Online news delivery for a newsroom that never sleeps.
Our role
The New York Post is one of the country’s oldest and most widely circulated newspapers, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton. The online edition of the New York Post (NYPost.com) faced multiple challenges in today’s dynamic and demanding digital news environment.
Challenges
NYPost.com needed a redesign and faced competition for visitors from other major content publishers. The web product was closely tied to its print product which meant editors had to publish online content using a content management system (CMS) originally built to handle the print publication. This cost the staff valuable minutes when reporting on breaking news stories, resulting in them being scooped by their competitors.
The New York Post chose to implement a new web publishing system and relaunch NYPost.com on WordPress.com VIP, a platform that emphasizes scalability and security with the freedom and flexibility of open-source software. The Post selected Alley in 2012 to handle the rebuild of its news product and transition the site to the new platform.
New CMS and content migration.
Solutions
New CMS and content migration
Alley led one of the largest content migrations in the history of WordPress, migrating over a million pieces of legacy content and archives — including images — to the WordPress platform. Using custom post types, taxonomies, and our own Fieldmanager plugin, we created a streamlined experience for each role within the newsroom and each task that had to be performed. This optimized the editorial workflow to fit the rapid needs of a newsroom of nearly two hundred reporters.
We also synchronized WordPress with the existing print CMS, enabling editors to easily use print content online. Instead of waiting until The Post’s print edition closed to publish stories online, editors could now publish to the web throughout the day. The editorial staff has more control over story placement and the ability to easily adapt the homepage to emphasize certain stories.
PageSix.com
As part of the migration, we also separated The NYPost.com’s popular Page Six content into its own site at PageSix.com to allow the New York Post to feature it more prominently. We built a custom code base that can be shared between both sites and a custom syndication plugin, giving editors the ability to easily push content between the two sites within WordPress.
Technology integrations
We performed numerous technology integrations in order to enhance the experience for NYPost.com visitors and to streamline the workflow for outbound content. These include:
- Building a custom application programming interface (API) for the New York Post and Page Six iOS and Android mobile apps.
- Integrating live scores and betting lines with the Sports page.
- Integrating live weather and transit statuses with the Metro page.
- Integrating analytics data with widgets throughout the site to highlight trending content.
- Automating content for daily email newsletters for both sites.
- Building a custom floating share bar on stories to facilitate sharing across social media platforms.
- Integrating a custom membership solution to increase direct revenue and user acquisition.
- Integrating social login and commenting platforms to facilitate discussions on the site.
Responsive design implementation
When we launched The New York Post’s site in 2013, mobile traffic comprised only thirty percent of their audience. Recognizing the growing importance of mobile users, we implemented a fully responsive design that ensured seamless functionality across all devices. This included integrating PageSix.com’s new design, which featured high-resolution, expandable photo galleries. Our investment in mobile optimization has paid off significantly, as mobile traffic has now surged to over eighty percent, demonstrating the success of our responsive design strategy.
Advanced search integration
Traditional search infrastructures can be costly and inefficient. We integrated ElasticSearch to comb through the site’s extensive article database within milliseconds, delivering relevant results to users almost instantaneously. This advanced search functionality includes faceted search filters, allowing readers to narrow their search by section, date, and other criteria. Additionally, the multi-site search capability enables users to find relevant results across both Page Six and New York Post, providing a seamless content discovery experience.
Ad customization
We worked with NYPost.com to turn its standard banner ads into prominent display ads that hovered over the site’s top story before shrinking to the side of the page. We created custom interstitial ad functionality within their new photo galleries and the ability to serve a custom site skin, which is currently popular with advertisers. We also built a platform for publication of sponsored content within the existing site. We continue to work on additional new and exciting sponsorship features for NYPost.com and PageSix.com.
Enhanced data insights with GA4 and parse.ly
To provide comprehensive insights into user behavior and content performance, we integrated the site with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Parse.ly. This setup offers detailed analytics, enabling the editorial team to make data-driven decisions, track key metrics, and optimize content strategies to better engage their audience.
Membership and subscription services
We developed a subscription-based membership section for New York Post’s premium Sports+ offering. This includes a robust paywall system that ensures exclusive content access for subscribers, providing enhanced value and tailored experiences for loyal readers. The membership platform supports various sign up options and integrates seamlessly with the overall site infrastructure.
Multi-channel breaking news alerts
We built a breaking news alert system, allowing the New York Post to send out alerts through various channels – email lists, web push notifications, app alerts, and a website banner – all with a single click. All alert functionalities are controlled from within the CMS, ensuring timely and effective communication with readers during critical news events and increasing engagement.
Shopping and personalized content modules
To enhance user engagement and drive e-commerce, we built personalized modules and commerce integrations for the shopping section. These features deliver customized content and product recommendations based on user preferences and behavior, boosting affiliate revenue.
Flexible and configurable homepage with Gutenberg blocks
We implemented an extremely customizable homepage using the Gutenberg editor, allowing for easy curation of news module content. This highly configurable setup enables the editorial team to quickly adjust the layout and highlight top stories, ensuring the homepage remains dynamic and up-to-date with the latest news.
Video integration
To enhance the multimedia experience, we built custom integrations for two video providers: JW Player and Ex.co. Our integration with the CMS simplifies the process of adding videos to articles, including the creation of a dedicated video post type with a carousel for easy browsing. We also implemented a floating video player and provided multiple player options, such as auto-play and click-to-play. Additionally, we integrated ads and analytics into the video players, ensuring comprehensive tracking and monetization. These video elements are also integrated into the sitemaps and enriched with microdata to optimize on-page SEO.
Results
The New York Post is now the largest American newspaper (by pageviews and circulation) running solely on the WordPress platform, and one of the few daily publishers utilizing WordPress as its sole web CMS. This achievement underscores The Post’s commitment to innovation and adaptability in the rapidly evolving digital news landscape. By leveraging the flexibility and scalability of WordPress, The Post has set a new standard for digital journalism, demonstrating the powerful capabilities of open-source technology in meeting the demands of a modern newsroom.
Let’s talk about how we can put our talents to work for you.
