Local news / community publishing / tourism · Portfolio example
Sheboygan Life: Local Publishing Platform
Local publishing, weather, related-content tools and newsletter integration connect the website with its community and returning readers.
Work directly with Brian Bateman in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Serving businesses locally and nationwide.
The challenge
Build and maintain a useful local website that can support news, events, local weather, visitor information, community categories, search visibility, and repeat engagement without requiring a large newsroom or marketing staff — and without allowing automation to run without publisher oversight.
The solution
DOYJO developed the site structure, local content organization, weather and alert presentation, category paths, community sections, and publishing workflows needed to keep the site useful for residents, visitors, and search engines. The broader publishing system uses DOYJO Topic Writer-style workflows that read source material, authenticate, look for corroboration, check facts and signals, and evaluate drafts like an editor before content is published or reviewed by a human.
Current website view
The current desktop homepage combines local photography, community category paths, the question interface and dated Sheboygan news cards. It shows the publishing and discovery system in active use on October 16.
Advertising and loading refinements
We changed the main news feed to a stable grid, improved stylesheet and font delivery, corrected navigation timing and stopped automatic movement in the homepage photo carousel. Readers can still move through the photos with its controls.
The homepage now uses labelled promotions for DOYJO properties in its display placements. Paid advertising remains available on content pages. This reduces disruptive homepage advertising while keeping useful promotional space.
A steadier local news experience
We reduced optional scripts and repeated styles, stabilized the news layout, and restored the original photo carousel and its controls, with stable dimensions before initialization. The original photos and lightbox remain available.
Design and functionality review — October 17, 2026
We restored the original photo carousel, arrows, pagination and lightbox instead of the temporary replacement strip. Its initial dimensions now remain stable. We also restored the original question interface and verified carousel navigation and native chat activation.
The current phone experience
The phone view gives the local question interface and news feed a vertical reading layout. Headlines, publication dates, topic links and short summaries make individual stories easier to scan without reproducing the wide desktop introduction.
DOYJO’s work connects the local publishing structure with weather, events, visitor information and community navigation. The purpose is to help a resident or visitor move from a specific question to useful local context.
The screenshot is a dated snapshot of a changing publication. Its article selection will change as new material is published. The image demonstrates the interface and content organization; audience growth and editorial quality require their own evidence.
Current layout, measured separately
The updated page was inspected at phone and desktop sizes. The fresh Lighthouse reports below document loading behavior, including the remaining limitations. A screenshot shows the interface; it does not establish search rankings, revenue or visitor growth.
Current view captured October 17, 2026 in Chrome Incognito with DevTools mobile emulation at 390 by 844 CSS pixels.
Publishing, reader navigation and newsletter tools
The custom toolkit includes DOYJO Topic Writer, Local Headlines, Page Location Helper, Smart Related Control and Time & Weather. These connect content production with place-aware modules and useful next-page paths for readers.
The site also uses a DOYJO-adapted newsletter suite based on Newsletter core with integrated add-ons. This is an example of extending an established newsletter product to support the publication’s communication workflow.
The work connects custom WordPress development, publishing automation, related content and newsletter integration around a local publication.
The results
Sheboygan Life shows how automated publishing can support a local information site when human review, editorial judgment, weather context, local categories, and search-friendly structure stay part of the process. The goal is not content for its own sake; it is a reliable local publishing system that can keep residents, visitors, and search engines connected to useful information.
Measured results after the preservation review
The current website views and reports document the design and functionality review completed October 17, 2026. Original imagery, intended layout and important visitor controls are checked alongside loading performance.
Lighthouse 13.5.0 ran in fresh Chrome Incognito sessions with extensions disabled. Each screenshot below matches its stated audit and timestamp. These lab measurements can vary and do not establish search rankings, revenue, real-user performance or complete accessibility.
Mobile Lighthouse results
October 17, 2026 · current preservation review
- Performance
- 73
- Accessibility
- 100
- Best Practices
- 100
- SEO
- 100
Completed without a Lighthouse run warning.
First contentful paint: 1.9 s. Largest contentful paint: 6.7 s. Blocking time: 20 ms. Layout shift: 0.
With the restored original carousel and chat, repeat mobile runs varied from 73 to 93. This is the latest recorded run, not the best result selected from the series. Layout shift is 0 in both current runs. Initial content rendering remains a measured performance follow-up.
Moto G Power emulation with simulated Slow 4G and CPU slowdown. Audit timestamp: 2026-10-17T05:36:18.331Z. Review date: October 17, 2026, America/Chicago.
Desktop Lighthouse results
October 17, 2026 · current preservation review
- Performance
- 89
- Accessibility
- 100
- Best Practices
- 100
- SEO
- 100
Completed without a Lighthouse run warning.
First contentful paint: 0.8 s. Largest contentful paint: 2.1 s. Blocking time: 0 ms. Layout shift: 0.
Desktop preset with simulated network conditions. Audit timestamp: 2026-10-17T05:36:32.305Z. Review date: October 17, 2026, America/Chicago.
Long-term SEO campaign · Verified October 17, 2026
97.5% more organic search sessions
Across matching January–September periods, organic search sessions grew from 7,992 in 2024 to 15,783 in 2026.
This comparison uses the first complete calendar year available in this GA4 property as the baseline. It shows the accumulated value of an ongoing search program over 2 years of comparable reporting.
DOYJO uses each review to improve useful content, search discovery and the path from a visitor’s question to a practical next step. The campaign is measured over time, with monthly checks guiding the next improvement.
GA4 sessions measure visits; they are distinct from Google Search clicks. The comparison documents observed results across the campaign, without assigning all growth to an individual change.
Google Search achievement history
Successive milestones, documented by Google
Google’s saved achievement history documents progression from the 20-click milestone on Jan 17, 2023 to the 2.2K-click milestone on Feb 20, 2025.
| Google milestone | Achieved |
|---|---|
| 20 clicks in 28 days | Jan 17, 2023 |
| 90 clicks in 28 days | Feb 3, 2023 |
| 250 clicks in 28 days | Jun 1, 2023 |
| 800 clicks in 28 days | Jul 1, 2023 |
| 2.2K clicks in 28 days | Feb 20, 2025 |
These dated achievements make the campaign’s progress visible beyond a single month’s comparison. We preserve the proof and continue using current search data to choose the next practical improvement.
Each badge represents a historical 28-day milestone. The milestones are not added together or presented as current monthly traffic, and the earliest saved badge is not assumed to be the campaign start.
41.9% more local-profile interactions
September 1–30, 2026 compared with September 1–30, 2025. Verified October 17, 2026.
Sheboygan Life’s Google Business Profile recorded 44 interactions, compared with 31 a year earlier.
This is a positive local-listing result for the community platform. We measure local discovery separately from website traffic and use both sources to direct the next improvements.
This result describes the Business Profile only. It is not a claim that overall website traffic increased.
Your next step
Let’s talk about your project.
Interested in an approach like this? Tell Brian about your business, the part of this example that interests you and what you want to improve.