making a living with wordpress in 2009

!"#$%&"'()*&+design & development for the social web

Making a living with WordPress in 2009

Peter Flaschner (@flashlight)Lucia Mancuso (@lulula)

The Blog Studio (@theblogstudio)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

#WCT09#WPbucks


Introductions


Lucia Mancuso


Peter Flaschner


The Blog Studio


Founded in April 2004


Observed an opportunity to reach

a global market


Grew from just me to 5 full time people in

6 months with no funding, no debt (but

also no profit)


Worked in-house (literally) for about a

year.


Went virtual for a couple of years


Moved into our current office a year

ago


Clients includeTurner Broadcasting

UnicefThe US political right

+ over 100 more


Positioned ourselves as a high end shop

and concentrated our expertise on project

management and service.


Specialize WordPress and Expression

Engine


Team• project manager

• creative director

• senior developer

• front-end developer

• regular freelance designers

• regular freelance developers

• p/t book-keeper/finance guy

• p/t PR


Market History


Couple of things to consider:


1. Growth of supply side


2004 there were about 10 companies

IN THE WORLD doing business

oriented blog design


SXSW 06“How to make

money with your blog design skills”


2. Growth of demand side


Growth of blogosphere


2M blogs in April 2004


State of the Blogosphere / 2008


3. Growth of our capabilities


Increased sophistication of blog

CMSs


+Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Move towards standards-based

websites (away from flash)


=Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Blog designers were really well positioned

to do general web design


In other words:bigger projects

&more opportunities


4. Introduction of viable “off the shelf”

site solutions


Good looking, well designed and put together, easy to

customize via back-end


5. Fall 2008 market crash


Clients looking to cut costs


So:


What does the market look like

now?


Shaky AND Promising


While $$ is tight, smart companies are investing on online


Clients KNOW they need to be in this

space


Clients are less willing to take risks


There are lots of ways for clients to

get a site


Off the shelf


Premium off the shelf


Semi custom


Full custom


Local designer/developer


“Off-shore”


Job board (elance)


Given all of the above, how can we

blog designers make a living?


We’re going to take a look at 10 strategies:


1. Full service


• Strategy

• IA

• UI design

• development

• CMS integration

• project management

• training

• documentation

• maintenance


Pro:Can land larger

projects


Pro:Work on fewer

projects at a time


Pro:Can exercise passion

for social media, marketing,

communications, design,

development, etc etcTuesday, May 12, 2009

Pro:Can charge a

premium for single point of contact


Con:Overhead


Con:Requires dedicated

project management


Con:Risk that a single

large client doesn’t pay


Con:Give up some

flexibility


2. Develop premium themes


Pro:Work once, get paid

while you sleep


Pro:No clients!


Pro:Did I say get paid while you sleep?


Con:Support


Con:Legality


Con:Prices are coming WAYYYYY down.

Competition is global


3. Develop premium plugins


There’s a lot of room in the marketplace

for supported plugins .


Pro: the whole getting paid while

you sleep thing


Con: support & legality


Con: upgrades and updates


4. Streamline your operations


Create base themes


Organize your code library. Snippets are

your friend.


Pro: efficiency & margins


Con: takes time to actually organize


5. Specialize in customizing existing

themes


Pro: MASSIVE market


Pro: Incredibly easy to get work


Con: clients don’t want to pay very

much


Con: Client expectations remain very high, despite

low cost


6. Do quick and dirty design/development

(high volume)


Pro: lots of work out there


Pro AND Con: very low touch/low service


Pro AND Con: Very form-based client communication


Con: Low satisfaction client/supplier

relationship


Con: Client expectations need to

be aggressively managed.


7. Offer specialized service


Just developer


Just designer


Just plugin developer


Just project manager


Just sales


Pro: specialists can usually charge a

premium


Con: you’d better like what you do


Con: really dependent on your

partners


8. Go super niche


Just build sites for basket weaving tulip

farmers


Consider if you can reach your super-

niche


Trade journals, trade sites, conferences,

etc


Pro: captive market


Pro: reuse hard-won knowledge


Pro: reuse strategy/components/etc


Con: limited niche size


Con: sensitive to competition


9. Offer additional services


Hosting


Email marketing


Social Media strategy


Training


Server maintenance


SEO


Pro: can generate ongoing revenue


Con: You have to know what you’re

doing


10. Explore other platforms (less competition)


Expression Engine


Joomla


Drupal


Yadda yadda yadda


Pro: less competition


Con: learning curve


Our hard won advice


Think beta


Trust your instinct


Learn which projects to avoid


Good, Cheap, Quick: pick two


Charge for your time (all of it)


Get your link on the footer of the sites

you launch.


Consider your qualifications, your

time, your safety-net, and most

importantly, what are you passionate

about?Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Be willing to work your ass off


In conclusion


There’s a place for everyone in the

market


Figure out what you’re passionate about and do it


Consider your client’s needs, and be

respectful of their time and money


Let’s raise the caliber for everyone


Thanks!Peter Flaschner (@flashlight)

Lucia Mancuso (@lulula)The Blog Studio (@theblogstudio)

www.theblogstudio.com


http://www.theblogstudio.com

http://www.theblogstudio.com

making a living with wordpress in 2009

Design

blog studio

peter flaschner

lucia mancuso

project management

premium

market

clients

sleep