The Smashing Magazine article “How Commercial Plugin Developers Are Using The WordPress Repository” by Siobhan McKeown already covered some of these, but I wanted to dive in a bit more detail on some of them.

Freemium

The “freemium” model (also called “free + premium” or “lite + pro”) is popular not only among WordPress plugins but also themes, desktop software, mobile apps, and many SaaS (software as a service) web apps. In most cases the idea is to get a bunch of users signed up for the free version with hopes that a decent percentage of them will pay to upgrade to a more fully featured (and better supported) premium version.

For WordPress plugin shops, free plugins published to the WordPress.org plugin repository give them quite a bit of exposure. When WordPress users are searching for plugins in their dashboard or on wordpress.org, these free plugins will show up while paid plugins are not allowed. Doing a Google search for plugins will bring up both paid and free, but many times the free plugins on wordpress.org will rank equally or higher than the same-named paid plugins.

Examples plugins using the freemium model:

• Ultimate Coming Soon Pro / Lite
• Soliloquy Slider Pro / Lite
• Event Espresso Pro / Lite
• Pinterest “Pin It” Button Pro / Lite (my plugin)

For all of these examples you’ll see a fair number of downloads. This volume is necessary in most freemium models where you’re usually converting only a single-digit percentage of these users to paid.

However, as a plugin shop you’re not required to publish a plugin in the WordPress repository. You could go after organic search (Google) by itself and skip the repository and a free version altogether. You could also publish paid-only plugins in a marketplace like Code Canyon. You’d miss out on the exposure the WordPress repository gives you, but it works well enough for some.

Free Base Plugin with Paid Add-Ons

Another business model is to have a free plugin “base” that works out of the box (and is listed in the WordPress repository), but then sell add-ons that extend the functionality of that plugin instead of replacing the entire thing (add-ons are sometimes referred to as “extensions” or “modules”).

An added benefit for the plugin add-on model is that users don’t get a large bloated base plugin. Instead they only purchase and install the add-ons needed for their specific site requirements.

Examples of plugins with paid add-ons:

• Easy Digital Downloads
• WooCommerce
• Another WordPress Classifieds Plugin (AWPCP)

Backed by SaaS

A WordPress plugin that requires a SaaS (software as a service) for full functionality is another possible revenue model in certain scenarios.

For example, many SaaS apps that run independently of WordPress require insertion of a JavaScript code snippet on your website to work. These SaaS companies can simply put a plugin in the WordPress repository that adds the snippet for the user without any HTML editing. It makes it easier for their non-technical WordPress users to use their service and gives them better exposure by being searchable in the repository.

Examples of plugins backed by SaaS include HitTail (plugin) and CrazyEgg (plugin). Even the built-in Akismet plugin has a paid SaaS service behind it.

Scribe is an SEO tool that used to be solely a SaaS-backed WordPress plugin. Now they’ve branched out to other platforms, but the Scribe plugin still exists in the repository. It allows a “test drive” for free but requires a monthly subscription for more features and usage.

The best thing about a SaaS-backed plugin is that it lends itself better to annual or even monthly recurring subscriptions. And recurring monthly revenue especially is one of the tougher things to do well as a WordPress plugin business.

Pay Only for Support

Some plugins offer their full-featured plugin for free (no freemium model), but then charge if you need support outside of a public forum or FAQ. The idea here is that many of their users will become dependent on the plugin and not be able to run their own business websites without it. When issues arise time is money, and most business owners will pay for reliable support. This is where a WordPress plugin shop can charge for support either on a recurring basis or even per request.

Once again the beauty of this model is that the plugin can gain the exposure in the WordPress repository like any other free plugin. However, this free plugin might receive more downloads and higher ratings than a comparable “lite” version of a paid plugin since they’re typically not going to put a limitation on features to entice an upgrade.

At the time of this post a great example of the paid support revenue model is Paid Memberships Pro. If you want to hear why the founder chose this model more in-depth, just check out this podcast interview on MattReport.com.

Combined Business Models

Sometimes revenue models are combined. Soliloquy is freemium (lite + pro versions), but you can buy paid add-ons to its paid plugin (and only with a developer license at that). There are no add-ons to the “lite” version.

Easy Digital Downloads is a free base plugin with paid add-ons, but you can purchase priority support that covers the base plugin and add-ons combined.

Gravity Forms is paid plugin only, but it provides free add-ons to business and developer license holders. Basically they provide add-ons as a part of your license, with the functionality being optional (not included in the base plugin), and available only when you upgrade to more expensive license.

Paid Memberships Pro and some others have a “white glove” offering. In this model customers can pay high premium for services such as installing, configuring and consultations related to the plugin.

Finally, some developers create free WordPress plugins just to boost their portfolio or as a lead generator for their consulting services. The focus isn’t product revenue but they benefit financially from their plugins nonetheless.

The post 4 Business Models for Profitable WordPress Plugins appeared first on Phil Derksen.

I may add to it periodically, and it’s certainly not an exhaustive list. Feel free to post your own favorites in the comments.

I also posted on premium plugin business video presentations and podcast interviews.

How I made $80,000 with a single WordPress plugin

Vladimir Prelovac shares how he started out with a free SEO plugin in the WordPress repository, gained a following, then built a premium plugin. He details out what he did for his launch and breaks down his pricing plans and percentage of revenue for each. Vladimir went on to build the startup Manage WP, an awesome multi-site WordPress management SaaS service.

Why & how we sell premium WordPress plugins

Yoast (Joost de Valk), author of some of the most popular free plugins out there (such as WordPress SEO), talks about making his newer plugin (Video SEO) paid-only, which allows him to keep it a higher quality plugin for his customers with more frequent updates and better support. He also lays out why he prefers to sell his plugins using Easy Digital Downloads through his own site instead of a marketplace.

From Developer to Marketer and
How I Increased Soliloquy Sales by 4x in 2.5 Months

Two great posts from Thomas Griffin (founder of the Soliloquy slider plugin). This firsts describes his transition from a code-focused to a customer-focused product. The second lays out six marketing changes he made that rapidly increased plugin sales in a short time.

How Commercial Plugin Developers Are Using The WordPress Repository

This is a lengthier post by Siobhan McKeown on Smashing Magazine that covers quite a few topics for premium plugin businesses. For starters, it goes over the guidelines to follow if you’re publishing a free plugin on the WordPress repository. Then it goes into various business models for plugin shops including:

• Free plugins that connect to paid services.
• Offering feature-complete free plugins but charging for support and extensions.
• The “freemium” model where a free plugin with basic features is available on the repository, but for more features customers need to upgrade to a premium plugin. This is the model I’m currently using with the Pinterest “Pin It” Button plugin — free / paid.
• Complimentary plugins (free and paid), themes and paid installation services.

A detailed list of pros and cons for building a commercial plugin shop wrap up the post.

Pressnomics 2012 Aftermath

I got the awesome opportunity to attend the first Pressnomics last year and met tons of smart people in the WordPress business world. At one point Matt Mullenweg spoke to the subject of selling plugins, which in turn stirred up many discussions in person and online.

WordPress Plugin Commercialization

Tony Perez of Sucuri Security summarizes what Matt stated about premium plugins and expresses a thought out opinion about it. There were 53 comments from folks in the WordPress plugin community and from Matt continuing to debate the subject. Unfortunately the comments aren’t hooked up at the moment but hopefully Tony can dig them up sometime. :)

Commercial WordPress Plugins

Brad Touesnard of Migrate DB Pro and WP App Store follows up Tony’s post with responses to Matt’s comments on the freemium plugin model, plugins backed by a service (SaaS) and commercial plugins that may get rolled into WordPress core.

I’m definitely looking forward to the commercial plugin debate at the next Pressnomics.

The post Selling Your Premium WordPress Plugin: Helpful Posts on Commercializing appeared first on Phil Derksen.

Below is a list of audio podcast interviews you can load up on your favorite listening device and start taking notes (some have video too).

I also posted on premium plugin business video presentations and posts on commercializing.

I’ll continue to add killer plugin business interviews to this list so post a comment if you find any I missed. Here’s the list so far:

From Foolish Adventure with Tim Conley

How To Make $10,000 A Month With A WordPress Business (Oct 2012) - John Turner discusses how he built up a significant business with his single coming soon & maintenance mode plugin (Coming Soon Pro) along with the ups and downs along the way and thoughts on the WordPress economy as a whole.

I highly recommend adding Foolish Adventure to your podcast queue. It focuses on all kinds of ways to market your products online (software or not).

From Mixergy with Andrew Warner

Contest Domination: How To Launch A Software-Based Business (Aug 2012) – This one’s interesting for two reasons: 1) Contest Domination founder Travis Ketchum is not a coder, so he reveals the hits and misses of hiring developers. 2) Soon after this interview he evolved his plugin into a successful SaaS app, which he follows up with on MattReport.com (see below).

How We BootStrapped PadPressed To Our First 10k In Sales (Oct 2010) – Way back in 2010 Jason L. Baptiste talked about building his plugin PadPressed to help WordPress publishers better format their content for the iPad. It appears PadPressed eventually changed to OnSwipe.

I would definitely keep Mixergy on your podcast list. Andrew interviews folks from small to large startups and even some pretty high-profile entrepreneurs, but there’s a ton of useful information to note down if you pick episodes that you think will apply to your business.

From MattReport.com with Matt Medeiros

A WordPress business built on selling buttons (April 2013) – Dave Donaldson of Max Foundry (who also has a WordCamp TV video) discusses his strategies for selling multiple premium plugins (like a button generator for WordPress), why to start out simple and how to build out from there.

Improving your WordPress craft (April 2013) – Thomas Griffin of Soliloquy (a powerful responsive WordPress slider) talks about his journey and how he had to focus on marketing and what his customers were asking for to build a real business on his premium plugin.

Why a SaaS model might be better than selling a plugin (March 2013) – First listen to the Mixergy interview listed above with Contest Domination founder Travis Ketchum. Then listen to this interview where which takes place 7 months later. Travis catches us up on how he scaled up his plugin to a SaaS model and skyrocketed his startup.

How to start your own WordPress marketplace (Feb 2013) – Hear Pippin Williamson talk about how he started with freelancing and a few plugins on Code Canyon, but then took his business to the next level by offering outstanding customer support and building an extendable plugin marketplace.

Pippin is the head developer of a digital downloads WordPress plugin (Easy Digital Downloads) and also posts on WordPress plugin development. I highly recommend both.

How to monetize a freemium product (Feb 2013) - Jason Coleman has an interesting twist on the freemium business model with his membership plugin for WordPress. His take: Sell awesome customer support, not code. Check it out.

Overall MattReport.com is an excellent WordPress business-focused podcast to keep on your list. If you’re interested it also touches on other areas such as freelancing and marketing.

The post Selling Your Premium WordPress Plugin: Podcast Interviews appeared first on Phil Derksen.

I also posted on premium plugin business podcast interviews and posts on commercializing.

Commercializing your plugin

Garth Koyle, co-founder of Event Espresso, an event management plugin for WordPress, has three recorded presentations from 2011.

• The $40,000 WordPress Business Plan [slides] (Chicago 2011)
• Can You Go Commercial? [slides] (Utah 2011)
• Can you commercialize your plugin? [slides] (Detroit 2011)

As these three talks were all in the same year, some information is repeated but there are added tidbits in each new presentation. Here are some key points Garth touched on:

• Analyzing the wordpress.org plugin repository to estimate the number of premium plugin customers for a specific market
• Calculating your fixed and variable costs to estimate profits per month you can make from your plugin
• Pricing your plugin
• How to use Google Trends, Google Keyword Tool and Alexa to analyze search and traffic volume for the market you want to reach
• Systems Event Espresso has put in place to manage the business: sales, support, hiring, affiliates, development, plugin updates, etc. You name it.

Decisions to make running a premium plugin business

Shane Pearlman, co-founder of Modern Tribe, talks about his business and premium plugin Events Calendar Pro.

The Art & Science of Premium [slides] (Las Vegas 2012)

Key points:

• Plugin marketplace vs. selling on your own
• Using wordpress.org to test your plugin ideas
• How a freemium model can work for plugins
• Finding ways to get recurring revenue
• Experimenting with advertising, landing pages, A/B split testing and using metrics
• Plugin pricing, plans and using an add-on model
• User support strategies

Side note: Isn’t it cool that two companies with multiple founders and competing products are both thriving in the WordPress premium plugin market?

Lessons Learned Selling Plugins & Themes

Dave Donaldson, co-founder of Max Foundry, goes through trade-offs between selling themes and plugins and explains why they landed on selling mainly plugins.

So You Want to Sell a WordPress Theme or Plugin [slides] (Atlanta 2013)

Key points:

• Why premium themes are so much harder to sell than premium plugins
• When competing with free you’re actually selling support, not code
• Non-development tasks: Building your sales site, support system, mailing list and ads
• User support strategies (email, forums, phone)
• Plugin pricing
• Avenues to drive traffic to your site
• Branding and consistency
• Auto-update options

More videos pop up occasionally, so I’ll update this post with any new ones I come across. Same goes for any existing videos I missed whether they’re on WordPress TV or elsewhere. Just let me know in the comments.

The post Selling Your Premium WordPress Plugin: Videos to Watch appeared first on Phil Derksen.

Maybe you’ve streamlined each form in your checkout process to make it as painless as possible.

But how simple and fast is it to complete your checkout forms on a mobile device?

For starters, labels above fields helps readability.

Trust logos likely increase conversion rate.

But are each of your form fields bringing up the right mobile keyboard type?

If you’re not familiar with the different keyboards for iOS and Android, think about it the next time you fill out your email address on a form using your phone. Are the ‘@’ and ‘.’ characters prominently displayed next to the space bar at the bottom? If not, then you have to navigate to the symbols keyboard to complete the field. It’s a few extra taps which can be eliminated.

To avoid this we need to match mobile keyboard types to form fields, which is pretty simple to add to your forms. The 4 main keyboard types are standard (default), email, number and phone.

iOS also supports URL, date and time keyboard types. But Android does not currently.

HTML5 input types are used to trigger the keyboard type. And if the device being used doesn’t support them it will simply revert to a standard keyboard.

Here’s a comparison of what the keyboard types look like on iOS (left) and Android (right) along with the HTML input types required to trigger them.

Default text field (type=”text”)

<input type="text" name="first_name">

Email input type

Notice the ‘@’ and ‘.’ characters added next to the space bar for easy email address entry.

<input type="email" name="customer_email">

Number input type

Numbers dominate the top row on iOS with supporting characters on the next 2 rows. Android simply brings up a 10-key.

<input type="number" name="cc_number">

Phone input type (type=”tel”)

Both iOS and Android use a 10-key here, with the addition of letters and ‘#’ / ‘*’ characters to imitate regular phone keypads.

<input type="tel" name="phone_number">

Drop-downs such as credit card expiration dates should just use the native HTML input type ‘select’.

Don’t forget to add the autofocus attribute to the first field in the checkout form to eliminate another extra tap. This works on both mobile and desktop HTML5 browsers.

<input type="number" name="cc_number" autofocus>

That’s it. Not much extra coding to make filling out your mobile checkout forms easier and faster for your visitors. Hopefully you’ll see a few more conversions after putting these changes in place.

The post Make Your Mobile Checkout Forms Dead Simple to Complete appeared first on Phil Derksen.

newegg.com

vitacost.com

monoprice.com

Note: Trust logos are also referred to as trust marks, trust icons, security badges, SSL badges, trust seals, etc.

Many studies have been done and at this point there’s little doubt that adding trust logos to your standard e-commerce checkout forms help convert shoppers simply by putting them at ease. To further explore this topic, see these references:

• 6 Ways To Optimize Your eCommerce Checkout (point #6: Reassure customers their card details are safe)
• Proper placement of “trust logos” can make a huge difference in conversion rate
• 9 Ways to Build Trust in Checkout (point #2: Security badge)

Trust logos along with credit card images, lock icons, and statements about encryption all contribute to a shopper’s perceived security of your checkout process. Of course it still need to be technically secure and encrypted via SSL.

But should these security icons and badges be added to mobile e-commerce checkout forms with their limited screen size and bandwidth?

I didn’t yet find anywhere that’s already run studies on mobile trust logos in particular, but personally I would first try adding one or two trust logos horizontally. Not more than three, and not too big. You don’t want to clutter up the small screen.

Since you’re only going to use one or two security badges, stick with proven logos such as McAffee, Norton and Verisign (maybe PayPal if you use it). Here’s a couple studies done on which seals are commonly recognized and “trusted”:

• Trust Logo Recognition Precedes Presence
  
• Which Site Seal do People Trust the Most? (2013 Survey Results)

As far as where to place the seals, I would first try placing them above the credit card field, since you want to reinforce security on the credit card field.

The downside to adding trust logos is more vertical scrolling. But like adding labels above fields on mobile checkout forms, studies show this doesn’t prevent the user from completing forms.

Ultimately how do you know adding trust logos to your mobile checkout pages will improve conversions for your sites?

Well you don’t. Not until you test them. So go ahead and create some A/B tests and see what happens. I’d love to hear what ends up working and what doesn’t.

The post Do Trust Logos Have a Place on Mobile Checkout Forms? appeared first on Phil Derksen.

According to the Baymard Institute, most of the time labels should go above the fields. Baymard’s done a ton of studies and most recently been focusing on mobile commerce usability.

To summarize their article, when labels are above they fields, they flow nicely on a standard size smart phone screen in portrait mode (generally around a 320-pixel width).

If labels are left-aligned, the input fields may not be wide enough to display the entire field the user is currently in. Credit card fields take 16 characters. Email addresses can be more. When this happens to a user, they can’t see if they’re entering incorrect data. When they go to correct, many just delete and start over.

Think about how much harder it is to accurately enter your email address or credit card number without mistakes on a phone. There’s usually more typos happening, so seeing your input as you go is that much more important on mobile.

Christian Holst, the author of the above referenced post, goes on to point out that labels above the fields allow for longer descriptions since they’re not limited to a narrow width as a left-aligned label is.

There is a downside though. The user may have to do more vertical scrolling. But Baymard’s studies show that vertical scrolling is usually doesn’t prevent users from completing the form.

When technically feasible, it can be beneficial to add “responsive design” code to move the label to the left of the field when the user switches to landscape orientation on their mobile device. This is because the keyboard now takes up about two-thirds of the screen.

jQuery Mobile form elements have an automatic form label responsive switch built-in if you happen to use their library.

The other option for labels is to only display them as placeholders inside the fields themselves. A good example is how Stripe (my favorite payment gateway) lays out their standard minimal checkout form.

As the Baymard Institute points out in their post on “false simplicity” (and Christian Holst in his Adaptive vs. Responsive post on Smashing Magazine), the problem with placeholder labels is that the user can lose context of where they’re at. The moment you start entering data into a field, placeholder labels disappear, and the user may forget where they were at.

But placeholder labels are definitely better than left-aligned labels. If there’s just a few fields, such as with a mailing list sign-up form, inline labels may make sense. Assuming Stripe has good data on their millions of transactions, maybe they’re on to something with inline labels on their standard mobile and desktop checkout form.

The post Where to Put Field Labels for a Better Mobile Checkout Experience appeared first on Phil Derksen.