Platform rebuild for Solid Info
Solid Info needed control over publishing and research sales without waiting for a developer. We rebuilt the platform around the team’s workflow, preserving paid access while giving the team direct control over article and subscription pricing.
Publishing decisions without a developer queue
Solid Info sells geopolitical research through subscriptions and individual articles. Its custom publishing system made even routine changes dependent on a developer. We rebuilt the platform so the team could manage publishing and sales itself. WordPress was a practical choice because a member of the client’s staff already knew how to use it.
The team’s main request was control over article prices. We put individual and bulk pricing in the publications list, including the option to make an article free. A free article opens without checkout, with its audio narration available too. Subscription prices are managed in Stripe, the payment system, and picked up by the site without a software release.
Moving the publication without disrupting paid access
The rebuild had to preserve the relationship with existing readers. We migrated the archive and accounts, keeping passwords usable so readers could sign in without a reset. We also retained the Stripe account and reconnected existing subscriptions without duplicate charges or lost subscription time. Redirects kept old article links working after the move.
How much research should a preview reveal?
Paid research needs a way to be discovered without giving away the full article. We set the preview at three paragraphs, visible to both readers and search engines. The remaining text stays on the server until access is granted. Free articles are available in full, while topic pages and related publications give readers routes into the archive.
We cached pages and refreshed them when content changed. Subscription plans are retrieved on a schedule, so a page view does not have to wait for a fresh request to the payment service.
A week from brief to launch
The platform launched one week after the brief, with existing subscriptions continuing on the new site from day one. Readers kept the access they had already paid for, while Solid Info’s team gained direct control over publishing and pricing.