How to turn a WordPress plugin into a business?

You've made an awesome start, but turning the free plugin into a revenue strem may not work well. People get used to free. They don't want to start paying. And, most people are not willing to pay for WordPress plugins, even if they use and love the free ones.

So, it may be hard to monetize the plugin. Here are some ideas:

1. Add more features to the paid version that make it more valuable
2. Reduce the functionality of the free version. For example, it will only check 100 pages, and after that it asks them to buy the paid version.
3. Frequently remind the users why the paid version is better. Put all the benefits in the settings page so they see it often.
4. Create a trial period so that it would stop working after a certain period of time.

It would probably be easier to monetize something similar that the users would need. You could market it from within the existing plugin, for example on the admin page. You could develop other plugins, pay someone to develop them, or joint venture with other plugin developers that have great plugins.

Also, is it possible to collect email of the users? If so, you can email them about your other paid plugin(s). You could become an affiliate for other software and email them, if it is allowed in your and WordPress policies.

Regarding SaaS, that could be a good idea. But it would require a greater investment. Also, how would you market it? Would it just be for WordPress users or for anyone with a site?

Janrain (formerly RPX) somewhat built their business off their openid WP plugin. Take a look at how they did it.

How about using these success stats as reputation. Could you write an eBook for other WordPress developers about developing a product of such quality and demand. I am sure you have some lessons learned and tips/tricks. An eBook version could even link to or include examples from your code, since it is already openly available.

I agree with Susan. It's unlikely you'll be able to generate revenue from this plugin at this point. However, you have a decent customer base if you have the ability to market to them.

My recommendation would be to look at solutions that someone who is using your plugin would need AND pay money for. For instance, someone checking for broken links and images is likely concerned about search engine optimization (SEO) or user experience. Can you develop a solution around these that you can re-sell?

For instance, if you're checking for images, can you check the size of each image and then provide the user with a calculator that would tell them how much bandwidth they'd save if they moved to a content delivery network (CDN), or the increase in speed?

Or partner with a speed check company and provide a plugin to test the speed of each page?

Or develop a plugin which displays the PageRank of each page as you scan it, or uses Google to count the number of incoming links to each page with a drill-down to where those incoming links are coming from?

Find a unique capability that isn't available open source, or is available open source but poorly implemented, develop a plugin around it and market this to your customers (doing a survey or other market research beforehand, of course).

Oh, and drop the premium version altogether and merge it into the main codebase. If it's floundering, it's taking up more of your time than you're likely getting back in revenue. And it makes more sense to bolster your user base and keep them happy. If you do this, a good timing of this might be when you release your second paid plugin; then you can send an announcement to all your users that you are merging the premium version with the free version so they get additional features, and oh, by the way, here's a new plugin for you to buy.

Finally, in developing the plugin, try to figure out how it will save or make your customers money. Then describe that in your marketing material. Good luck!

You've identified the possible options very well. I would stay away from the shady stuff, life is short.

The challenge is that there is very little precedence for building significant revenues from a WordPress plugin.

If it were me, I'd try some sort of freemium offering. If you're getting 200 users a day, you might be able to convert 2% of them (4 people) to paying customers. Not a lot of money, but it's something. The hard part is going to be deciding which features should be in which edition.

Few people make money off wordpress plugins. Instead find a way to get value that is worth money. How? Links. Links to your site are very valuable. If you have another product or service, or partner with someone who does. Then use these plugins to point back to your website.

To develop a business, you need to think about it as a business. Most businesses don't have only one product. What you DO have is a happy customer base who have a good relationship with your 'brand.' I would start with that.

You can look at your users. Can you segment them in any way. Are they in particular industries, companies or individuals, in certain geographic areas etc.? You can look for other problems your users have with Wordpress that need solving and that they would be willing to pay for.

Once you have identified this information, you have the basis to build a business. It probably means that you will have to develop other solutions (plugins or other) that people are happy to pay for but the work you have already done is not wasted since you have built a customer base that you can now leverage. This is actually the one of the hardest parts of starting a business so if you can now find a problem to solve for them, I think you will be up and away.

Be active on forums such as the WordPress Meta and any and all Meetups about WordPress (network). Find out which sites/services are offering a similar type of service, and anaylize their backlinks for further leads.

You can always go more with a B2B model and focus more on marketing to medium/large companies and high-volume WP developers.

You must offer added value to your current users so they find a reason to continue using your service and paying for it. Make sure you keep up with them (wherever they are). I mean, focus on where you're customers are likely to hang out, and you'll find more.

Simultaneously, I'd be hitting any of the great, major WP plugins or tools with an offer to partner. While valuable, your tool seems to need little more oomph to go beyond freemium. You've got your work cut out for you.