There have been a number of tools available for WordPress for years to help digital publishers. Today, I want to highlight some of those tools.
Imagine, if you will, Clark Kent taking over the Daily Planet in 2017. Lois Lane would be his top reporter and maybe Bruce Wayne would help back the newspaper financially. One thing I am sure of, Kent would take the paper totally digital. If he does that, the digital publication would be built on top of WordPress. If he were to build on WordPress, he would find a lot of resources available to help him build the best digital publication in the country. And, I think he would start with WordCamp for Publishers.
In August, a WordCamp for publishers will be held in Denver. It is the first of its kind. The event will feature those who use WordPress to help with digital publishing. What is WordCamp for Publishers? Learn more below
WordCamp for Publishers is a community-organized event bringing together folks who use WordPress to manage publications, big or small. This event will empower participants by coaching them on best practices, and encourage collaboration in building open source tools for publishers.
I am intrigued by the WordCamp and happy to see the event. For many years, publications have been using the power of WordPress to execute the publishing of content online. It is no secret that some of the foremost online publications online use our favorite content management system.
There have been a number of tools available for WordPress for years to help digital publishers. Today, I want to highlight some of those tools.
Largo, Insitute for Nonprofit News
I came across this project a few months ago. Largo is WordPress development framework for publishers. The team at the Institute for Nonprofit News took the time to build into the framework some of the things needed to run an online publication. The framework is open source, keeping the cost down for smaller publishing companies, many of who are nonprofits.
One of the supporters of Largo is Ben Keith and he is an organizer of the WordCamp for Publishers. It really is nice to see these two worlds coming together to support each other.
Advertising Plugins
If you are running an online publication, at some point you begin to wonder about advertising revenue. Plugins can make it much easier to insert self-hosted ads on your website.
Advance Ads
I have been using WP Advance Ads for a while now and have been pleased. The plugin has not given me any issues working with other WordPress products. Thomas is constantly improving and he provides stellar support. The base plugin is free. While the add-ons cost, the prices are reasonable and there are packages.Further, I have been very pleased with any support questions I have submitted. The developer responds quite promptly.
OIOPublisher
One of the more popular advertising plugins is OIOPublisher. OIOPublisher is fairly comprehensive and allows advertisers to sign up on your website with the use of a zone layout system. The price point for this plugin is reasonable as well. According to an article, WP Beginner uses OIOPublisher to manage its ads.
Digital Publisher News Themes
What good is having a news website if you don’t have a good WorPress news theme?
Independent Publisher
Independent Publisher is a very minimal theme developer Raam Dev. It is an open source theme that is monitored closely. About the project, Dev says,
If you believe that everyone has a right to independent publishing and that a beautiful, well-maintained home for your published work should be beautifully designed, well-maintained, and available to everyone free of charge, then this project is for you.
Super News
Super News is a nice looking publishing theme available at Theme Junkie. The theme is Advertising and WooCommerce Ready, it includes a drag and drop page builder, a nice robust homepage layout, custom fonts, colors, and much more. The demo looks really nice. Theme Junkie also has a number of other news related themes.
Local Media Genesis Child Theme
If you are a Genesis developer you may want to check out VSELLIS Media’s Local Media Child theme. The theme was designed specifically for hyperlocal news publishers. Scott Ellis, the owner, and developer, uses the theme to run his own hyper-local website, Lifestyle Frisco.
StudioPress, the parent company of the Genesis Framework, has a couple of themes in its portfolio that can be used. One is for magazines and one is for new, and both look really nice.
More news themes
Top 30 Responsive Magazine News WordPress Themes For Blogging and News Sites 2017 – Colorlib
10+ Best News WordPress Themes for 2017 – CodinWP
24 Best WordPress Magazine Themes of 2017 – WPBeginner
The Best Magazine WordPress Themes – Premium WordPress
More Products
Anvil is an All-in-one Dashboard for digital publishers from ZEEN101. According to the website,
This is the only platform that enables publishers to manage their publications, content, social media distribution, mobile apps, advertisers, and subscribers all in one WordPress dashboard.
Do you need another page builder? Two different page builders serve as sponsors at the WordCamp for Publishers, Mesh Plugin, and BoldGrid.
Mesh is a product created by Linchpin and is a “. . . a simple, responsive solution for adding multiple sections of content within WordPress pages, posts and custom post types.” Mesh can really be a powerful solution for the more complex layouts that some digital publishers utilize.
BoldGrid is a theme framework with multiple layouts. The themes are easily customizable and fantastic for WordPress beginners. Thes products allow publishers to be publishers rather than worrying about being a developer.
Conclusion
Publishers have their own unique issues like any other niche industry. There have been products for some time to address many of those issues such as themes and advertising plugins. Now, it seems, there are organizations and companies that are willing to help fill a gap in the industry.
Gone are the days of the local neighborhood newsletter, and now, hyper-local news websites, as well as niche blogs, are filling an important role in our society. Publishing is moving more and more to a digital platform, and open source products like WordPress can help ease that transition for so many publishers.
Publishers that have multiple sites might also look into using MainWP to manage those sites. Check out our product and see if it can help you manage your websites.
What is your favorite digital news website?
