🛡 WordPress Plugins: Preselling, ChatGPT, Lifetime Deals

In this Trends.vc Report, we talk about how to build WordPress plugins with ChatGPT, how to get early customers and revenue, boosting your chances of success and more.

💎 Why It Matters

WordPress powers 43.1% of the internet.

🔍 Problem

WordPress can’t fulfill all user needs on its platform.

💡 Solution

WordPress plugins help users customize websites based on their needs.

🏁 Players

WordPress Plugins

• Gravity Forms • Build and manage web forms
• Memberpress • Manage and monetize paid memberships
• RafflePress • Add giveaways, contests and rewards
• MailPoet • Write, send and automate emails
• WooCommerce • Build a custom online store
• Yoast • Boost your SEO
• Elementor • Website builder for professionals on WordPress

WordPress Plugin Developers

• OMGIMG by Corey Maass and Cory Miller • Create better feature and social images
• Advanced Woo Labels by Michael B • Create and manage product labels for your online store
• Mailchimp for WordPress by Danny Van Kooten • Grow your email list in Mailchimp
• GiveWP by Devin Walker • Online donation and fundraising plugin
• Order Redirects by Derek Ashauer • Set up custom redirects for WooCommerce orders
• Contact Form 7 by Takayuki Miyoshi • Make and manage custom contact forms
• AnyWhere Elementor Pro by Anand Upadhyay and Pooja Derashri • Add dynamic elements to your website

🔮 Predictions

• ChatGPT will make it easier to build WordPress plugins.

• GTCoding shows how to make a simple pop-up plugin with ChatGPT.
• Jamie Marsland shows how to make 3 WordPress plugins in 10 minutes.
• Unconventional Coding shows how to make a form encryption and price list downloader plugins.

• We’ll see more multi-purpose themes with integrated plugins. They will make it easier to extend WordPress without installing more plugins.

• Divi integrates with Divi Pixel which has 50+ modules to customize your website.
• Themeco lets you extend the functionality with free and premium WordPress plugins.
• Avada lets you customize your website with Avada Elements and integrated premium plugins.

• We’ll see more AI-powered WordPress plugins that help to automate business tasks.

• OpenAI Chatbot uses ChatGPT for customer support.
• AI Engine lets you integrate AI models into your website.
• WordLift is an AI-powered SEO tool for growing your traffic.

🛠 How to Build WordPress Plugins

• Launch a beta version of your plugin to get early feedback.

• Automator announced a public beta to get developer feedback.
• Angry Creative announced a beta for Coil Web Monetization to get early feedback.
• Corey Maass announced the public beta of Kanban for WordPress and got 80 beta users.

• Build in public to build trust and get early users.

• Lesley is building Newsletter Glue in public.
• Michael B is building Advanced Woo Labels in public.
• Corey Maass and Cory Miller are building OMGIMG in public.

• Presell to get early users, revenue and feedback.

• Brizy offered a lifetime deal for early adopters.
• Independent Analytics has a discount for early adopters.
• Laura Elizabeth got $10,000 in pre-orders for building Client Portal.
• Luke Carbis shares how to presell WordPress plugins via early access.

🌱 How to Grow WordPress Plugins

• Build lots of plugins to boost your chances of success.

• WPManageNinja has Fluent Forms, Fluent CRM, Ninja Tables and more.
• Derek Ashauer has Sunshine Photo Cart, Confetti, Order Redirects and more.
• Takayuki Miyoshi has Contact Form 7, Bogo, Flamingo and Really Simple CAPTCHA.

• Use lead magnets to build an email list of prospective customers.

• Weglot offers an ebook with best practices on website translation.
• Elegant Themes offers a 10% discount for Divi plugin in exchange for your email.

• Offer a demo to help website owners see your value faster.

• SabaiDiscuss has a demo of a forum.
• Modal Survey has a demo of interactive forms.
• Graphina Pro has a demo of dynamic charts, graphs and data tables.

💰 How to Monetize WordPress Plugins

• Offer one-time payments for less mental overhead.

• JobSearch WP lets you add a job board for $39.
• Digits lets you add passwordless authentication for $39.

• Offer lifetime deals to get users, feedback and revenue.

• Zynith has a lifetime deal for $99.99.
• wcEazy has lifetime deals for all its plans.
• WPXPO has 2 lifetime deals for its plugin bundles.

• Charge a subscription to get a predictable cash flow.

• Akismet helps to fight spam. It costs ~$10-50 per month.
• AAWP helps to manage Amazon affiliates. It costs €49-399 per year.
• Quttera Web Malware Scanner helps to boost the website’s security. It has monthly and yearly plans.

😠 Haters

“WordPress is saturated.”
WordPress has ~60,000 plugins for 810,000,000 websites. Shopify App Store has 8,000 apps for 1,750,000 merchants. Chrome Web Store has ~138,000 extensions for 2,000,000,000 users. There’s room for you too.

“WordPress plugins must use the GPL license which lets anyone see my code. This makes it easier to compete with me.”
Your competitors can see your code, you can see theirs. Execution defines the winner. Build better, faster and simpler plugins to succeed.

“Platform risk is too high. Automattic acquires successful plugins to compete with other players. They are the developers of WordPress. This is an unfair advantage.”
While it’s hard to compete with a company that has resources and insights into its own platform. There are hundreds of successful plugins who grabbed their piece of the pie. Focus on great customer experience instead of fearing the competition.

🔗 Links

1. How a couple built a $1,000,000 ARR WordPress business from scratch • The thread for this report.
2. Building a Report on WordPress Plugins • The tweet behind this report.
3. Monetizing an Ecosystem Plugin • How to monetize ecosystem plugins.
4. How Partnerships Might Help Your WordPress Business • How strategic partnerships can help you sell WordPress plugins.

📁 Related Reports

• Micro-SaaS • Solve a specific problem for a specific group of people.
• Product-Led Growth • Build a product that sells itself.
• Freemium • This is a cost-effective way to acquire new customers.
• Shopify Plugins • Fill unaddressed needs by allowing merchants to customize their stores.
• Chrome Extensions • Improve your customers’ browsing experience with custom features.

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