WordCamp Sacramento Speaker Interview With Benjamin Ilfeld

Ben Ilfeld

10up.com | @benilfeld

Ben is Lead Audience & Revenue Strategist at 10up, a full service digital agency focused on creating amazing web and content management experiences with a passionate team of 135+ full-time strategists, designers and engineers working around the globe.

Ben has 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur, publisher and innovator, that make him well suited to 10up’s monetization, content conversion, and ad ops business. He has led product development, analysis and iterative design processes, while overseeing all business operations at The Sacramento Press and AdGlue. Ben has consistently stepped over the edge to experiment with new models for creating healthy media ecosystems.

In 2008, Ben launched The Sacramento Press as a new breed of local publication dedicated to rethinking how media interacts with a local audience. In just a few years, his team built an army of over 1,500 volunteer community contributors. During this time, Ben built the first independent online local ad network (SLOAN) that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for over 60 publishers. He was also a founding board member of the Local Independent Online News publishers (LION).

WordCamp Session Title

Transform Analytics

Why Is This Important?

Measurable goals are key to understanding growth and opportunities. I’d love to help others develop that measurement plan and then implement it.

How Did You Discover WordPress?

After building a custom CMS from scratch, we migrated to WordPress in order to sell The Sacramento Press.

How Do You Use WordPress?

Believe it or not, I now work for 10up.com, the company we hired to migrate The Sacramento Press! I now help others achieve their business goals. I specialize in online media using WordPress.

How Has WordPress Impacted You?

WordPress changed how I valued my own skills. I once believed that building a product and owning the entire technology stack was the key to success in “new media.” Now WordPress, a flexible, robust and open source CMS, enables me to focus my efforts on building better business models for media.

What Do You Do When Not Working?

I love winter sports, so this has been a great year. 🙂

What Is Your Favorite Candy?

Milky Way Dark.

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