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Comment by dvko | Hacker News Reader

I built a plugin to connect WordPress with MailChimp (https://mc4wp.com) while hospitalised in Vietnam a few years ago and it has been selling well enough to support me in my travels & now back home in The Netherlands from day 1 (right after I started offering a paid version, that is).

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I'm also thinking about developing my first product and wanted to start with wordpress, I think a Saas would be too ambitious, how did you start promoting it?

Starting out with WordPress has made a lot of things, especially when it comes to marketing, very easy for me. There's a free version that is used on over 700.000 sites right now and it got there mostly organically.

That said, if your plugin does anything visual, be ready for a lot of beginner questions. Some of your non-paying users will be the hardest to please, especially in WordPress land where you as a (real) developer will be severely underappreciated.

As stated, make sure you create a free version first and put it in the WordPress plugin directory. Most of your traffic will come from there. Make frequent updates, include good keywords, and if there's a need for it, people will find it. It's also a great way to start testing for premium features.

What was the initial marketing for the free app, just posting it there and waiting?

Talking about it in as many places as possible - AWP on Facebook, Post Status, etc. But past that, a little optimization and if people are looking for it in the repo, they'll find it.

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