Do you have a plugin (or several) in the WordPress.org repository? Have you ever wondered how to turn your plugin development skills into a sustaining income-based business? Not sure how to go about it?
In this session, Adam details his story of creating a sustainable plugin business. He shares actionable advice that audience members can put into practice immediately to grow not only a user-base, but also a customer-base. Adam also explains the techniques he uses to guide free-users to premium products. Attendees will learn everything they need to know to create a plugin that people will love and recommend to others.
You Created a Plugin. Now What? WordCamp Sacramento
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You Created a Plugin
Now What?
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Who Are You?
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Adam W. Warner
• WordPress Evangelist at SiteLock
• Co-Founder at FooPlugins
• Discovered WordPress in 2005
• WordPress Community Addict
• Fan of Fractals
• Lover of Meatballs
• Proud Dad!
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History of Plugins
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• WordPress Released – 5/27/2003
• Mingus – 5/22/2004- Added support of Plugins
• Duke – 12/31/2005 - Improvements for Plugin developers
• Brecker – 3/29/2008 - Improved plugin system
• Coltrane – 12/11/2008 - Auto upgrades and installation/wp-admin
• Carmen – 12/19/2009 - Batch plugin updating
• Benny – 9/4/2014 - Plugin discovery
• Dinah – 12/18/2014 - Plugin recommendations
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• WP eCommerce
• Wishlist Member
• WPMUDEV - 2007
• Gravity Forms - 2008
• iThemes (Billboard plugin) – 2008
• CodeCanyon - 2010
Premium Plugins
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Should You Start?
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Cons:
Uncertain income
Health insurance
More complicated finances
Higher criteria for loans
Doing everything = stress
Remote work isolation
Considerations
Pros:
Do what you love
In total control
Better work/life balance?
More efficient than office
Pride
More $$$
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• Title
• Excerpt (short description)
• Description (including FAQ,
changelog, everything…)
• Tags
• Slug
• Author name
• Contributors names
Algorithm Phase One
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• Last update date
• Compatibility with the
latest core version
• Number of active installs
• % of resolved support
tickets
• Average rating
Algorithm Phase Two
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• T i t l e
• E x c e r p t ( s h o r t d e s c r i p t i o n )
• D e s c r i p t i o n ( i n c l u d i n g F A Q , c h a n g e l o g , e v e r y t h i n g … )
• T a g s
• S l u g
• A u t h o r n a m e
• C o n t r i b u t o r s n a m e s
• T r a n s l a t i o n s
• R e l e a s i n g a n u p d a t e e v e r y 1 8 0 d a y s
• T e s t e d u p t o ( C o m p a t i b i l i t y w i t h l a t e s t c o r e v e r s i o n )
• R e s o l v i n g s u p p o r t t i c k e t s
SEO Summary
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Data Collection is GoodUninformed Decisions are Bad
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Streamlining
Upgrades
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Have I Mentioned
Marketing Yet?
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• Opt-in in free plugin
• Opt-in when upgrading
• Automation
• Add value
• Ask for the sale
• Freemius webhooks + Mailchimp = awesome
Email Marketing
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• Plugin features
• Plugin settings
• Related tutorials
• Use support as inspiration
• Customer showcase
Content Marketing
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• Use data/analytics to tell you where
• Sources for content
• Schedule posts
• Reword and reuse
• Not a designer? Use this...
Social Media Marketing
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• Incentivize reviews
• Increased exposure
• Increased website traffic
• Better search engine ranking
• You control percentages
• Opens partnership doors
Affiliate Program
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Pro Tips
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Developer Tips
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• Hat tip to John Turner and Josh Pollock
• Sanitize and validate everything
• Use the WordPress Settings API and native UI CSS classes
• Prefix everything
• Namespace everything
• Properly enqueue scripts
Make Your Life Easier
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The Elephant in the
Room
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Support Will Make or Break You
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Thank You – Questions?
• Follow at:
• @SiteLock
• @wpmodder
• My Blog Posts:
• http://wpdistrict.sitelock.com
• http://succeedwithwp.com
• https://fooplugins.com