Building a WordPress Plugin as a Side Business

Jack McConnell - Web Designer & Front-end Developer at Made with Fuel

In my talk I’ll cover the following subjects:

• Giving Back to WordPress
• Plugin Idea, Research, Roadmap
• Providing Excellent Support (and dealing with cross people)
• Creating a Website for the Plugin
• Documentation
• Automation
• Revising Readme / Website Wording
• Releasing & Pricing Add-ons
• Transparency Reports

Level: Intermediate

Transcript

1. “Building a WordPress Plugin as a Side Business” Tuesday 7th March 2017 Jack McConnell Web Designer & Front-end Developer
2. Giving Back to WordPress
3. The Origins of Better Notifications for WordPress https://betternotificationsforwp.com/business/origins/
4. https://wptavern.com/better-notifications-plugin-for-wordpress-now-out-of-beta
5. Finding an Idea
7. • Focus on the overall development of the plugin. • Focus on monetisation, plugin and website conversion, roadmap, advertising. • Deal with support and stay one step back from the technical side. • Get someone that was far more competent than myself at WordPress plugin development.
8. https://www.instagram.com/p/BQuip5-FAVG/
9. Pro Tip #1: A steady roadmap, thorough testing, and frequent releases are the key to gaining new users. These three things work hand-in-hand - don’t neglect any of them. Pro Tip #2: If you’re using a developer, let them know what you intend to monetise your plugin by selling add-ons right from the beginning. It will help them to ensure that the code is set-up properly moving forward.
10. Providing Excellent Support (and dealing with cross people)
11. https://wordpress.org/support/topic/remove-the-notifications-menu-from-all-users-but-the-admin/
12. https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bnfw/reviews/
13. Pro Tip #3: If you provide really good support and someone is pleased with your responses, ask them to leave a review.
14. Website & Documentation
18. Pro Tip #4: Documentation will dramatically lower the amount of support you receive. It takes a while to put together but the time it will take you is far less than the time it will save you so it’s well worth doing it and doing it right.
19. Automation
22. Pro Tip #5: Find the time to set-up some automation. The time it takes to set-up and implement into your workflow will save you bucket loads of time which you can spend however you want.
23. Releasing & Pricing Add-ons
24. https://easydigitaldownloads.com
25. “You’re building an automated system of recurring revenue from selling your add-ons.”
26. How to Price an Add-on Plugin for WordPress https://madewithfuel.com/advice/how-to-price-an-add-on-plugin-for-wordpress/
27. • Look at other WordPress plugins and their add-ons. • Follow your gut - do you have a figure in mind already? • Look at the value it adds to the user. • Try this formula:
28. • Take a starting price, say £29. • Add between 40% and 60%. This will be £105. • Add between 50% and 100%. This will be £64.
29. Pro Tip #6: Whatever pricing structure you decide to use, the most important thing to remember, is not to under value your add-on. No matter how scary you feel it may be. You might be worried that people won’t buy it but let me tell you, the difference of £5 or £10 probably won’t matter. So just be brave and price it confidently.
30. Transparency Reports
31. • Developer Hire • Sales • Infrastructure Costs • Website Statistics • Mailing List Subscribers • Support Tickets • Plugin Statistics • My Time
33. “Success is built on trust. Trust starts with transparency.” Salesforce
34. Pro Tip #7: Release transparency reports! They will do you more good than harm.
35. Links
36. WordPress WordPress.org Plugin Guidelines - https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/detailed-plugin-guidelines/ WordPress Plugin Boilerplate - http://wppb.io Plugin Pricing Models - https://www.cminds.com/wordpress-plugin-pricing-models-takes-cake/ Easy Digital Downloads - https://easydigitaldownloads.com Transparency Reports - http://transparencyreport.com Services Slack - https://slack.com Trello - https://trello.com Todoist - https://todoist.com Zapier - https://zapier.com Freeboard - https://freeboard.io Salesforce - https://www.salesforce.com Podcasts How I Built It - http://howibuilt.it The Smart Business Show with Curtis McHale - https://curtismchale.ca The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast - https://www.smartpassiveincome.com Not forgetting… Made with Fuel - https://madewithfuel.com Better Notifications for WordPress - https://betternotificationsforwp.com
37. “Building a WordPress Plugin as a Side Business” Tuesday 7th March 2017 Jack McConnell Web Designer & Front-end Developer