Terms

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

The Code Company, a specialist agency that focuses on digital publishing The Code Company is among's most preferred partner. They're WordPress experts , and deal with massive-scale design such as migrations and integrations. They have developed hundreds of stacks of technology to help thousands of publishers.

The company has just replatformed Substack huge The Dispatch, a publication that provides news and commentary on policy, politics and culture that is worth $1.9 million and with many thousands of subscribers. I spoke to Stacey Astley Clark from the Communications and partnerships team about the business's services and the platform:

"Our Director Ben May has been using technology to address problems since grade 10" begins Stacey. "He created his first website for a local business at the age of 12 and also earned 400 dollars." Ben realized that there was an opportunity to grow and potential profession from all that, so he launched his agency in the year 22.

The Code Company didn't deliberately get into publishing, however it was able to win some publishing clients initially. Stacey states: "We've carved out a specialization in technology development to assist digital publishers in addition to migrating from different platforms to WordPress as well as creating membership features and ad tech. Our initial strategy was to stay platform neutral however, we realized that a majority sucked! Now we work exclusively with WordPress; there were several rescue operations across various platforms."

"The crucial engineering elements that is used to create the websites that are published is exactly our responsibility," Stacey continues. We aid publishers with solving difficult problems using WordPress and find ways using the technology in order to "increase the revenue of their company, attain greater efficiency in their business and reduce the risks of businesses that involve technology".

Stacey and I believe that technology is becoming more amorphous' which is crucial for publishing. "Sometimes you will have writers or editors, as well as marketing experts who are using technology, and need to be able make use of it, without calling an engineer every five minutes.These are 'words people' and not tech people."

Code Company helps people create or move to tech platforms that allow them to be fully self-sufficient. Code Company helps these people develop or transition to technology platforms that let them completely self-sufficient "They require a platform to perform what they did before but in a easier method. The Code Company often works with publishing companies with websites which are in tech debt. Often a plugin won't give the features they need so we think it is easier to create an integration that's custom and ensures that users receive the features they desire without having to sacrifice any things they do not."

Clients

The Code Company works with content businesses of all kinds including small-scale publishing companies to large entertainment corporations. Recently, they announced the well-publicized launch of Wondermind the mental health content hub backed by a celebrity Selena Gomez and Newsette CEO Daniella Pierson. Following the launch Bhavik Trivedi who is the Chief Operating Officer of Wondermind, commented: "I've never had a flawless launch. Until now. It was released in the middle of the day, and it gradually grew to it grew in popularity, and of our integrations worked flawlessly."

The

     The new Wondermind hub for content (c) thecode.co    

They also collaborate with Nine The biggest entertainment business in Australia. "We developed their corporate site as well as publications drive.com.au that is Australia's leading auto portal in addition to Future Women, a membership site for professional women." The Code Company also launched eBay's local advertising site. "That was a big issue because they'd never had regional leads prior to that and started receiving Australian leads as a result of the website," Stacey confirms. "We just launched the brand-new website Science Alert, which is a leading science publication within the US. It's run from Australia, but most of its audience is in the US. It was a project we worked on for more than a year and half!" She remembers.

It appears, however, that the firm's best fit is working with smaller established publishers that are looking to scale. "We ask, 'How do you prove that you're capable of publish? How do we get your business and your technological stack up so it can grow your business in the future?'" Stacey tells us. It is likely that this is where the majority of clients from The Cod Co lie; This could include independent media groups such as news websites Crikey and Her Campus, The female-led students' media organization in The US (that The Code Company switched to Drupal and then moved into WordPress).

     The HerCampus.com Content Hub is accessible on a variety of devices (c) thecode.co    

"We help talented and innovative creators that are overwhelmed or frustrated by their platform of choice in addition to CMS (content management platforms)," Stacey adds. "They're seeking our help for alternative options as they realise that their existing platform restricts what they're able to accomplish. It's not flexible enough and is a major source of their earnings." Furthermore, it's increasing for creators on any level to acquire information from the first party. "They're simply unable to access the data via platforms like Substack. We're developing custom creator stacks for them to enable them to own their own market," she explains.

Solutions and Services

The clients at The Code Company may be the ones who built their own website or may have hired someone else to build the site for them. In either case, they're employing a number of plugins. "As the site's popularity has increased it's becoming apparent that their system is breaking down and they can't fix things themselves. The result is problems, complaints from users and the reality that they're not able to achieve what they'd wish to do. Sometimes they can't do things that are as easy to add something new to the menu." The woman confirms.

Mike McPhate at the California Sun writes: "The biggest problem with my website for membership in the past was that it was plagued with bugs and confusing prompts regarding how to navigate the website. I'd get emails almost every day from users who were angry. The website was developed in conjunction with The Code Company and , I no longer get this kind of emails from users, and that's great!"

The California Sun (c)thecode.co

It's well known that the performance of websites is vital for publishers "If they fail to perform, it can result in them spending thousands of dollars," Stacey continues. "And they continue to hack off one plugin before putting to another. The site is losing its performance until business isn't successful any more. In the end, they'll be with us having this massive technology stack that's making noise, and they're aware that they're at risk of losing its functionality because of poor performance."

Publishers are increasingly looking to diversify their revenue sources, so more of them are looking at memberships and subscriptions. "We must find an option that's solid and safe. A large part of our task is researching strategies that can transform the lives of authors," Stacey states. The Code Company works specifically with membership solutions, to avoid the problem that Stacey describes as "leaky payment walls". The founder of the Code Company explains that: "We've worked with other subscription solutions in the past and it's really easy to get around the paywall. If your business model is based on publishing, it depends on the sale of the content to consumers, it can be an issue."

There are new events as well as projects in the pipeline

"The creation economy is booming," Stacey notes. "Creators are realizing the fact that SaaS platforms come with limitations, so they're wanting to consider other solutions. Diversification doesn't go out of the window for the publishers, however it's essential to keep exploring ways to become more engaging and get closer to audiences by providing more targeted and personalized content. Subscription offerings don't just create profits, but offer opportunities to get more connected to their audience and improve participation."

"There remain print magazines available that aren't fully digital, and we're still getting interest from those who are realizing that, for them to be viable, it is necessary to transition to digital, in some way and a subscription-based service could form part of that."

In the context of the current events "Ben is a well-known face on the conference circuit," adds Stacey. Recently, Ben was a speaker at his first Mumbrella Publisher Conference in Australia and WordCamp US at San Diego. The talks covered the concept of the creator economy, focusing on 'the minimalist publisher' and how publishers can achieve more from smaller resources. The talks also discussed taking into consideration the experiences of the founders of larger publishing companies which often use membership services.

     Founder Ben May is a familiar presence on the stage of conference. (c) thecode.co

It seems that the person who founded the company of the company has a profound knowledge of the industry. "Ben's done this for the entirety of his life, and there's never any question he's not capable of solving," says Stacey. "The facts I get when I speak to customers is that if they experience an issue, they may be required to shell out a different company for two weeks in order to investigate. The team at Code Company's technology can resolve it within twenty minutes via phone because he's been through all of the issues. It's great for companies to be able to use this type method of problem solving."

At the end of the day, Stacey says: "Publishing or running a site doesn't take as much work as many people believe it is. We're all about simple." Both of us agree that it's easy to get caught up in new technology, themes or plugins - "these flashing lights aren't going be moving the needle at all," she smiles.

The Code Company revels in "smart simplicities" It seems. Stacey declares: "We offer the chance to connect with a tech company that can actually help you get the results that you want for your business with the most straightforward way that works, without using any word or phrase."

Additional details

For more information details about The Code Company, to review case studies on the previous integrations and migrations, as well as to find out more about working with them, go to the website thecode.co.

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