The WordPress content management system (WP CMS) is undoubtedly an excellent choice for a publisher’s website. Famous WordPress sites include Spotify Newsroom, Taylor Swift, and TED Blog.
One of the best things about the open-source CMS is that it’s been out there forever (well, not actually forever, but it does feel like it, right?) and is constantly improving. It has also been tried and tested in the publishing industry over the years, gaining the trust of some of the biggest names in the game.
If it works smoothly for big-scale publishers like Time, People Magazine, Variety, TechCrunch, Vogue, The New Yorker with millions of site visits per month, it’s safe to assume it will work for your digital publishing business as well. Right?
As a publisher, there are many factors you need to take into consideration when choosing the right platform for your digital strategy.
The perfect software solution for an online publisher has to be:
- Easily scalable, so it can adapt to growing traffic volumes on your website in real-time.
- Flexible and versatile to answer your business individual needs.
- Customizable to fit your team’s particular workflow.
- Simple and standard enough for a hassle-free onboarding process of new team members and non-techie writers.
- SEO-friendly and up-to-date with the latest practices.
- User-friendly so it doesn’t get in the way of the creative flow of your team.
- And above all, it has to be secure.
WordPress has all of the above and so much more.
WordPress can be optimized for massive volumes of traffic and superior website performance. The platform is immensely scalable and secure, and when combined with the power of a highly-skilled development team, it can hold up to intense spikes in traffic without any problems.
WordPress is huge. Over 43.4 of the CMS market relies on it. Which makes it the most popular publishing platform out there. The advantages of this top-ranking open-source software are endless, therefore we can only list a few of the most beneficial ones, such as:
- A large community working contributing and solving common issues
- Officially-endorsed plugin integrations by large companies
- Experienced developer agencies, offering support and custom solutions for your needs
For the end-user, this means lessening the investment in support services and the development of custom solutions.
To be honest, we could write pages and pages about how great WordPress is, and it still wouldn’t cover all it offers to you as a publisher.
So without further ado, we’ve compiled a list of 12 of the biggest names in publishing with WordPress-Powered websites.
Famous WordPress Sites: 12 Top Publishers Using WordPress
- Time
- The Economist
- TechCrunch
- Observer
- Wired
- People Magazine
- The Harvard Gazette
- Fortune
- The New Yorker
- Variety
- The Next Web
- FiveThirtyEight
1. Time
Time magazine is one of the most famous American publications. It has been around for almost 100 years. It has 5000+ editions in print, and more than 20 years of online presence.
The digital version of Time includes all articles, even those published in print, along with bonus material such as exclusive videos, additional photo galleries, and international content. The website of the magazine also features a digitized archive of all editions ever printed.
2. The Economist
The Economist has been around for an astonishing 177 years. It focuses on independent political analyses, current news, business, technology, and culture. The publisher has 1.7M subscribers, print and digital combined, with an impressive amount of daily traffic to its website.
The economist.com was launched in 1996. The digital editorial focuses on quality over quantity and continues to expand its company’s revenue.
3. TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an exclusively online edition founded in 2005. It focuses on technological analyses, news, opinions, the review of internet products, and startup companies.
TechCrunch is one of the leading online media outlets in technology, scaled to successfully handle traffic surges around new releases and industry events.
4. Observer
The Observer entered the scene in 1791 as the first-ever Sunday paper. It covers a variety of topics such as current news, lifestyle, politics, business, arts, education, culture, and international affairs.
The digital edition of the paper has now been in circulation for 25 years and uses WP CMS exclusively.
5. Wired
Wired is an American tech magazine established in 1993. This media outlet covers tech news, analyses the impact of technology on society, and shares insight on the people behind new gadgets, science, and electronics.
The digital version of Wired was launched in 1996. For the greater part of its online content, Wired relies on WordPress.
6. People Magazine
People Magazine was founded 47 years ago and has been covering the latest celebrity gossip ever since. It is the second most popular magazine in America, and in 2020 had one of the top 10 highest circulations in the U.S.
People.com has been online since 1998 and relies exclusively on the WP CMS to cover its digital publishing needs.
7. The Harvard Gazette
The Harvard Gazette started as a weekly bulletin of notable events happening around the campus and developed into a full-grown newspaper. It later evolved into an exclusively digital edition with international significance.
The Gazette covers current events through their students’ perspective, as well as scientific progress, culture, and politics.
The newspaper of the oldest university in America and one of the most prestigious in the world is powered entirely by the WP CMS.
8. Fortune
Fortune is a high-class business magazine established in 1929. It focuses on industrialism, investing, finances, and technology. It features in-depth analyses of the business world and quality journalism.
The online version of the magazine was launched in 1998 and uses the WP CMS.
9. The New Yorker
The New Yorker was established as a local Manhattan magazine back in 1925. It has since grown into one of the most influential and popular media names in the world. The publication features political and cultural commentary, fiction, poetry, and humor.
The digital presence of the magazine first took hold in 1998 using a mix of two content management systems. In 2014 The New Yorker website was relaunched, using the WP CMS.
A quote made shortly after the transition by editor Nicholas Thompson clearly shows how it affected the work of the magazine:
We’re looking at almost total upside there. Because the tools are no longer getting in the way of producers doing their job, NewYorker.com is now able to publish a greater volume of stories every day. The site used to top out at 10 or 12 stories each day: now, it publishes around 20 per day. […] It’s a lot easier to be productive now, and we can now make the site fresh a lot more quickly than we used to.
10. Variety
Variety Magazine was established way back in 1905. It is considered to be the most authoritative journal for show business news. The publication features up-to-the-moment pieces of current events, analyses of topics in the entertainment industry, and credible breaking-news information.
The digital edition variety.com was launched in 1996 and employs the best digital practices, rocking a website entirely powered by WP CMS.
11. The Next Web
The Next Web is a Netherlands-based, exclusively digital publication founded in 2006. It focuses on technological news and events, industry analyses and insights, international tech business, and culture.
The website thenextweb.com is powered by several control management systems, with WordPress being one of the major ones.
12. FiveThirtyEight
FiveThirtyEight is an American website launched in 2008. It focuses on politics, economics, and sports. The publication derives its content from digital statistics and opinion polls and produces insights and analyses of consumer online behaviors.
The website is powered entirely by the WordPress content management system.
Recap
WordPress’s content managing system is more than up to meeting your digital publication needs. It has all the perks of a custom-made CMS and none of the disadvantages. Its scalability and flexibility has made it the reliable choice for some of the biggest names in publishing.
WP is a powerful, yet simple and user-friendly CMS, which can increase your editorial team’s productivity and your website performance.
Is your website powered by WordPress? Share your user-experience in the comments below!
Team DevriX
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