Building and Selling a Commercial WordPress Plugin

Dan Lester

Introduction

• My background• Map out talk• Apology

Background

• Developer• WordPress• iPlatform• Conversocial• Sabbatical

Contents

• Why a WP plugin• Finding the problem• Planning the solution• Building the plugin• WordPress repository• Premium sales• Further promotion• Further development

Why WordPress plugins

• Business type / model– SaaS?– Book?

• Quick to start• Not live• Existing marketplace• Low commitment

Finding the problem

• From Conversocial• Close to home• Clear solution• Web research

Planning the solution

• Look at similar plugins• What’s the simplest solution– Paid?– For free?

• Think about freemium split

Building the plugin

• Tutorials on web• Look at other plugins• Set up local versions of WP• Look at WP code• Codex• PHP 5.2 / namespaces• Git on Bitbucket• Eclipse as text editor

WordPress Repository

• SVN Hosting• Free• GPL– Other libraries– Premium

• Readme.txt• Support

Premium Sales

• New branch in git• Website wp-glogin.com• Pricing• 1 year support and updates• Gumroad• Easy Digital Downloads – Paypal / Stripe• Twitter account + mailing list• T-shirts• Upgrade notices – readme and settings

Further Promotion

• Track everything• Drive Embedder– Free– Increased installs– Freemium split

• Platform• Users page promo

Further Promotion

• Own blog– Case studies– Logos– Intranet guide– Instructions on our site

• Wordpress.org– SEO– Tags– WP Search

Further Development

• Online service• Enterprise– Groups– Self-selecting

• Avatars• All-In-One Intranet

The End

• Dan Lester• contact@wp-glogin.com• http://wp-glogin.com/• @wpglogin