Web Development in the Context of Media and Publishers: What You Need to Know

Step into the ever so dynamic world of digital publishing by landing the perfect online platform.

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In this day and age, we are constantly surrounded by information. Wherever we go, we have the chance to submerge ourselves in the endless pool of things to read and learn!

Of course, tracing back the history of publishing, we observe changes that definitely shape the way we nowadays perceive information. Back in the day, printed media was the go-to place for keeping oneself informed and on the right track with everything happening in the world. As technology took a great leap toward development and constant improvement, however, we faced development and progress in how we reach information.

As of today, digital media and publishing have quickly risen to the top when it comes to people’s preferences and ease of access — be it a desktop computer, a tablet, or mobile — you name it and you probably can access plenty of digital platforms offering information on virtually every subject.

You’ve guessed it — it’s all about the digital platforms

As we’ve already mentioned, media and publishing nowadays are heavily situated online. Having this in mind, it’s really a no-brainer that enterprises in the field are in great need of a stable, scalable, structured and very much functioning platform.

Luckily, web and software development has improved to great lengths, offering working and easy-to-use solutions.

This rapid growth is only logical due to the fact that we all, as a society, went from paper-based resources of information to digital ones — try to think of one person who hasn’t read an article online or doesn’t have a subscription to a digest! In today’s world of web-based experiences, media and publishers quickly grasped the idea of this new trend that quickly turned into a basic daily activity.

There’s another pinpoint to it as well — today, more than ever, we all express interest in staying informed and submerging ourselves in as much data as possible. Each time we feel like learning something new or being on the right track, we quickly perform a Google search and easily land on a digital magazine, newspaper, or media outlet that informs us on demand. Of course, printed issues and material are still very important and have their crowd, but it’s hard to find a printed edition that doesn’t provide an online place for its readers and subscribers, regardless of the theme, niche, or type of journalism.

So once we’ve managed to explain briefly how printed media quickly evolved and successfully followed its readers online, it’s time to actually pay attention to the online platforms. What does it take for a media and publishing platform to meet industry standards in terms of online presence and exposure?

In the case of media and publishing, the platforms should qualify to a number of standards in order to cover the high demand and fulfill the anticipated customer experience.

• media and publishing websites should be able to deal with large volumes of traffic — the bigger the media is, the more people are likely to visit its pages on a daily basis, so the website needs to showcase incredible durability, stability, and speed;
• media platforms should definitely have responsive designs — nowadays almost everybody accesses not only media and publishing websites but all kinds of platforms directly from their mobile devices so a responsive web design is a huge plus (if not a must);
• developers and marketing experts should definitely pay attention to search engine optimization — SEO is a very important asset of a website’s overall online success in terms of reach, customer engagement, and brand identity;
• last but not least, media and publishing platforms should rely on customized workflow — it’s up to the developers running the project to ensure and maintain a smooth, easy, and bug-free editorial process;

Putting the marketing aspect of things aside, today we focus on the job of web developers whose main goal is to create a great media and publishing platform that manages to meet its audience’s expectations and demands. Let’s cover some of the basics by sharing useful guidelines and roadmaps.

Web development strategies that ensure a great media and publishing website

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Just like with any other type of website, developers need to communicate closely with the enterprise in order to better understand its needs and expectations. Be it through direct communication or via the project manager, the developer must always have in mind the client's requirements — essentially, this practice ensures a smooth work process guaranteeing dazzling and anticipated results in the end.

Once the developing team has ensured a great hosting service (one that covers the media and publishing website potential traffic), it’s time to pay attention to the structure and multiple add-ons and features that will ultimately help with the whole maintenance and usage.

1. Think of a dedicated newsroom feature. Media and publishing websites should be structured in a way that greatly mimics the editorial process of printed issues. With that being said, it’s sufficient practice for the developing team to think of a feature that works as a newsroom for the authors and editors on board. This dedicated space can be used for storing images, data, interviews, and drafts, as well as ensuring a smooth editorial process enabling multiple users to work on a single piece simultaneously.
2. The ad network is a huge asset but it’s important how the team will execute it. Much like with printed media, digital publishers also revenue from ads. My advice to web developers is to come up with a solution in which the distribution of the ads is in a way that doesn’t cause too much distraction or annoyance among website visitors. Otherwise, this could quickly lead to readers leaving.
3. Media and publishing websites must rely on incredibly fast services. Web developers should definitely focus on the platform’s performance in terms of speed, responsiveness, and robustness. Huge media and publishing enterprises often have to deal with an enormous amount of traffic — it’s crucial for them to be able to meet it and ensure everybody’s smooth and rapid experience on the platform.
4. Focusing on content management tools and features. An editorial process consists of plenty of assigned tasks and individuals having to implement a whole set of to-dos and duties. With that being said, it’s important for the platform to be able to ensure all types of editorial activities: Web developers should focus on featuring deadlines tools, options for multiple authors with their own designated profiles, a wide variety of editorial calendars, and all other types of organizational add-ons that can ultimately improve the whole work process.
5. Implementing image galleries while considering quality and speed. The media and publishing industry relies greatly on image content. Regardless of the niche, the platform will most likely consist of huge image galleries that need their own maintenance. The web developers team’s main task is to ensure impeccable image quality without interfering with the website’s loading speed and general performance.
6. Opting for personalization is always the better choice. At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that digital publishing nowadays offers plenty of subscription benefits and options. If a web developer is working on a project that relies on subscriptions, then they should think in advance of personalization. Generating the name of the customer is merely the bare minimum — developers should also think about recommended content, individual offers, bonuses, or subscribers’ benefits based on the chosen plan.
7. While constructing the website, always keep in mind the Core Web Vitals. Every platform aims at better positioning in search engines. Optimizing the website following the core web vitals is a great way to kickstart any media and publishing platform’s performance.

To wrap things up

The media and publishing industry has definitely found a place for itself online and we have absolutely no reason to believe this will change anytime soon.

Quite on the contrary, in fact — the tendency is for the websites to continuously improve and develop their performance due to the ever-changing and growing customer demand. So it’s very important for the web developers community to be able to sustain all those requirements and live up to their high standards.

I hope the above-mentioned guidelines and pinpoints will be useful to those fellow developers who just step into the world of constructing and deploying media and publishing websites. Rock on!

Hi, guys, I’m Ivan and I’m here to share with all of you my passion for words, great content, entrepreneurship, personal development, management, hobbies, and everything in between.

I serve as the CEO of my WordPress Development Agency @ Vipe Studio where I have the pleasure to lead a diverse, wonderful and energetic team of experts. Feel free to contact me anytime — I would love to exchange new ideas and inspire each other!