Transmodern Media is an interactive media agency. We create, manage and market innovative websites and print publications for publishers, non-profits and social networks. Our expertise is helping clients integrate digital and traditional media to expand their audiences and grow their revenue. See our portfolio to learn more.
 

National Catholic Register

In 2005, the National Catholic Register was faced with a problem. While it was still the leading Catholic weekly newspaper in the nation, its presence on the web was almost non-existent. The NCRegister.com website was unattractive and not functional. Very little archived content was available on the site. And there was no mechanism in place to manage site access for paid subscribers. The root of the problem was that there was no one on staff to guide website development in a coherent direction.

To solve the problem, the newspaper’s management outsourced website development to Transmodern Media. TMM worked with the publication’s department heads – editor, art director, ad director, circulation director – to establish a web strategy, and a plan to build a state-of the-art website.

We created a website plan, based on the Expression Engine content management system, that was cautious, but which would establish a strong foundation for fast web development in the future if competitive presssures required it.

An important part of the process was thinking through the issue of how the website would affect the Register’s business model. The print publication generated millions of dollars in paid subscriptions and advertising. There was little or no pressure from competitors, whether in print or on the web, that threatened this revenue. And therefore, there was no business reason to rush into providing free content on the internet, and risk cannibalizing existing print revenues.

Based on this analysis, TMM counseled the Register to take an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, approach to the web. We created a website plan, based on the Expression Engine content management system, that was cautious, but which would establish a strong foundation for fast web development in the future if competitive presssures required it.

The first version of the new website launched in March 2006, and was focused mostly on the print edition content. It included functionality that allowed the editors to restrict access to any or all of the Register’s content to paid subscribers with the necessary login credentials. In addition, more than ten years worth of archived content was added to the site.

In September 2008, NCRegister.com 2.0 was launched with an expanded format that gave equal billing on the homepage to a new Daily Blog feature, alongside the print edition’s restricted content. In 2009, the plan is to launch NCRegister.com 3.0, with new, exciting features not yet finalized.