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The WordPress plugin and theme ecosystem is incredibly competitive. With 50,000+ plugins and themes to date and more added every day, it can be hard to stand out.
To be competitive you need to stay at the top of your game with your how WordPress is evolving, how to grow sales and how to run your business.
To help you beat your competitors we’ve compiled a growing list of the best articles for growing a plugin and theme business below.
If you’re also interested in growing your freelance/agency business or other recurring revenue products/services, we have resource lists for those too.
We add new articles weekly, so remember to mark articles complete after reading them in order to track progress. You must be logged in to mark articles complete. If you don’t have an account yet, get a free one here.
How to Use This Resource List
- Below is an very brief excerpt of each article.
- Clicking on an article will take you to an expanded overview of each article that we’ve manually created.
- At the bottom of the article overview there’s a link to the full article
Foundational Knowledge
- Plugin Developer Stories: ShortCode Cleaner by Mohamed Abd Elhalim
- Plugin Developer Stories: Sunshine Photo Cart by Derek Ashauer
- Plugin Developer Stories: Meta Box by Tran Ngoc Tuan Anh
- Plugin Developer Stories: Post to Google My Business by Koen Reus
- Plugin Developer Stories: Heroic FAQs by Chris Mooney
- Web Developer Roadmap [Guide]
- Plugin Developer Stories: Iconic by James Kemp
- Plugin Developer Stories: GD Knowledge Base Pro [Interview]
- An Interview with ThemeFusion ($25M in Sales) [Interview]
- Plugin Developer Stories: YouLive by Szabi Kisded
- Interview with Rich Tabor Founder of ThemeBeans Theme Business & CoBlocks Plugin (Acquired by GoDaddy) [Interview]
- Plugin Developer Stories: Edivently by Martin Shiderov
- Plugin Developer Stories: ACF Theme Code by Aaron Rutley
- Plugin Developer Stories: Tripetto with Maarten Behr
- Plugin Developer Stories: Kanban for WordPress by Corey Maass
- Simple Giveaways: Turning a WordPress Plugin into a $500/mo Side Project
- Plugin Developer Stories: WP SVG by Daryll Doyle
- Plugin Developer Stories: GamiPress by Ruben Garcia Canto
- Plugin Developer Stories: MalCare by Akshat Choudhary
- Plugin Developer Stories: Starfish Reviews by Tevya Washburn
- Plugin Developer Stories: Toolbar Extras by David Decker
- How to Create an Ecosystem Plugin
- Plugin Developer Stories: Under Construction Page by Ivan Jurisic
- Plugin Developer Stories: WP Coupons & Deals by Imtiaz Rayhan
- Plugin Developer Stories: Gravity PDF by Jake Jackson [Interview]
- How to Launch an Extension in the WooCommerce Marketplace [Guide]
- How to Start & Grow a Successful WordPress Theme Business [Interview]
- How Buttonizer Built a Successful WordPress Plugin Business
- How SEOPress Went From Idea to 10,000 Installs in 12 Months as a Side Project [Interview]
- How to Sell WordPress Plugins & Themes [Guide]
- An Inside Look at a Successful WordPress Plugin Business with Pippin Williamson
- An Interview with Pippin Williamson of Restrict Content Pro, AffiliateWP & Easy Digital Downloads [Interview]
- How Beaver Builder Became One of the Most Popular Page Builder Plugins in WordPress [Interview]
- Pippin’s Plugins “Year in Review” Posts
- The Ultimate WordPress Plugin & Theme Developer Resource List [Complete List]
- How to Monetize a WordPress Plugin: Premium vs. AddOns
- 4 Lessons Learned From Building a Freemium WordPress Plugin
- Is WordPress Premium Theme Business Dying?
- The Future of Selling WordPress Themes
- How the WordPress Product Market is Changing
- 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Release a Premium WordPress Plugin [List]
- Are Themes Still a Profitable WordPress Business?
- How Beaver Builder Became a Top WordPress Page Builder Plugin [Interview]
- 4 Key WordPress Business Tips From Top Plugin Makers [List]
- 5 Mistakes That Will Kill Your WordPress Plugin Profits [List]
- How to Make More Revenue Selling WordPress Plugins & Themes
- How to Transition from Web Design to WordPress Plugins Without Drowning in Support [Interview]
- How to Build & Grow a Successful WordPress Plugin Business [Interview]
- The Right Way to Start a WordPress Theme Business
- Understanding Who Buys Premium WordPress Themes
- Are Freemium Plugins Better than Free Plugins in WordPress?
- How to Price WordPress Plugins
- Selling WordPress Plugins & Themes: Should You Go Niche?
- Should You Put Your Plugin or Theme in the WordPress Repository?
- Why the WordPress Plugin Industry is Worth Over $1 Billion
- How This WordPress Page Builder Plugin Earned $9,000 in Its First Month
- Interview with WP Migrate DB Pro Founder Brad Touesnard [Interview]
- The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Successful WordPress Plugin Business [Guide]
- WordPress Plugin Business: Freemium vs. Premium Business Models
- How to Make Money Selling Plugins on CodeCanyon [Guide]
- How to Make Money Selling Themes on ThemeForest
- How Make a WordPress Plugin from Start to Finish [Guide]
Get More Customers
- What it’s Like to Create & Submit a Theme to ThemeForest
- The Pros & Cons of Selling WordPress Themes on Envato’s ThemeForest
- How to Win at SEO on the WordPress Plugin Repository [Guide]
- Launching a WordPress Plugin or Theme? Use This List of 60+ Sites to Jumpstart Sales [List]
- How to Increase WordPress Plugin 5-Star Reviews by 700%
- How to Make Your WordPress Plugin More Successful
- Why (& How) to Capture User Emails for WordPress Plugins & Themes
- How to Sustain Growth after Launching WordPress Plugins & Themes
- 10 Ways To Market Your WordPress Product [List]
- How to Offer Free Trials for Your WordPress Plugins or Themes Business [Guide]
- How to Sell WordPress Themes & Plugins to Enterprise Customers
- Growing a Plugin or Theme Business in the Saturated WordPress Market
- How to Use Email Marketing Automation to Grow Conversion Rates for WordPress Products
- How to Build Relationships with WordPress Plugin Buyers [Interview]
- Live Stream Coding: Market Your Product & Write Code Simultaneously
- How to Launch a Successful Affiliate Program for WordPress Themes & Plugins [Guide]
- How Your WordPress Plugin or Theme Business can Leverage Black Friday & Cyber Monday to Increase Sales
- How to Boost Your Number of Plugin Installs in the WordPress Plugin Repository with GIFs
Running Your Business
- How to Handle Refunds for WordPress Themes & Plugins
- How to Grow a WordPress Plugin Business as a Solo Founder [Guide]
- Lifetime Licenses vs. Automatic Annual Renewals for Plugins & Themes [Comparison]
- The Ultimate Tax Guide for WordPress Plugin & Theme Developers [Guide]
- How to Price WordPress Add-Ons & Extensions
- WordPress Plugin & Theme Developers: Raise Your Prices!
- The Big Business of Small WordPress Plugins
- How to Manage License Renewal for Premium Themes: Automatic vs. Manual Renewals
- Selling WordPress Plugins Directly vs. on CodeCanyon Compared
- Should You Sell Premium WordPress Themes on ThemeForest?
- How to Manage WordPress Plugin & Theme Renewal Discounts
- A $2,000 Pricing Lesson for WordPress Plugins & Themes
- How to Offer Lifetime WordPress Plugin & Theme Licenses
- How to Sell a WordPress Plugin Business
- How Automatic License Renewals for Premium WordPress Plugins & Themes Increases Revenue (20 months of data)
- Increasing Prices 50% – 250% in a WordPress Plugin Business: Reasons & Reflections
- How to Run a Successful WordPress Plugin & Theme Business [Guide]
- Why SaaS is the Future of Monetization for WordPress Plugin WordPress Developers
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