Justin Ferriman of LearnDash and Ross Johnson of Project Panorama discuss starting a premium WordPress plugin business.

1. Creating a Successful
Premium Plugin Business
Ross Johnson & Justin Ferrmin

2. 2
Going from nothing to profits
What We’ll Cover
Getting off the Ground
Going to Market
Expecting Challanges

3. WordCamp Ann Arbor
Justin Ferriman
Founder, LearnDash – WordPress LMS
@learndashlms
Welcome
Ross Johnson
Founder, Project Panorama
@3pointross

4. 4
eLearning Expert Since 1995
Justin Ferriman
Started Career as a Consultant
Consulted with Fortune 500 companies
Created LearnDash in 2012
Industry blogger

5. 5
Story of LearnDash
From idea to thriving business
Inspiration
Exploration
Build
Launch Evolution

6. 6

7. 7
Designer, Developer and CEO at 3.7 DESIGNS
Ross Johnson
Designer & Developer
Teacher
Entrepenuer
Launched Project Panorama in 2014

8. 8
Story of Panorama
From internal tool to independant business
Inspiration
Internal Use
Free Release
Premiumify Launch

9. 9

10. 10
Every journey starts with a single step....
Getting off the Ground
1. Finding your muse
2. Validating your market
3. Getting it built

11. 11
IDEAS
Of course to get started you need an idea....

12. 12
You can build or design anything, but not sure what?
Finding Your Muse
Scratch Your Own Itch
Scratch Your Clients Itch
Research Popular Free Plugins
Create an add-on
WordPressify a SAAS

13. 13
What’s better than free?

14. 14
RESEARCH
You might have something useful, but will people pay for it?

15. 15
Before you invest time and money, research the market wants and needs
Validating Your Market
Keyword Research Release a
Free Plugin
Research
Competitors or
Similar Offers
Search the
WordPres.org
Forums

16. 16
Usefull doesn’t always mean profitable
Will people pay for this?
Make / Save Money Vanity Solve a ProblemSave Time

17. 17
MAKING IT HAPPEN
You have your idea flushed out, how do you make it
happen?

18. 18
Sure you’re a subject matter expert but who can you trust?
Getting it Built
Start with feature list
“Must-have” vs. “Nice-to-have”
Test script & mock-ups
Finding a developer

19. 19
You can build it, but how do you find time?
Finding the Time
Make it a partial client project
Simplify your scope
Small frequent bursts

20. 20
If you build it, will they come? Getting
attention in a crowded marketplace is no
easy task. What works?
Going to Market

21. 21
MARKETING
Marketing doesn’t start the day the product is finished...

22. 22
Using Connections and Current Assets
Going to Market
Use your existing network and audience
Explore low cost paid opportunities
Do giveaways or discounts for sharing
Optimize for search
Create a free version for the plugin
respository

23. 23
Using Content for Pre-Launch
Going to Market
Articles, videos, blog posts
Collect emails (incentive)
Pre-launch contest
Go-Live Discount
Mutually beneficial opportunities

24. 24
It’s not going to be all rainbows and lolipops.
You’re likely to run into some challanages, it’s
best to prepare for them.
Expect Challanges

25. 25
SUPPORT
If you’re getting sales, you’re getting support requests

26. 26
Nightmare Support

27. 27
Nightmare Support
What “the world” sees…

28. 28
Nightmare Support
What we see…

29. 29
Nightmare Support
its great to see when a company holds true to the promises it makes
to its initial supporters
in case you fail to compute i am being sarcastic
its damn f**kin lucky i find your crud usable or else id be seeing you in
court for false advertising and using deception to obtain funds
honestly pathetic to find dudes with such skills being such scum
surely noted and will be passed along to any who will listen
i hate being lied to by scammers
you will not now ever get another cent out of me you skunks and if
you once more tamper with my licensing and again change the
original agreement you FRAUDULENTLY took my money by selling me
you will be coming in direct contact with my legal advisers
f**king pathetic lowlife crap
and to think i thought you worth even a cent off my hard earned
money

30. 30
attached is the original fucking copy of the license you gave me
TAKE F***KING NOTE OF IT SAYING CLEARLY UNLIMITED SITE USAGE
YOU C**K SMOKING F***KING DOG
YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE THIS F***KING PAINFUL RODENT GO THE
F**K AHEAD
READ IT YOU C**K SUCKING PIECE OF F**KING S**T
ITS GOING F**KIN EVERYWHERE TO SHOW YOUR F**KING PUTRID
SCAM FOR WHAT IT F**KING IS
EMAIL STATES EXACTLY THE SAME INFO D**KHEAD
QUESTION MY MOTHER F**KING INTELLIGENCE AGAIN DOG
PLEASE
--
might want to seriously think of what your site was representing itself
as around june
as i am fairly certain i will find an archived copy and or screencast and
with such i will see you stripped of every f**king cent your scams
have ever f**king earnt your piece of f**king s**t a**

31. 31
it appears i owe you an apologyif that would measure for the abusive
attitude towards yourself and staff.
i see where my mistake was and see also i was very wrong in my
accusations
as it is i have breached your terms the refund is unnecessary as the
mistake was my own and you should not suffer financial repercussions
due to my suspension for my own misguided and over inflated ego.
i apologize for any inconvenience and any untoward and insulting
behavior and communications.
Long Days And Pleasant Nights

32. 32
Optimizing Support
Take some of the pain out of great support
Resources (docs, videos, faqs, etc.)
Forum & help desk
Set expectations
Avoid timelines
PhraseExpress

33. 33
Optimizing Support
Take some of the pain out of great support
Use a ticketing system
See the value in every ticket
Use forms to your advantage
Attitude is everything
Some souls are not worth saving

34. 34

35. 35

36. 36

37. 37
Set the tone, use psychology to
keep people happy

38. 38
RELEASES
Pushing out a release and cringe?

39. 39
Releasing Updates
A neccisary risk?
Core versus add-on
Beta test period
Multiple testing environments
Everyone on standby
Be accessible

40. 40
Releasing Updates
Exciting yet risky?
Phased releases
Release early and often
Get a beta team
Develop a QA system
Use your own product

41. 41
COMPETITION
If you’re making money, someone is thinking of joining in...

42. 42
Competition
Should you be worried?
Competition = market
Control the controllables
Monitor, don’t obsess
Respect goes a long way
Focus on customers first

43. 43
Compitition
Should you be worried?
Focus on a niche
Find ways to be different
Lead, don’t follow
Add value beyond the product
Create an ecosystem

44. 44
Go out, make something great
Questions?