WORDPRESS AND A MEDIA COMPANYWordPress and Alma Media Kustannus Oy – Pros and cons from our point of view

Timo-Jaakko RautavuoriDevelopment Manager |@timojr8th May 2015, WordCamp Finland, Tampere

Background

Timo-Jaakko Rautavuori?

Has worked in online journalism since 2006

Backround: journalist, project manager

Managed multiple news site renewal projects at Aamulehti and Alma Media Kustannus Oy

Alma Media Kustannus Oy?

Finnish Media Company

28 Newspapers (regional and local) + 30 news websites in Finland

1 company = 30 sites = product development co-operation between sites

Our mission: News

We tell stories.

Masses of content: Approx. 500 articles published daily (plus videos).

Masses of traffic (readers): Approx. 17 million pageviews per month.

Company’s biggest site is Aamulehti.fi (10 million pageviews per month)

WHERE WE WERE BACK IN 2011?

Where we were back in 2011?

Licenced CMS (launched 2008-2010)

No responsive design

Needed more speed to web development

Lisää kuva napsauttamalla kuvaketta

Vision in 2011: Websites + open source

More speed to development by using open source CMS

More efficiency to development with multiple open source developers

Easier workflows for journalists

Lower costs

First Step: Moro in 2011-2012 (moro.aamulehti.fi)

Pilot project in a nutshell

Hyper local newssite in Tampere

CMS: WordPress

Integration: WP + Online Ad System

Integration: WP + Publishing production system for print

Integration: WP + Analytics

Design: Facelifted (but not responsive).

No in-house coding.

Agile project with a local WordPress development company.

Results: Moro in 2011-2012

Overall: Great

Project: In time.

Readers: Liked.

Journalists: Loved.

Results: Moro in 2011-2012

Next steps

Two more WordPress roll-out projects in 2013 based on moro.aamulehti.fi

1) Porilaine (porilaine.satakunnankansa.fi)

- Hyperlocal newspapaper. Similar to Moro but located in Pori.

2) Hervannansanomat.fi

- Even more hyperlocal newspaper in Hervanta (District in Tampere)

Porilaine & Hervannan Sanomat (2013)

New vision in 2013: News site + paywall

Pilot: kainuunsanomat.fi, kuhmolainen.fi, yla-kainuu.fi, sotkamolehti.fi

Project included 4 newspapers located in Kainuu area:

Kainuun Sanomat (Regional newspaper)

Kuhmolainen (Local newspaper)

Ylä-Kainuu (Local newspaper)

Sotkamo-lehti (Local newspaper)

Kainuunsanomat.fi (2014): New features

- Responsive design- Paywall needed many integrations

Project: - Concept (3 months) + Coding (6 months)- Project management: Alma Media

Kustannus Oy - Three (!) WP partners:

1 company (coding)1 company (reviewing the code)1 company (auditing the security of system)

2011 Moro

2013 Porilaine & HerSa

2014 Kainuun Sanomat

(4 newspape

rs)

…yet to come in 2015: Lapin

Kansa & Pohjolan Sanomat

?

Timeline

SUMMARY: PROS AND CONS

WP’s pros and cons from our viewpoint

PROS

+ Intuitive admin UI

+ Huge amount of (free) plugins

+ Easy to customize

+ No license costs

+ Many agile development partners

+ Speed of development in general

CONS

- Optimization problems: we customized admin the system became a bit too heavy

Pros and cons from our viewpoint

QUESTIONS:

- We don’t have in-house WP developers. Yet?

Our vision in 2011 vs. assessment in 2015

In 2015 we use both licenced CMS and open source CMS.

• “More speed for development by using open source CMS” – CHECK

• “Easier workflows for journalists” - CHECK• “Lower costs” – CHECK• “More efficiency on development with multiple

open source developers” – CHECK, BUT…

Thank you.

Timo-Jaakko Rautavuori Development Manager, Alma Media Kustannus Oy@timojr