how to make money selling wordpress plugins - wordcamp los angeles 2014

@LouisReingold on Twitter

SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM

IMPROVE UPON WHAT’S ALREADY SELLING

“Think about products you’ve bought recently that you like,

but you don’t love.”

VALIDATE YOUR IDEA

• Check purchase counts on Envato

• Check download counts on WordPress.org

• Use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool

• Get creative.

HIRING ON ODESK• Stick to Ukraine & Russia

• 300 hours previous experience at $25+/hr

• No agency applications or generic cover letters

• Look at the work

• Look for long term work history for a single client

PROVIDE DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS

• Good place to get started if you’re new.

• Already has an audience.

• Good for generic products that people are already searching for, i.e. sliders, star ratings, pricing tables, etc.

THEMEFOREST & CODECANYON

• Keep all the money.

• If you plan to do marketing for it yourself, sell it on your own website.

YOUR OWN WEBSITE

17%

13%

33%

37% GoogleWordPress.orgSocialDirect

WHERE WP ALL IMPORT GETS CUSTOMERS

HOW TO GET TRAFFIC FROM GOOGLE

• Use AdWords to figure out which keywords drive you traffic and sales

• Then rank organically for those keywords

WHY DO FREEMIUM

• 33% of our sales come from WordPress.org.

• 2.3% conversion rate from free version downloads to paying customers

• You get SEO benefits because WordPress.org pages also rank in Google

HOW TO DO FREEMIUM

• Remove a few features people are willing to pay for – those with almost strictly commercial applications.

• Show off the pro version features in the free version user interface.

GET INFLUENCER ATTENTION

OTHER WAYS TO ADVERTISE

• Banners.

• Paid posts.

• Affiliate program.

PRICING

• Price low to start, raise later

• If people aren’t buying, it won’t be because you priced too high.

• Lowering your prices later won’t make your existing customers happy.

HAVE A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• Increases your conversion rate by giving people the confidence to buy.

• Allows you to have an easy exit for customers that aren’t right for you.

• Better for your reputation.

ONCE YOU HAVE TRAFFIC START A/B TESTING

“A bug free, easy to use product is easy to support.”

LIFETIME LICENSES WORK

HIRE FOR SUPPORT BY ASKING POTENTIAL CANDIDATES

REAL SUPPORT QUESTIONS

JUST GET STARTED