Terms

     The Code Company founder Ben May talks at an industrial function (c) thecode.co    

The Code Company, a professional company that focuses on digital publishing , and an industry leader in its partner network. They are WordPress specialists and are involved in massive-scale design, as well as the integrations and migrations. They are developing hundreds of stacks of technologies to support hundreds of publishers.

The company has recently launched Substack giant The Dispatch, a publication that provides news and analysis on policies, politics, and culture that is worth $1.9 million and boasts hundreds of thousands of subscribers. I talked to Stacey Astley Clark who is part of the communications and partnerships team, about the company and its services:

"Our Director Ben May has been using technology to address issues from grade 10 onwards," says Stacey. "He created his first website for a local firm at the age of 12 and earned around 400 bucks." Ben noticed that there was an opportunity and a potential job from all this which is why he launched his own agency when he was 22.

The Code Company didn't deliberately get into publishing, however it did get a few publishing customers in the beginning. Stacey describes: "We've carved out a area of expertise in the creation of technology for digital publishers along with the transition from other platforms to WordPress and also building the membership function, as well as ad tech. At first, we were platform-neutral however, we discovered that the majority did not work! Today, we exclusively work with WordPress There were also numerous'rescue initiatives' as a result of different platforms."

"The essential engineering aspects which are used in the creation of publishing sites, that we are tasked with," Stacey continues. Our team helps publishers solve difficult issues with WordPress and find techniques to utilize the latest technology in order to "increase the profits of their business, achieve higher efficiency within their business and reduce the risk of business involving technology".

Stacey and I agree that technology is becoming less technological and this is really important for publishing. "Sometimes there are editors, creators of content as well as marketing experts that are working with technology and need to have the capability to use technology without having to call engineers every five minutes.These are 'words people' rather than tech-savvy people."

The Code Company helps these people create or adapt to technology stacks that can make them independent "They require a technology to perform the same tasks that they did previously, however in a simpler manner. We often work with publishing companies who have websites that are sagging because of technology debt. The plugin might not provide what they want however we've observed it to be better to design a custom integration, so users get what they want with no items that they do not."

Customers

The Code Company works with content organisations of all kinds, from independent publishing to huge entertainment companies. The company recently concluded the highly-publicized launch of Wondermind which is a content hub for mental health which is supported by prominent celebrities like Selena Gomez and Newsette CEO Daniella Pierson. The launch was praised by Bhavik Trivedi who is the Chief Operations Officer at Wondermind stated: "I've never had a smooth launch. Until now. The website went live the middle of the day and was then gradually scaled due to the increased traffic and our integrations performed perfectly."

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

They also partner with Nine, the biggest entertainment company in Australia. "We developed their corporate website, plus publications drive.com.au which is the nation's top auto website and Future Women which is a website for women who are professional." Code Company also launched the Code Company also launched eBay's local ads site. "That was a huge issue because they'd never had regional leads prior to the launch and began to receive Australian leads due to that website," Stacey confirms. "We are currently launching an entirely new site called Science Alert, which is among the most prestigious science journals across the US. It's operated from Australia and the majority of its readers come from the US. The project was in the making for a year and a one-half year!" She remembers.

But, it seems that the sweet spot for the business is with smaller established publishers looking at scaling. "We inquire, 'How can demonstrate that you are able to publish? How do we get your organization and your tech stack in the best position to expand your company?'" Stacey says. It's where the majority of customers are located, like, for instance, media outlets like news site Crikey and Her Campus, the media group for female students at college group in The US (that The Code Company is transferring to Drupal in order to switch into WordPress).

     The HerCampus.com Content hub that spans several platforms (c) thecode.co    

"We assist talented and innovative creators who find themselves frustrated, or frustrated by their preferred platform or CMS (content management systems)," Stacey adds. "They're searching for alternatives to their current platform as they realize that their current platform is restrictive on the things they are capable of doing. The platform isn't very flexible, and they also earn a huge chunk of the revenues." Additionally, it's becoming more and increasingly important for all creators to get data from initial parties. "They're only able to collect that information from platforms like Substack. We're developing custom creator stacks that let users to control their own audiences," she explains.

Solutions and services

The customers of The Code Company may have created their websites themselves or might have contracted someone else to design the site. They're making use of a number of plugins. "As the site has grown, they begin to fail and they're unable to fix things on their own. The result is lots of complaints from the readersand the fact that they're unable to accomplish what they would prefer to achieve. Sometimes they can't do things that are as easy like adding an item to your menu." She confirms.

Mike McPhate at the California Sun says: "The biggest problem with my old membership site was that it was plagued by glitches, and there were no clear instructions on how to use it. I received emails nearly every single day from angry users. The website was developed together with The Code Company and , I'm no more receiving these emails from users this is remarkable!"

The California Sun (c)thecode.co

It is well-known that the performance of a website is essential for publishing companies "If there is a drop in the performance of a website, it could lose hundreds of thousands in dollars" Stacey continues. "And they're constantly hacking the exact same plugin after which they install a new one. They're losing speed until their business just isn't successful any more. And then they'll be with us, and with this huge technological stack creaking in the background, fully aware of the possibility of their site going out of business because of poor performance."

More publishers are wanting to diversify their sources of revenue which is why they are considering subscriptions and memberships. "We have to create an effective solution and safe. Our primary task is finding options that can be transformative for publishers," she says. Code Company Code Company works exclusively with the notion of membership. It's intended to avoid the issue of what Stacey calls "leaky paywalls". The Code Company's founder says that: "We've worked with other membership solutions before and we've discovered it easy to bypass the paywall. If the business model you're operating relies on publishing or is dependent on the content you pay for , this can be a huge issue."

There are new events and projects on the horizon

"The creation economy is booming," Stacey notes. "Creators are starting to realize that SaaS platforms have their limitations and are exploring other alternatives. Diversification isn't going away for publishers. But there is a need to continually look for new ways to engage and engage with their customers with more personalized and targeted content. Subscribers aren't just a source of revenue They also provide the opportunity of bringing audiences closer as well which can increase their involvement."

"There remain print magazines available that aren't on digital and we are still receiving requests from publishers who realize that in order to survive, they'll have to pivot into digital - and that subscription offering would form part of that."

As for recent events "Ben is well-known in the field of conference," adds Stacey. Recently, Ben gave a talk at the Mumbrella event for publishers from Australia in Sydney and also at WordCamp US in San Diego. The presentation focused on the development of the of the economy, with a focus on the minimalist publisher' as well as ways to make more with less. There is also the possibility to get advice from authors from larger publishing firms as well as, in some cases by using membership programs.

     Founder Ben May is a familiar name on the conference circuit (c) thecode.co    

It is apparent that the person who founded of the business knows a lot about the field. "Ben's done this for all of his life and there's not an problem he's not capable of provide an answer to," says Stacey. "The information I gather through conversations with my clients is that in the event of problems, they could have to pay another agency two weeks to investigate. Cod Company's technology will solve your issue in 20 minutes over the phone since he's experienced all of them. This is an enormous benefit for businesses in the market to have the same thing."

To conclude, Stacey says: "Publishing or managing a site doesn't require as much effort as many people imagine it to. Our whole ethos is anti-complexity." She and I agree that it's easy to get obsessed with new gadgets or themes or plug-ins "these flashing lights aren't able make a difference even if they do," she smiles.

The Code Company revels in "smart simplicities" it appears. Stacey says: "We offer the chance to locate a technology partner to help you achieve the success you want, in the simplest possible way that's effective and not just announcing the latest buzzword."

More details

For more information about The Code Company, to look through case studies of the previous migrations and integrations in addition to to know more about their services go to their website thecode.co.

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