Terms

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

The Code Company, a professional firm that focuses on digital publishing. It's one of the preferred partners. They are WordPress experts, and they are currently engaged in massive redesigns Integrations, migrations, and migrations creating hundreds of tech stacks for many publishing firms.

The company has recently launched Substack giant The Dispatch, a publication which provides information and analysis regarding politics, policy and culture worth $1.9 million, with hundreds of thousands of customers. I had a conversation with Stacey Clark from the team of partnerships and communications about the organization and its products:

"Our Director Ben May has been using technology to tackle problems since the age of 10," starts Stacey. "He built his first website for a local company at the age of 12, and he earned $400." Ben saw an opportunity for business growth and a potential career from all this which is why he launched his very first agency in the year 22.

Code Company Code Company didn't intend to go into publishing, however it has gained some publishing clients initially. Stacey declares: "We've carved out a market for ourselves by building tools for publishers on digital platforms as well as moving away from other platforms and onto WordPress, building membership functionality as well as advertising technology. At first, we were neutral on platforms, however we soon realized that the majority of platforms were a failure! Today, we exclusively utilize WordPress There were many rescue initiatives on other platforms."

"The crucial engineering work which is involved with publishing websitesis the thing we are doing" Stacey continues. We aid publishers with solving complex problems using WordPress and devise techniques to utilize technology to "increase the revenue they earn, generate better efficiency in their business and decrease the risk associated with technology for business".

Stacey and I are both believe that technology is getting less technological', and this is essential to publishing. "Sometimes there are editors, writers and content creators as marketers that use technology. They must be able to use it without ringing developers each five minutes.These are "words people" and are not technical people."

The Code Company helps these people develop or transition to technology platforms that allow them to become self-sufficient "They need a solution to accomplish the same thing as before and in a much simpler manner. The Code Company often works with webmasters who have sites which are struggling to pay off tech debt. Often a plugin won't give all the features they need We believe that it's better to create an integrated system that is specifically designed, so users get exactly what they require, and nothing they do not."

Customers

The Code Company works with content organizations of all types that range from small independent publishers to major entertainment companies. Recently they have successfully created Wondermind the content hub for mental health , which is supported by famous Selena Gomez and Newsette CEO Daniella Pierson. In the wake of the launch, Bhavik Trivedi, Chief Operation Officer of Wondermind stated: "I've never had a flawless launch. Until now. The site went live in the middle of the day, it then gradually grew with the increasing visitors and the integration worked perfectly."

     The brand-new Wondermind Content Hub (c) thecode.co    

They also work with Nine which is the largest entertainment firm in Australia. "We designed their corporate website as well as publications drive.com.au which is the country's top auto site in addition to Future Women, a membership website for women who are professionals." Code Company also launched the Code Company also launched eBay's local ads page. "That was crucial as they'd had no regional leads prior to that and they started receiving Australian leads because of that website," Stacey confirms. "We are currently launching a brand new website called Science Alert, which is one of the top science journals in the US. The site is operated by Australia and the majority of the readers are of the US. It was a project we had been working on for nearly an entire year, as well as a one quarter of a year!" She remembers.

But it seems the company's most lucrative area of work is with slightly smaller established publishers that are looking to expand. "We want to know, 'How can you prove that you're ready to publish? What can we do to get your business and your tech stack to be in good condition to increase your revenue?'" Stacey says. It is likely where the majority of the customers who are part of The Code Company are located For instance, non-traditional media companies like news sites Crikey and Her Campus, the only all-female student media company within The US (that The Code Company changed to Drupal in order to switch over to WordPress).

     The HerCampus.com content hub that is accessible to different platforms (c) thecode.co    

"We help creative and creative creators who are frustrated, or frustrated by their platform of choice and the CMS (content management system)," Stacey adds. "They're looking to us seeking alternatives to their current platform because they're seeing that their platform has limitations to what they can do. It's not very adaptable, and also they earn a huge portion of their revenue." Furthermore, it's growing more important for all creators to obtain first-party information. "They're only able to access the data via platforms like Substack. We're working on custom creator stacks to allow the creators to have their own audience," she explains.

Services and solutions

The clients of The Code Company may be the ones who built their site themselves and/or asked somebody to build the site. In any case, they're using a lot of plugins. "As they've grown in the process, their system is breaking down, and they're unable to repair issues themselves. It's causing problems along with complaints from readers, and they aren't able to accomplish what they want to accomplish. There are times when they're unable to do anything as basic as adding something on the menu" she confirms.

Mike McPhate at the California Sun confirms: "The biggest problem with my former membership site was the fact that it was rife with bugs and confusing prompts on how to use it. I got emails almost every day from unhappy users. After developing the site in conjunction with The Code Company and , I'm no longer receiving those mails from users, so that's just wonderful!"

The California Sun (c)thecode.co

Performance is a major factor for publishers "If they lose performance the company could lose hundreds of dollars" Stacey continues. "And they're constantly playing around with one plugin and sticking on an additional. They're losing performance until their business becomes inefficient anymore. They'll join us, with this big creaking tech stack, fully aware that they could have their site going out of service due to the speed."

A growing number of publishers are looking to diversify their revenue sources. They are looking more closely at memberships and subscriptions. "We have to come up with the best solution to make it reliable and safe. A large part of our job is researching methods that can be transformative for publishers," she says. Code Company Code Company works exclusively with the notion of membership. It's to prevent the what Stacey describes as "leaky paywalls". Stacey states: "We've worked with other subscription options before and it's very simple to bypass the paywall. If your business model is built around publishing and relies on content that is paid for this creates a huge problem."

Projects and events will be coming up in the near future.

"The marketplace for creators has grown exponentially," Stacey notes. "Creators are beginning to realize that SaaS platforms come with limitations and are looking at other avenues. Diversification is a necessity that will never go away for the publishers, however it is imperative to constantly look at methods to engage with audiences with more personalized and relevant content. Subscribers do not only bring in revenue however, they also offer the chance of being closer to the audience which can increase their the degree of engagement."

"There are still print magazines that aren't online and we're getting inquiries from those who are realizing that in order to succeed against the competition, they'll need to change to digital, and a subscription service might be one of the options."

For recent events "Ben is well-known in the realm of conferences," adds Stacey. In the past, Ben gave a talk at the Mumbrella Publisher Conference located in Australia in Sydney, as well as WordCamp US in San Diego. The talk focused on the creation economy, with a focus on the minimalist publisher' and ways to help publishers achieve greater things with their resources. The talks also discussed taking into consideration the experiences of creators of large publishing houses, often using membership solutions.

     Founder Ben May is a familiar figure on the circuit of conferences (c) thecode.co    

The founder of the business has a great knowledge of this area. "Ben's worked in this field throughout his existence; there's never a question he's not capable solving," says Stacey. "The experience I have from speaking to clients is that if they have a concern, they could be required to pay another agency two weeks to investigate. The team at Code Company's technology is able to solve the issue in just twenty minutes over phone, because he's seen every issue. That's gold for a business that has this kind of problem-solving capability."

Then, Stacey says: "Publishing or managing a site doesn't have to be as complicated as many believe it to be. Our whole ethos is anti-complexity." It's very easy to get overwhelmed by the most recent technology, themes or plug-ins "these flashing lights do not offer the possibility of making significant difference," she smiles.

Code Company Code Company revels in "smart simplicity" It's apparent. Stacey says: "We offer the chance to find a tech company that can assist you to get the business results you're looking for in the easiest method that's efficient, not simply using a buzzword."

More details

For more information about The Code Company, to look through case studies of their previous migrations and integrations, and for more information about the possibility of cooperating with them, check out their website thecode.co.

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