Louis Reingold, WordCamp Los Angeles, 2014

1. @LouisReingold on Twitter

2. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM

3. IMPROVE UPON WHAT’S
ALREADY SELLING

4. “Think about products you’ve
bought recently that you like,
but you don’t love.”

5. VALIDATE YOUR IDEA
• Check purchase counts on Envato
• Check download counts on WordPress.org
• Use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool
• Get creative.

6. 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

7. PROVIDE DETAILED
SPECIFICATIONS

9. THEMEFOREST &
CODECANYON
• 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.

10. YOUR OWN WEBSITE
• Keep all the money.
• If you plan to do marketing for it yourself, sell it on
your own website.

11. WHERE WP ALL IMPORT GETS
17%
13%
CUSTOMERS
33%
37% Google
WordPress.org
Social
Direct

12. HOW TO GET TRAFFIC FROM
GOOGLE
• Use AdWords to figure out which keywords drive
you traffic and sales
• Then rank organically for those keywords

13. 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

14. 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.

15. GET INFLUENCER ATTENTION

16. OTHER WAYS TO ADVERTISE
• Banners.
• Paid posts.
• Affiliate program.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. ONCE YOU HAVE TRAFFIC
START A/B TESTING

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

22. LIFETIME LICENSES WORK

23. HIRE FOR SUPPORT BY ASKING
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
REAL SUPPORT QUESTIONS

24. JUST GET STARTED