Devin Walker
WordPress Developer and Entrepreneur
Creating valuable WordPress products and services
BUILD IT RIGHT,
AND THEY WILL COME
IT TOOK ME YEARS TO LEARN HOW TO BUILD MY FIRST WORDPRESS PRODUCT...
FIRST, I WORKED IN IT, THEN AT AN AGENCY, THEN AS A FREELANCER...
... AND THEN I STARTED BUILDING FREE PLUGINS.
MY IDEAS DIDN'T REVOLUTIONIZE ANYTHING...
...BUT THEY DID SOLVE PROBLEMS, AND PEOPLE LIKED THEM.
SO I BUILT PRO VERSIONS.
...AND EVENTUALLY A BUSINESS.
MANY HAVE ANd MANY WILL...
SUCCEED
IN THE WORDPRESS INDUSTRY
HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS
IN BUSINESS?
Just YOURSELF?
A SMALL NUMBER OF FOLKS?
an ENTIRE COMPANY?
KNOW YOUR
WHY
THE BOTTOM LINE IS
SET YOUR
AND ALWAYS
GOALS
KNOW YOUR MARKET:
WP: AN ESTABLISHED LEADER
WP: A BIG PIECE OF THE PIE
Interesting StatISTICS
-
48% of Technorati’s Top 100 Blogs Are Managed With WordPress
-
74.6 Million Sites Depend on WordPress
-
56 LANGUAGE Translations of WordPress
-
WordPress Is Most Popular With Business Websites
59 percent of very small businesses still don’t have a website.
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2015/09/godaddy-majority-of-very-small-businesses-still.html
A LOOK A FEW WP BUSINESSES
| COMPANY | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Automattic - $45m in 2012 | Hosting/Products |
| WP Engine - $120m valuation | Managed Hosting |
| Gravity Forms - $5m+/year | Products |
| Yoast - $2m+/year | Products/Services |
| WP Rocket - $90k / month | Product |
| WP Popup Maker - $2k / month | Product |
WHAT DO YOU
SELL?
PRODUCTS?
SERVICES?
- Themes
- Plugins
- Tools
- Development
- Design
- Consulting
- Optimization
- Support
FIND YOUR NICHE
WHAT's YOUR
IDEA?
BEAT UP YOUR IDEA
WHO WON THE FIGHT?
THE IDEA?
BUILD YOUR
BRAND
Give Branding: v1
Give Branding: v2
Give Branding: v3
Give Branding: v4
NEVER SETTLE
PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL
Don't Do it yourself if you can't
Minimum Viable Product
MVP
KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL MVP
- Focus on the simple implementation of your product
- Start with a minimal set of features
- Release and listen to your users
VALIDATE YOUR MVP
- Products solve problems. Does your MVP solve the initial problem?
- Question everything.
- Does it make sense to launch now?
- Pros / Cons of now vs later
- ROI of now vs later
- Never stop iterating
QUALITY DEVELOPERS
- Facebook WordPress Groups (AWP + WordPress Freelancers)
- Local WordPress/PHP Meetups
- WordCamps like this one!
QUALITY DESIGNERS
- Dribbble.com
- Behance.net
- Envato Studio & 99designs (proceed with caution)
NEED HELP?
JUST ALWAYS REMEMBER...
YOU CAN
DO IT!
@innerwebs
THANK YOU!
PHOTO CREDITS
-
StartupStockPhotos - http://startupstockphotos.com/
-
https://s3.amazonaws.com/StartupStockPhotos/20140808_StartupStockPhotos/82.jpg
-
FreePik http://freepik.com
-
http://www.freepik.com/free-photo/meeting-around-the-desk_756218.htm
-
http://www.officelovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226-London-Soho-19.jpg
Built it Right, And They Will Come - Presentation by Devin Walker
By Devin Walker
Built it Right, And They Will Come - Presentation by Devin Walker
Solutions that solve real world problems start with an idea; but not just any idea, a good one. How you build and iterate upon that idea is what ultimately determines its success or failure. WordPress is an excellent platform for entrepreneurs. It powers more than 30% of the internet, is flexible for beginners to developers, and has a bright future. Thus, it serves as an excellent springboard to launch new, exciting, and profitable solutions. Whether it be in themes, plugins, SaaS, or services, there’s plenty of room for innovation and disruption. Learn how you can take advantage of WordPress’s popularity and flexibility to enter the market faster, with less investment, and more opportunity. The session examines our unique industry and how you can build a successful business creating solutions for WordPress. We will review real world success stories, how to take advantage of your strengths and weaknesses, and the basics of launching a successful product or service in the WordPress space.
