Terms

     The Code Company founder Ben May talks at an trade show (c) thecode.co    

The Code Company, a professional agency that is focused on publishing digitally It is one of our preferred suppliers. They are WordPress specialists, and are involved in large-scale overhauls, including Integrations and migrations. creating hundreds of technology stacks for hundreds of publishers.

The company recently relaunched Substack enormous The Dispatch, a publication that provides news and commentary about policy, politics and culture. It is worth $1.9 million and boasts hundreds of users. I talked to Stacey Astley Clark from the communications and partnerships department about the company and its offerings:

"Our founder Ben May has been using technology to tackle problems since grade 10." says Stacey. "He made his first website for a local firm when he was 12 years old and ended up making the sum of $400." Ben recognized that there was a growing business opportunity as well as a possible profession within this field and thus launched his very agency in 22.

Code Company Code Company didn't deliberately get into publishing, but did get publishing customers in the beginning. Stacey explains: "We've carved out a market by developing tools for publishers on digital platforms and also switching from other platforms to WordPress as well as bringing membership options to WordPress and advertising technology. We were initially platform agnostic however, we realized nearly all of them were unsustainable! We now work solely with WordPress; there were numerous'rescue operations' from some of the other platforms."

"The crucial engineering work which is involved with the publishing of websites is our job" Stacey continues. They help publishers solve complicated issues using WordPress and find ways to utilize technology to "increase their revenues, achieve more efficiency within their company and decrease the risk associated with businesses that involve technology".

Stacey and I both agree that technology is getting less technical', which is really important for publishing. "Sometimes you have editors, creators of content as well as marketers who use technology and need the capability to use technology without having to call an engineer each five minutes.These are "wordspeople" not tech-savvy people."

Code Company helps people create or migrate to technology stacks that allow them to become independent. Code Company helps these people develop or transition to technology platforms that let them become self-sufficient "They need a system capable of performing the same things it was able to do before, but in a much easier way. We often work with publishing companies that have websites that are sagging with technology debt. Most plugins don't offer all the functionality they require We believe that it's easier to design an integrated system that is customized, to ensure they get all they need, and none of the items they can't."

Clients

The Code Company works with content organizations of all types that range from small-scale publishers to large entertainment corporations. They recently launched the highly-publicized launch of Wondermind which is a hub of content for mental health that is backed by celebrity Selena Gomez and Newsette CEO Daniella Pierson. The launch was discussed by Bhavik Trivedi, the Chief Operating Officer at Wondermind said: "I've never had a flawless launch. Until now. The site went live and then was scaled up to handle the increased traffic. the integrations worked well."

FuqQ9UfLAmNAKjVpzFCV The brand new Wondermind media hub (c) thecode.co

They also partner in conjunction with Nine the biggest entertainment corporation in Australia. "We developed their corporate site as well as publications drive.com.au one of the most popular auto sites as well as Future Women, a membership club for women who have become professionals." Code Company also launched a membership group for women who are professionals. Code Company also launched eBay's local ads website. "That was a significant event since they had no regional leads before and they started receiving Australian leads because of the website," Stacey confirms. "We recently built a new website called Science Alert, which is an important scientific magazine in the US. It's run from Australia however, the majority users are in the US. It was a project we worked on for over a year and even a quarter of a year!" the girl recalls.

But it seems the company's most effective fit would be with publishers that are small, but are looking to expand. "We need to figure out how do demonstrate that you are able to publish? How can we put your organization and your tech stack into the proper form to expand your business?'" Stacey states. That's probably where the bulk of the clients that are part of The Code Company are located such as non-traditional media companies such as news sites Crikey and Her Campus, an all-female college student media group within The US (that The Code Company has moved to Drupal in order to move to WordPress).

     The HerCampus.com Content Hub is accessible to many devices (c) thecode.co    

"We assist talented and innovative creators who are frustrated, or frustrated with their current platform along with CMS (content management systems for managing content)," Stacey adds. "They're looking to us out for alternatives since they recognize that the CMS they're using is limited in terms of the capabilities it can offer. It's not flexible enough and it also makes an enormous portion of their income." Additionally, it's getting more and essential for creators at all levels to acquire first-party data. "They're not able to get access to that data via platforms like Substack. We're building custom creator stacks to allow creators to access their own audiences," she explains.

Solutions and Services

The customers of the Code Company could be the ones who built their own website or may have asked another person to design the site. In either case they're using a lot of plugins. "As the site's popularity has increased, they're finding that things are starting to break and they're unable to fix these issues on their own. This is causing problems, and complaints from the readers who aren't able to achieve what they would like to accomplish. Sometimes, they're incapable of doing anything as basic as adding something on the menu." she says.

Mike McPhate at the California Sun confirms that: "The biggest problem with my previous membership website was it was full of glitches, in addition to confusing instructions on how to navigate the site. I would receive emails every day from unhappy users. When I created the site along in conjunction with The Code Company and , I'm not getting these emails from users and that's fantastic!"

The California Sun (c)thecode.co

We all know that the performance of a website is crucial for publishing companies "If there is a drop in performance it could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars" Stacey continues. "And they're always hacking away at one plugin and sticking on the next. Their performance keeps dropping until they're no longer efficient any more. In the end, they'll be with this huge technological stack that is squealing in the background, conscious of the risk that their site will go out of business because of poor performance."

Publishers are increasingly looking to seek to diversify their income sources. They are looking more and more at subscriptions and memberships. "We need to find an option that's efficient and secure. The first step is to look into tools that are going transform the publishing industry," she says. Code Company Code Company works specifically with subscription-based solutions that can bypass the issue of what Stacey refers to as "leaky paywalls". Stacey says: "We've worked with other subscription solutions previously and found it extremely simple to avoid the paywall. If the business model you're operating is built around publishing and relies on the selling of content to users This creates a major challenge."

Projects and events will be likely to be announced in the near future.

"The creation economy is booming," Stacey notes. "Creators have learned that SaaS platforms aren't without their limitations, and are looking to explore different options. Diversification isn't going out of the realm of possibility for the publishers, but there is a need to kind of keep looking at ways to be more engaged with viewers through tailored and personalized information. Subscribers go beyond just generate income, they provide the chance to be closer to the viewers as increase interaction."

"There remain print magazines in print that aren't available online, which is why we're seeing interest from those who realize that in order to compete with to compete, they'll need to change into digital and subscriptions are one of the ways."

Within the framework of recent events "Ben is well-known in the realm of conferences," adds Stacey. In the past, Ben gave a talk at the Mumbrella event for publishers in Australia and also at WordCamp US in San Diego. His talks focussed on the creation economy and focused on 'the minimalist publisher' as well as the ways that publishers can be more productive by using less. This includes taking lessons from the creators of larger publishing houses, which often employ subscription services.

     The founder Ben May is a familiar name in the world of conferences. (c) thecode.co

The founder of the company is a deep understanding of the business. "Ben's done this throughout his career and has never encountered an issue he's incapable to solve," says Stacey. "The details I get whenever I talk to clients is that, in the case there's a problem the customer may have to shell out a separate agency for two weeks in order to examine. Code Company's technology is able to solve the issue within twenty minutes over the phonebecause they've seen all of them. This is a huge advantages for any company in the field to perform this kind problems."

In closing, Stacey says: "Publishing or running a website doesn't need to be as complicated as people make it. Our entire goal as a firm is to reduce complicated." Stacey and I agree that it's easy to be immersed in the latest technology or theme or plug-ins "these flashing lights don't change the world," she smiles.

The Code Company revels in "smart simple" it seems. Stacey declares: "We offer the chance to work with a technology firm that is able to help you get the results that you want for your business, in the simplest possible method that is effective, not using any buzzwords currently."

More details

To read more details about The Code Company, to see case studies on prior integrations and migrations and to look into working with them, go to their website thecode.co.

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