook page for example, and sharing more cat and cocktail content on my Instagram Stories.

I’ve definitely noticed that people are still online, and MOST of them want to hear from me while they dream about travel now, so that’s at least been encouraging.

What is your biggest traffic source and what strategies have you used to make that your top traffic source?

My biggest traffic source is Google, and SEO has been my top strategy, although I’m not especially obsessive about keyword research.

I’m lucky that the age and authority of my domain usually give me a boost when I publish new content.

Do you have any advice for bloggers on how to pivot their content during this time to try and grow their traffic?

I guess the main advice I have to give is don’t force it. Dig into your analytics and see if what types of content people are still searching for and reading. If you’re able to create more content like that, great, if not don’t force it.

I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend writing content that’s completely outside of your normal niche or area(s) of expertise. It will be confusing to Google in the long run, and also may be confusing to your current readers.

If you want to share different types of content during quarantine, I recommend trying it out on social media first to see how your audience responds.

Even though this may be a challenging time for a lot of publishers, it’s actually a great opportunity to get to know your readers on a more personal level. A lot of people really WANT to talk right now, so encourage conversations and ask them questions. Find out what they want and need.

Maybe you’ll come up with an entirely new content idea, or perhaps even a whole new income stream!

The last thing I want to say is that it’s also okay if you’re NOT being super productive during this time. I’ve struggled a lot with motivation, and with comparing myself to others who are pivoting their entire businesses throughout all of this.

I couldn’t motivate myself to do things that didn’t feel authentic to me, whether that was writing new types of content I wasn’t excited about or trying to come up with ideas for new income streams.

At the end of the day, I have to just let myself do what I know and that’s to write and talk honestly about travel.

The post Amanda Williams Interview: Content During COVID appeared first on Mediavine.

What we don’t talk about enough — and publishers may not even realize — is that in addition to building up your first-party data, Grow can help you increase your earnings today.

We know this because we’ve seen it on Mediavine’s owned and operated site, The Hollywood Gossip, where Grow is driving more traffic and making THG more revenue right here in the third-party cookie era.

Below, we’ll tell you how we did it and how you can do it — complete with a cool Google Analytics Dashboard link so you can follow along at home and model this on your own site.

What is Grow?

Grow is a toolkit that provides a value exchange — a series of ways for websites to encourage readers to log in and consent to the website collecting first-party data in return for a better user experience.

Mediavine sees the collection of first-party data — and the ability to serve personalized ads in a cookie-less world — as the path forward for our industry which is why we created Grow.

Here’s the thing though: The same features which provide a superior experience and encourage audiences to log in also drive traffic and revenue. Today, tomorrow, next month and next year.

We’ve seen it happen with The Hollywood Gossip, thanks to an aspect of Grow that might seem familiar to internet — and Netflix — users.

Content Recommendation

One of the coolest features of Grow is its content recommendation feature, powered by artificial intelligence algorithms.

On a basic level, it’s not unlike the algorithms all your beloved streaming apps use when curating “Recommended For Eric” content.

If a user logs in, they’ll receive personal recommendations based on things they’ve read, shared and favorited on your website.

Meanwhile, logged-out users will receive recommendations based on what other users have clicked on and the content they’re browsing.

Again, think Netflix.

As a celebrity gossip site in an era where there are more actors, singers and reality stars than an individual reader could possibly know, manual content recommendation just doesn’t work.

Machine learning, however, is working freakishly well.

Whether you’re reading about Tom Hanks, Kim Kardashian or a Z-list celebrity in air quotes, Grow instantly finds and recommends related content on THG that other users are clicking on.

We’re seeing a 2-4% CTR (click-through rate) whenever an inline content recommendation is shown. What’s more impressive is The Hollywood Gossip uses infinite scroll and auto-loads the next post, which means (currently) only the first page gets content recommendations.

These numbers are only going to improve as we continue to roll out new features for Grow. Even with those limitations, what does a 2-4% CTR actually mean for a publisher’s traffic?

The Hollywood Gossip Results

Combined with carousel and sidebar recommendations, social, search and bookmarks, Grow has already provided an additional 5.1% pageviews to The Hollywood Gossip since enabling Grow.

Although that is a lot of pageviews at THG’s size — and a big improvement over other recommended content options — the most amazing part of Grow’s impact is the value of those views.

The increase in time on site, or session duration from Grow traffic, is how we’re defining value in this case.

The average user on The Hollywood Gossip spends 1:45 on site, according to Google Analytics. Not bad, but users who interacted with any Grow widgets spend an average of 4:38!

That’s an astonishing 164.25% more time on site! Either 90 Day Fiance is really that compelling or machine learning knows what it’s doing.

But seriously, folks: Whatever your content is about, longer sessions from readers browsing that content means — you guessed it — more ads viewed and increased RPM per session as a result.

When you’re talking about a site earning millions per year in THG’s case, that means hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra views.

But no matter the size of your audience, such robust increases in session duration and CTR can make a material difference immediately.

Measuring Grow Success

Grow doesn’t have its own Dashboard (yet), but for now you can use Google Analytics to measure how your website benefits from it.

By default, as users interact with your website through Grow, it will automatically output Google Analytics Events.

Events include when users click on recommended content, as well as when they share, favorite and search your content.

It will also append UTM tracking codes for Bookmarks so you’ll see Grow as a traffic referral source when users click through to a second pageview.

We know that Google Analytics may feel confusing, even intimidating to dive into, so we’ve created the following Google Analytics Shared Dashboard to help you track your site’s performance.

To install it, just click the link above, select the Google Analytics view you usually use and name your Dashboard.

Once you do this, it will be saved on the left hand side under Dashboards for you to access any time. Simple as that.

Our hope is that this Google Analytics Dashboard will help you see the events Grow (f.k.a. Grow.me) is producing, as well as the traffic it’s providing.

Using these charts, you can quickly observe the increase in traffic and the impact on session duration as we discussed above.

Get Started With Grow!

We’re not going to beg or guilt you but seriously — just do it okay? Please? You’re all out of excuses NOT to grow your site with Grow.

Did we mention Grow is free for Mediavine publishers, including the content recommendation feature we just described in all its glory?

Not only will you get a head start in collecting first-party data, which will be incredibly important in the coming year(s), but it can also lead to more pageviews, user engagement and revenue immediately.

It will be worth your while now and down the road.

As always, please reach out to us anytime with questions or if you need assistance.

The post How Grow Helped The Hollywood Gossip Make $100,000. Already. appeared first on Mediavine.

The core Trellis theme launched back in March, and at the end of October we announced that the Trellis beta was officially open. Over 1,600 sites, in pretty much every niche, are now running the Trellis framework. (Update: the Trellis theme is now live and available for all WordPress users!)

All of our users across the board have seen improvements in pagespeed and overall performance after switching to Trellis.

Similar to our Publisher Interview series, Content During Covid series and our Growing With Mediavine Traffic Case Study, our Trellis Case Studies also share success stories of how our MVPs started their blogs, plus how Mediavine has helped shape their businesses and lives for the better.

The difference with this series is that it focuses on the transition to Trellis: Site improvements, traffic increases, favorite features and recommendations to other bloggers about whether the switch was worth it.

Join us for our interview with Shashi of Savory Spin, a site all about recipes that are easy-to-make, healthy-ish and tasty. She’s a huge proponent of “a little spice is always nice” and passionately incorporates that motto into her eats and treats.

We’re excited to have Shashi on the blog, so please say hello and learn how Trellis has helped her have a lightweight site with less plugins, more sessions and an increase in income.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and your everyday life.

Currently, I am in the midst of moving from Athens, GA to Covington, GA (also known as the Hollywood of the South) with my daughter and our two older fur babies. This is our 3rd move in 4 years and I think the dogs are done with my flighty ways.

I am also in the middle of trying to switch up my full-time gig — which, currently, is working as a graphic designer for a small company in Athens. I have been mulling around the thought of taking the plunge and going back to blogging full-time, or getting a more meaningful job in Atlanta.

Lots to think about, which I get to forget when I’m indulging in the things I love —like cooking, puttering around the yard, trading chilies with my neighbors, messing with my dogs, hanging with my daughter and working out.

How long have you been blogging and how did you get started?

I have been blogging since June of 2013 — which means I’ve had this side hustle for about 7 years. I am incredibly passionate about tasty food as medicine and the blog is my outlet for that.

I actually started my blog because of my daughter. She wanted me to do a book of recipes, but a book seemed so tedious, so I figured I’d start a little online food journal that she could refer to in years to come. Well, God intervened and lead me to Mediavine for my fantastic side hustle with full-time pay!

I joined Food Fanatic in September of 2014, then hopped onto Mediavine in August of 2015.

Hands down, Mediavine has been one of the best things that happened to my blog. The ad revenue is fantastic, but being a publisher with a company that cares so much about its employees and for its publishers, well, that has been such an honor!

Even in the time of ‘rona, when ad spend was plummeting, my earnings didn’t. This was due to a lot of the positive actions Mediavine took and continues to take.

One of those changes for me personally, was being accepted into the beta program for Trellis.

How long have you had Trellis?

I have had the Trellis framework since the beginning of July. I am on the Bamboo theme.

Was it difficult to switch to Trellis?

From my standpoint, switching was easy and sweet. Just like eating a chocolate cupcake! (Please excuse the food pun #badfoodbloggerjokes.)

What would you tell anyone who is moving to Trellis to help them have a smooth transition?

Work closely with your host. Agathon is my host and they were fantastic in handling a few issues, while also fielding all my off-the-wall questions.

Before Trellis, when I had my site on the Foodie Pro with Feast theme, I was fixed on the need for a fantastic landing page. I thought my landing page was banging, but then I learned that people aren’t coming to my site for the landing page — they’re coming for the GF pancakes, salmon and other foods.

So, my best advice is to be open to suggestions by experts because they really do help.

What improvement have you seen in your pagespeed with Trellis?

I have seen growth in my GPSI scores from the 70s all the way up to the 90s.

My pages also load a good amount faster.

How has your revenue grown since moving to Trellis?

Since Trellis, my sessions and viewability have increased, which has led to a nice, consistent rise in revenue.

Each month has been higher than the last since I got accepted into the Trellis beta program.

Do you think Trellis has helped with your SEO? If so, how?

Yes, I think it has. More sessions and increased speed seem to support that, which is a definite benefit of Trellis, from what I learned during some of the Teal Talk and Theory of Content episodes.

What excited you most about being part of the Trellis beta?

I struggled with pagespeed as well as overall design, since the Genesis framework was hard for me to decipher. I was using plugins and pieces of code (not very effectively) to get results that appealed to me, but ultimately slowed things down.

I hoped to get in on the Trellis beta program because of all the reports I read, and was on the verge of giving up to have Feast do a redesign instead.

That’s when I got the Trellis beta acceptance! To say I was excited would be an understatement. I could not wait to get out from under the Genesis framework onto Trellis.

From joining Mediavine to adding Create, Grow and then Grow.me, Mediavine has consistently put out products that have helped my little blog grow — and Trellis is no different!

Would you recommend Trellis to other bloggers? Why or why not?

Yes, I would recommend Trellis to other bloggers — 200%!

If you are after a lightweight theme that delivers more sessions and viewability, then Trellis is hard to beat!

What is your favorite feature of Trellis?

I love that Trellis is so lightweight and gives my site a much needed speed boost.

Right after the install, my daughter asked me what I did differently, as she noticed that my site was loading faster.

The post Shashi Charles Interview: Trellis Case Study appeared first on Mediavine.

Back in March we first launched the core Trellis theme on an external site, and since then the Trellis Beta Program has been going strong. Over 1,600 sites, in pretty much every niche, now run the Trellis framework. (Update: the Trellis theme is now available to all WordPress users!)

We love celebrating our publishers for their hard work, and constant pursuit of ways they can implement new things to help increase their site’s traffic and revenue — all while sharing their expertise and knowledge to help others learn and grow.

Similar to our Publisher Interview series, Content During Covid series and our Traffic Case Study, our Trellis Case Studies will also share success stories of how our MVPs started their blogs, plus how Mediavine has helped shape their businesses and lives for the better.

The difference with this series is that it focuses on the transition to Trellis, site improvements, traffic increases, favorite feature and their recommendation to other bloggers about whether or not they should make the switch.

Join us for our interview with Brittany of by Brittany Goldwyn, a site all about modern DIY and crafting, with a side of gardening. Brittany strives to inspire her audience with ways to infuse creativity into everyday life.

We’re excited to have Brittany on the blog, so let’s get started and learn how Trellis has helped her site look better, run faster and ultimately increased her income.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and your everyday life.

I live in Frederick, Maryland with my husband Mike, our daughter Ramona and our two perfect kitties Henry and Blanche. I have a day job and blog part-time, so when I’m not working or spending time with my family, you can usually find me blogging.

I love blogging because it has been a way for me to grow creatively and connect with others (the extra money is nice too!).

Ad revenue is also important for me because my day job and family take priority, so the passive nature of Mediavine revenue means that I can bring in money via the blog without being totally hands on all the time.

How long have you been blogging and how did you get started?

I’ve been blogging for about 5 years now. I started blogging a few years after finishing grad school. I got back into photography as a hobby, then decided to start a blog as a creative outlet and a way to distract myself from my day job, which I was very unhappy in at the time.

That blog morphed slowly into what it is now, about a year ago or so and it looks largely the same, except my photography and writing have definitely improved!

How long have you had Trellis? What theme/website setup did you have before Trellis?

I got Trellis on my site around March/April of this year.

Before that I had the Genesis Foodie Pro theme.

Was it difficult to switch to Trellis?

No, not at all. There were some changes I had to make to the site, but I appreciated Mediavine advising me about why they were recommended, compared to what I had before.

What would you tell anyone who is moving to Trellis to help them have a smooth transition?

Be open to doing things a bit differently, while knowing that if it doesn’t work out you can always go back.

For example, before I had less of a pure “blog-like” setup and I had a homepage with different categories and what not. Under Trellis, I now have my latest post at the top and then a list of my most recent posts with a blurb and an image.

At first I was a bit resistant to this idea because I liked the idea of a project gallery as my main page. I decided to try this out though and it’s been great. I like the more streamlined look and approach.

What improvement have you seen in your pagespeed with Trellis?

Before switching over to Trellis my pagespeed was in the high 60’s.

Now my site’s pagespeed is comfortably in the low to mid 90’s. I can definitely tell that my site is a lot faster, thanks to this average increase of 26 points.

How has your revenue grown since moving to Trellis?

I can tell you that my viewability, impressions per session and sessions have all gone up, as compared to the period before having Trellis on my site.

What excited you most about being part of the Trellis beta?

I have a lot of trust in the products Mediavine creates, so I knew that it would be great.

I was also excited about shedding some of the dead weight from my blog, like plugins and other things that were slowing the site down because Trellis had it covered.

Would you recommend Trellis to other bloggers? Why or why not?

Yes, I have been extremely happy with Trellis. My site looks better, is faster and is making more money.

But most of all, I like knowing that Mediavine is behind the product.

What is your favorite feature of Trellis?

My favorite feature of Trellis is how minimalist the theme looks. It fits perfectly with my brand. Even though I have seen some of the child themes and they are lovely too, I prefer the super simple and streamlined look.

I also like that if I have any issues I can contact Mediavine, and know that someone will get back to me quickly and with a helpful response!

The post Brittany Goldwyn Merth Interview: Trellis Case Study appeared first on Mediavine.

Instead of giving up during these challenging times, they’ve doubled down. They worked on improving their content, staying visible and continued their focus on growing their traffic and more — all while sharing their expertise to help others learn and grow. 

The post Sugar Spun Run Traffic Case Study: Growing With Mediavine appeared first on Mediavine.

Instead of giving up during these unprecedented times, they doubled down, listened to their audience, stayed visible, updated old posts and created new content — all while using their expertise to help others learn and grow.

(more…)

The post Sarah Maker Interview: Content During COVID appeared first on Mediavine.