You Don’t Need to Know Code to Build a Successful WP Plugin

[unleash_it]

Toby Cryns has written a nice Article on WPTavern : You Don’t Need to Know Code to Build a Successful WP Plugin Business.
https://wptavern.com/you-dont-need-to-k ... n-business


With all the consolidation happening in the WordPress plugin ecosystem, it’s easy to think that it’d be futile to start your own WP plugin business. But the reality is that there are many small plugin developers making a living flying under the radar of the big dogs.

As Valuable as 1 Big Project Per Year
Barbara Schendel-Kent didn’t start out looking to become a plugin developer, but she now runs a successful plugin business that supplements her WP consulting income.
4 years ago, Schendel hired a freelance developer to code the initial iteration of her popular Beaver Builder Mega Menu plugin for a client site.
“I needed a specific plugin, and it didn’t exist,” says Schendel-Kent of how she got into the plugin business. After activating the plugin on her client’s website, she asked the developer to round out the plugin’s functionality to get it ready to sell on her own website. Overall, it’s been a big win for Schendel-Kent.

“Beaver Builder Mega Menu has continued to bring in one big project’s worth of revenue every year,” she says. That’s significant for a plugin that requires very little upkeep.

Building ShopWP Into a Full-Time Job
It took 6 years of intensive work, but ShopWP developer, Andrew Robbins, is finally at a point where his WordPress-to-Shopify connector plugin is making enough money to support his family, including purchasing a home to live in. Additionally, as his plugin’s success has grown, so have his ambitions.
“I want ShopWP to be a direct competitor with WooCommerce, even though I’m nowhere near their market share yet,” says Robbins. “I see ShopWP as empowering small business owners – giving them a beautiful and powerful online shop that rivals their larger competitors.”
Another successful plugin developer takes a more modest approach and points out some struggles small plugin businesses encounter.
“It has become difficult to reach new clients who are overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of plugins available,” says Milan Petrovic, a developer who makes the bulk of his living selling his WP plugins on his website, Dev4Press.
“Big companies can pour a lot of money into advertising…It is almost impossible to find websites that have honest, not-paid-for reviews of premium plugins,” adds Petrovic. “The chance of ending up with a bad plugin [based on reviews on a website] is quite high.”

However, some plugin business owners see lots of opportunities for small businesses to promote their plugins.

“Having a free plugin in WP.org is a great place to start,” says Jesse Sutherland, an app and plugin developer who successfully sold 2 WP plugins in 2023. “For example, if you link back to your website from your wp.org page, that’s a valuable link.”

Not to say it’s easy, as you might need to stretch your marketing muscles to make it work for your specific business.

“Before embarking on writing the plugins I sold last year, I did do some keyword research to make sure this was a plugin people were looking for,” Sutherland says.

Additionally, there are ways to outmaneuver the big players.

“Getting on some of the ‘Top 10 List’ sites is helpful, even if it’s a ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours’ thing or maybe a thing where you trade links.”

Sometimes paying is the best way to get your brand out, but you don’t need to spend millions of dollars.

“Paying to get listed on a ‘Top 10’ website or developing a partnership deal or affiliate program are great ways to get people interested in buying your plugin,” Sutherland adds.

It’s never too late to start marketing your plugin.
“I’ve worked on ShopWP for around 6 years, and I’m just now implementing some level of product marketing,” Robbins says. “It’s not even that I was unaware of the importance of doing it; it was pure procrastination.”

Robbins has also been able to increase revenue for his business through strategic price increases.


more ideas, data, background and sources

Toby Cryns hat heute einen sehr interessanten Artikel auf WPTavern veröffentlicht: You Don’t Need to Know Code to Build a Successful WP Plugin Business.
https://wptavern.com/you-dont-need-to-k ... n-business

the Archive for Plugins: https://wordpress.org/plugins/