Terms

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

The Code Company, a specialist agency that focuses on publishing digitally It is one of the most preferred partners. They're WordPress experts , and they work on large-scale redesigns including migrations and integrations. creating hundreds of tech stacks for hundreds of publishing companies.

The company just launched a relaunch of Substack giant The Dispatch, a publication to provide news and comment on politics, policy and culture worth $1.9 million with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. I had a conversation with Stacey Clark who is part of the communications and partnerships team, about the company as well as its offerings:

"Our founder Ben May has been using technology to solve problems since the age of 10," starts Stacey. "He developed his first site for a local company at the age of 12, and earned the sum of $400." Ben noticed that there was an emerging business opportunity as well as a possible career from all this, and thus launched his very first company at the age of 22.

The Code Company didn't deliberately get into publishing, however it did get a few publishing customers initially. Stacey describes: "We've carved out a niche in building technology to help digital publishers, and also moving from different platforms to WordPress and building membership capabilities as well as ad technology. At first, we were platform-neutral and then discovered that a majority were a disaster! Today, we exclusively use WordPress; there were numerous'rescue operations that were a result of different platforms."

"The crucial engineering work that is used to create the publishing of websites is exactly what is our job," Stacey continues. We assist publishers in solving complex problems using WordPress and discover ways to use technology to "increase the amount of revenue they earn, generate more efficiency within their company and reduce risks associated with technology for business".

Stacey and I are both of the opinion that  technology is becoming less technical', which is essential to publishing. "Sometimes you will have editors, creators of content and marketing professionals who are using technology, and need to have the ability to utilize it without ringing an engineer each five minutes.These are 'words people', not 'tech people'."

Code Company helps people create or migrate to technology stacks that make them self-sufficient. Code Company helps these people develop or transition to tech stacks that make them self-sufficient "They need something that's going to do everything it did previously, but in a easier manner. The Code Company often works with publishers with websites in debt to technology. A plugin may not give all the functionality they require, therefore we believe it is better to design an integration that is custom, to ensure users get what they want with none of the items they do not."

Customers

The Code Company works with content companies of all sorts that range from small-scale publishers to huge entertainment corporations. Recently they have successfully launched Wondermind which is a mental health content hub supported by famous Selena Gomez and Newsette CEO Daniella Pierson. The launch was praised by Bhavik Trivedi who is the Chief Operations Officer at Wondermind said: "I've never had a flawless launch. Until now. It was launched, scaled up with the increase in traffic and our integrations worked perfectly."

FuqQ9UfLAmNAKjVpzFCV The new Wondermind Content Hub (c) thecode.co

They also collaborate with Nine, the biggest entertainment group in Australia. "We built their corporate site and also publications drive.com.au one of the top auto site, as well as Future Women, a membership group for women who are professionals." The Code Company also launched eBay's local ads website. "That was a major one because they never had regional leads prior to this and were able to get Australian leads as a result from that website," Stacey confirms. "We have recently launched a brand new website called Science Alert, which is an important science magazine in the US. It's operated from Australia however, the majority of the readers are from the US. The project was in the making for over a year and half!" she remembers.

It seems that the firm's sweet spot is working with smaller established publishers who are seeking to grow. "We are asking, 'How do you prove that you can publish? How can we put your business and your tech stack in the right shape that you can scale your enterprise?'" Stacey says. That's probably where the bulk of The Code Co's clients are located; for instance, independent media groups such as news website Crikey and Her Campus, the female-led college students' media organization in the US (that The Code Company changed away from Drupal in order to switch to WordPress).

The HerCampus.com content hub across multiple platforms (c) thecode.co

"We aid talented and creative creators who find themselves frustrated, or frustrated with their current platform as well as CMS (content management software)," Stacey adds. "They're reaching out to us to find alternatives as they realize the platform they're using is limited on what they can do. It's not flexible enough and also they earn a huge part of their income." In addition the need is becoming increasingly important for creators at any level to collect data from first parties. "They're simply unable to get that via platforms like Substack. We're developing custom creator stacks that let the creators to have their own market," she explains.

Solutions and services

The clients of the Code Company could have built their website themselves and/or asked for help from someone to design it. Either way, they're working with numerous plugins. "As the site has grown, they're finding that the system is breaking down and they can't fix things by themselves. This is causing problems, and complaints from the customers, and they aren't able to perform what they'd like to accomplish. There are times when they're unable to do something as simple as adding something to the menu," she confirms.

Mike McPhate at the California Sun affirms: "The biggest problem with my membership website of the past was that it was filled by errors, as well as confusing instructions on how to navigate the site. I received emails every single day from frustrated readers. When I created the site in conjunction together with The Code Company and , I'm not getting those emails from readers, so that's just wonderful!"

The California Sun (c)thecode.co

It is well-known that performance is critically important for publishers "If they lose performance it could cost them thousands of dollars," Stacey continues. "And they continue to hack out one plugin and sticking on the next. Their performance keeps dropping until they're not effective anymore. Then they'll come with us, carrying this massive technological stack creaking in the background, conscious of the risk of the site being shut slow due to the performance."

Publishers are looking to diversify their revenue so more of them are exploring memberships and subscriptions. "We need to find a solution that is reliable and secure. Our main job is researching solutions that will change the way publishers work," she says. Code Company Code Company works specifically with the concept of membership, which is to prevent the issue of what Stacey calls "leaky payment walls". She explains: "We've worked with other subscription solutions in the past and it's really simple to bypass the paywall. If your business model is based on publishing, and is reliant on content that is paid for it can be a huge problem."

Events and new projects are in the near future

"The market for creators has exploded," Stacey notes. "Creators are realizing SaaS platforms have limitations, so they're wanting to consider other avenues. The need for diversification will not go away for publishers, but it's also important to constantly look for new ways to connect with audiences by providing more targeted and personalized content. Subscription offerings don't just create revenues, but they also provide the possibility of getting closer to audiences as well and increase participation."

"There remain print magazines out there that aren't yet fully digital, and we're receiving interest from the ones who are realizing that, for them to continue to exist it will be necessary to shift in some way to digital and a subscription service could be one of those ways."

On the note of recent events "Ben is a well-known face at conferences," adds Stacey. Recently Ben gave a talk at the Mumbrella publisher conference in Australia, and WordCamp US in San Diego. The talks covered the creator economy and focused on 'the minimalist publisher' as well as how publishers can accomplish more using the resources they have. It is also possible to learn from the creators of larger publishing companies and, in many cases, using membership services.

The founder Ben May is a familiar presence on the conference circuit (c) thecode.co

It seems the company founder knows the industry inside out. "Ben's had this job for all of his life, and there's never a problem he's not capable of answering," says Stacey. "The experience I receive through conversations with clients is that if they have problems, they could be required to pay a different agency for two weeks to visit to investigate. The tech staff at the Code Company can literally solve it in 20 minutes over the phone, because he's seen each of them. This is a huge advantage for any business to be able to do that type problem-solving capabilities."

To conclude, Stacey says: "Publishing or managing a website does not have to be as complex like people imagine it to be. Our whole ethos is anti-complexity." We acknowledge that it's easy to get caught up in the latest technology or theme, or even plugins "these flashing lights don't have the potential to move the needle at all," she smiles.

The Code Company revels in "smart simplicities" it seems. Stacey states: "We offer the chance to find a tech partner which can assist you to achieve the results that you desire by implementing the most simple manner that's effective, and not using some buzzword."

More information

For more information details about The Code Company, to read case studies about the previous integrations and migrations, and for more information about collaboration with them, visit their website thecode.co.