In March ’22, I shared a tweet that gained a lot of interest from people in the WordPress community. So as a follow up to that Twitter conversation, here are my notes to shape and refine what the product could entail. Comments with your insights and feedback are deeply appreciated.
As a side note, sharing this post is me officially “open sourcing the idea.” If you endeavor to build this website I fully support you and look forward to participating as a community member both as a creator and a publisher.
Product Overview
A WordPress PR newswire-type site network of Publishers that cover WordPress topics. Syndicates Creator content submitted by category to interested Publishers.
- For Creators: This group includes both people creating content as well as businesses that create WordPress products and services.
- Creators submit weekly(?) content including title, link, short description, category, and author.
- A directory of Publishers with profile information on what content they accept, topics they cover, how to submit, and what format they want submitted content in.
- For Publishers: This group includes the people aggregating and reporting on WordPress news, features, tutorials, product reviews, and more. Publishers include blogs, podcasts, video channels, and curated newsletters.
- Publishers subscribe to content by category.
- Publishers receive a weekly(?) digest email containing all aggregated and verified content for their selected topics.
- Opt-in to a Directory of Publishers. Populated with their profile information and shown to the Creator members.
- The WordPress Experts Directory:
- A list of credible and verified human beings that can provide insight and commentary on WordPress topics.
- Sources would be tagged by their subject matter expertise and availability for different types of content
- Written content (provide a quote or comment)
- Podcast (with or without video)
- Creates Paid Content On Your Topic
- Webinar
- Live Events
- In-person Speaking oOpportunities
- Twitter Chats and Twitter Spaces
- Other Potential Features:
- A curated list of WordPress Influencers with their contact information to be made available for sending swag, offering free product trials, and other collaborations.
- A curated list of WordPress Publishers that allow guest posting with their unique requirements for accepting content.
Tech Under the Hood
- Use Paid Memberships Pro to handle:
- User registrations
- Profile fields
- Member directories
- Newsletter list join (two list types)
- Email sending member-to-member
- Use Newsletter Glue to handle the newsletter aggregation/digest
- Choose a forms builder plugin to accept submissions for:
- New content to syndicate
- New request for SME collaboration
Inspiration Products
Loosely model the “Quote Request”/SME comments for Creators after https://helpab2bwriter.com/.
The Earliest Loveable Product
The “smallest” version of this is a spreadsheet that gives granular access to Creators and Publishers (tabs for both sides).
- Set up a ConvertKit Landing Page for Publishers to join
- Custom fields for content categories of interest
- Sends data to a Google Sheet via Zapier
- Publishers are added as “View Only” to the sheet
- Set up a ConvertKit Landing Page for Creators to join
- Custom fields for SME topics and opportunity availability.
- Sends data to a Google Sheet via Zapier
- Creators are added as “View Only” to the sheet
- Set up a ConvertKit Landing Page for Creators to submit categorized content.
- Sends data to a Google Sheet via Zapier
- Need an automation that looks at a Google Sheet and pulls in submissions. This might have to be manual weekly.
- Set up a ConvertKit Landing Page for Publishers and Creators to submit request submit categorized content.
- Sends data to a Google Sheet via Zapier
- Need an automation that looks at a Google Sheet and pulls in submissions. This might have to be manual weekly.
Critical Decisions and Questions
- Is this a free service? How would this be monetized?
- What are the community guidelines?
- How do we “approve” members?
- How do we maintain the integrity of the submissions?
- What is high enough quality to be included?
- Who will verify that the content actually aligns with the selected category?
- What day of the week or what frequency would Publishers like to receive their syndicated newswire content?
- What frequency would a Creator like to be sent requests for content collaboration?
