Presented at WordCamp Montreal 2014 Do you ever browse the WordPress Plugin Directory and wish you could see your creations up there? Have you ever written code for a personal site or customer and thought that others could benefit from having access to your work? ‘So, you want to be a plugin developer?’ covers numerous aspects of plugin development, including finding an idea for your plugin and securing a space for it in the directory, programming resources and code quality guidelines to make sure your add-on is top-notch, and more business-oriented topics like monetization and promotion. With all of these tips and tools in hand, your next idea could be the next great WordPress plugin.

1. SO, YOU WANT TO BE A
PLUGIN DEVELOPER?
, WordPress Plugin Developer /Yannick Lefebvre @ylefebvre
ylefebvre.ca/wcmtl14
WordCampMontréal2014

2. ABOUT ME
User since 2004
First plugin in 2005
Eight free plugins on
Private plugins for customers
official repository

3. MY BOOK
Published July 2012
Learn all about plugin
development through more
than 80 step-by-step
examples

4. MY GOALS TODAY
Educate potential plugin developers
Make users appreciate plugin dev work

5. TOPICS
Finding inspiration
Coding your masterpiece
Promoting your work
Monetization strategies
Supporting your community

6. FINDING INSPIRATION
Best plugins come from solving actual needs
functions.php code
Customer plugins
Recurring needs from wordpress.org forums
No good plugin for a task

7. WHAT CAN A PLUGIN DO?
Almost
ANYTHING!

8. ACTIONS AND FILTERS 101
Actions allow you to execute code almost
anywhere in page
rendering
Add content
Alter core functionality
Add custom admin panels
Extend WP (CPT, DB Schema, etc...)

9. ACTIONS AND FILTERS 101
Filters allow you to modify almost
any data before it is displayed
Hide unwanted elements
Modify page content
Insert new items on pages based on configuration (e.g.
image slider)

10. ACTIONS AND FILTERS 101
1061 action hooks
1594 filter hooks
Full list of calls hookr.io

11. ACTIONS AND FILTERS: THE BIG PICTURE
Community-driven sites
Complex store fronts
Dynamic content-driven sites
Enhance content editing
Create new importers
New ways to interact with external web sites

12. DID OTHERS HAVE YOUR IDEA?
> 32000 plugins!
Look for others
Can you do better?
Name taken?
Reserve name ASAP

13. PLUGIN REPOSITORY SEO OPTIMIZATION
wordpress.org or plugins admin
Catchy name
Short description
Keywords
Test searches

14. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
CODE QUALITY
Size
Execution time
Admin versus front-end
PHP warnings

15. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
USER EXPERIENCE
Clean admin pages
No file modification
div tags for styling
FAQ and Documentation

16. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
TAB NAVIGATION STYLE
New style

17. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
DISTRIBUTION LICENSE
GNU General Public License v2 or later
Core plugin code
PHP libraries
javascript / jQuery plugins
Icons and images
Plugins scanned for non-compliance

18. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
PLUGIN SECURITY
Scanned for security holes
Known insecure libraries (Timthumb)
Malicious code injection
SQL injection
Relative file load paths
Suspended and hidden when issues found
Fix ASAP to get back online

19. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
INTERNATIONALIZATION
Follow WordPress guidelines on making your plugin translatable
I18n for WordPress Developers
Dedicated users often provide translations for your work

20. CODING YOUR MASTERPIECE
TESTING
Single-site versus multi-site
Single plugin versus Top 10 popular plugins
http vs https
jQuery
Multiple themes
Local machine vs hosted site
Configuration option mix

21. PROMOTING YOUR WORK
PLUGIN BANNER IMAGE

22. PROMOTING YOUR WORK
PLUGIN BANNER IMAGE

23. PROMOTING YOUR WORK
PLUGIN BANNER IMAGE

24. PROMOTING YOUR WORK
PLUGIN BANNER IMAGE

25. morgueFile
PROMOTING YOUR WORK
IMAGE RESOURCES
Others: ,StockVault EveryStockPhoto

26. IconArchive
PROMOTING YOUR WORK
ICON RESOURCES
Others: ,Icons8 The Noun Project

27. FontSquirrel
PROMOTING YOUR WORK
FONT RESOURCES

28. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
FREE PLUGINS
Only free plugins on wordpress.org
Donation links
Ads for premium version
Guilt-based support
Revenue expectation: $0-100 / month

29. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
PREMIUM PLUGINS AND ADD-ONS
e.g. Gravity Forms, MailPoet
Direct revenue
Separate sale channel and hosting platform
Custom update mechanism
Potential piracy
User support expectation
Revenue expectation: Higher, more work

30. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
FAIR USE
Direct call to action
Allows integrators to remove donation links
Revenue expectation: Slightly better than free

31. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
FREE PLUGINS

32. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
MARKET SIZE
One download != 1 user
Update spikes, installed but not kept

33. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
MARKET PREFERENCE
Most users don't want to pay
But they want everything!

34. MONETIZATION STRATEGIES
PLUGINS AS PORTFOLIO
Funding for new features
Custom contract work

35. SUPPORTING YOUR COMMUNITY
Popular plugin = Questions
Paid plugin = Demanding users
Avoid general WP support questions
Manage expectations

36. SUPPORTING YOUR COMMUNITY
KEEP ALL SUPPORT IN ONE PLACE
wordpress.org forums
Easier for users to search
Harder to miss a question
Advanced users can help others!

37. SUPPORTING YOUR COMMUNITY
VIDEO TUTORIALS
Free tools: ,screenr.com Screencast-O-Matic

38. SUPPORTING YOUR COMMUNITY
FEATURE REQUESTS
Good and bad ideas
Feature creep
Don't be afraid to say NO!

39. SUPPORTING YOUR COMMUNITY
UPDATE FREQUENCY
Updates include
Bug fixes
New functionality
After update, users need to
Read changelog
Test site functionality

40. SUPPORTING YOUR COMMUNITY
DROPPING FEATURES
Avoid if possible
No easy way to poll users
Remove and cross fingers

41. CONCLUSION

42. THANK YOU FOR
ATTENDING MY TALK
QUESTIONS?
ylefebvre.ca/wcmtl14
@ylefebvre