Seamlessly Migrated Ask Media Group’s 11 Websites to WordPress from Legacy CMS
Seamlessly Migrated Ask Media Group’s 11 Websites to WordPress from Legacy CMS
Ask Media Group, managing a portfolio of high-traffic websites including Ask.com, partnered with Multidots to migrate 11 digital properties from an outdated CMS, Arbotron to WordPress. The project involved consolidating sites using WordPress Multisite, optimizing workflows, and ensuring seamless content compatibility and ad management.
About Ask Media Group
Ask Media Group, a performance marketing company based in Oakland, California, specializes in leveraging advanced technology and data science to effectively monetize large-scale audiences. As part of IAC’s portfolio, Ask Media Group manages a diverse range of search and content sites, prominently featuring Ask.com. Globally, their network attracts 245 million unique visitors monthly, generating over 500 million unique page views. With an estimated annual revenue of $17.4 million, Ask Media Group has a team of over 100 people. Originally founded as Ask Jeeves in 1996 and rebranded as Ask.com in 2005, the company has maintained a steadfast commitment to enhancing personal knowledge by providing insightful answers.
Goal
- Streamline ad implementation by creating a unified and efficient system for managing ads across multiple websites.
- Establish a centralized content management console/dashboard to improve content control and oversight.
- Reverse-engineer and enhance features, modules, and business logic to ensure smooth functionality and eliminate reliance on limited support from previous CMS developers.
- Adapt and restructure content to be fully compatible with the Gutenberg WordPress editor, enabling efficient content management.
- Translate and optimize the complex editorial workflow and advertising management for seamless integration within the WordPress ecosystem.
Solution
Multidots assembled a dedicated team of engineers and project managers for focused expertise. They conducted a thorough review with Ask Media Group to align feature and business logic requirements.
Leveraging WordPress’s Multisite feature, Multidots consolidated properties and implemented a content syndication strategy. Custom WP-CLI scripts facilitated the migration of over 50,000 posts, maintaining data integrity. Multidots developed various custom Gutenberg blocks to ensure compatibility and provide editors with a seamless editing experience.
Additionally, a bespoke plugin streamlined complex advertising management across sites. This integrated approach optimized efficiency, enabling Ask Media Group to enhance monetization and audience engagement.
Result
- Migrated 11 websites within 12 weeks with zero downtime.
- Created a future-proofed centralized management system.
- Reduced publishing time through optimized workflow processes.
- Enhanced user engagement attributed to modern design elements.
- Advanced event tracking and search API integration further enhanced the properties’ analytics capabilities.
When the Multidots proposed that they could migrate 11 sites in 12 weeks, I was very skeptical and wasn’t really sure that it actually seems doable! But they did it. It’s a pleasure working with the whole team.
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