Tag Archives: wordpress

Dude Posts About Selling WordPress Plugins

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Saw this post on Reddit entitled Anyone on r/WordPress interested in buying a Premium Plugin business?:

Throwaway account here for discretion.

I’m exploring selling the rights to one of my premium plugins, and thought r/wordpress would be a good place to gauge interest and possibly find a buyer in my favoritest of favorite communities. Also, because of the nature of the business, it really needs to be taken on by someone who is already proficient at WordPress development.

This plugin was launched in August of 2010, and since then has generated approximately $44,000 in sales, with around $36,000 profit remaining after paying affiliate commissions.

When it first launched, I was actively promoting the plugin and sales were steady around $3,000 – $5,000 per month. However, my attention got pulled into other projects and with only minimal marketing and updates, sales have been stable at around $1,500 per month for most of this year. I spend an average of 1-3 hours per week handling tech support and email inquiries…not too shabby.

I’m selling because I have too many other items on my plate to be able to give the plugin the attention it needs, both in general improvements to the codebase and in marketing.

What’s included:

  • All rights to the plugin itself. It is currently released under a split GPL/Proprietary License
  • The Domain & Sales Website
  • The vBulletin-powered Support Forum & vBulletin License
  • The E-Junkie account to manage transactions & affiliates ( 250 registered affiliates )
  • My availability & assistance during the transitional period.

Asking Price: $25,000 USD

If you have any questions, either about the sale of this business or general questions about how to earn a living selling premium plugins, please post them here. I will do my best to answer without publicly revealing the plugin or any other potentially sensitive information.

If you’re a genuinely interested potential buyer, please PM me so we can further discuss.

Thanks!

Well, he posted it on a public, popular site so how discrete is that?  Since there are 60 million WordPress blogs out there, some 30 of which are self-hosted (or something like that) it’s quite possible.

Maybe I should find a way to offer some cool functionality with upgrade of either PMID Citation Plus or Facebook Simple Like.

I should go through my list of top WordPress plugins and see how many of them offer pay upgrades.

Facebook Connect and The Data It Shares

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I did a little bit of reading today on Facebook connect when someone asked me some questions about it.

Their question:

when you register and sign on to something by just entering you facebook details do you get all the info? How does facebook share this stuff?

And my response…

You are given some of the information they’ve provided facebook when they login through that route.

Took me a few minutes to find it, but here’s the complete list of information that is made available through ‘facebook connect’:

Things on this list that say “no access_token required” means that anyone can access this information (the person doesn’t even have to click your facebook connect button), while things that say “no access_token required” means that if they click facebook connect on your website you’ll have access to that info. Other things like email require a special level of permission.

If you want their email and request that permission, it’ll show a large permission request blurb when they click facebook connect that looks like this…

If you read over that User Graph object link, you’ll notice address isn’t a part of it, so those fields will have to be entered manually by your visitors, of course, if you’re planning some kind of e-commerce app. They have a nice little setup for grabbing that info too.

If you’re interested in Facebook Connect… and WordPress… make sure to check out Otto’s Simple Facebook Connect plugin.

Facebook Simple Like: A No-Mess Facebook Fan Page Like Button [WP Plugin]

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Want to boost your Facebook fan page subscription rate? This WordPress plugin makes what should be an easy task, but isn’t, an easy one. It enables you to use a shortcode to place a small like button where ever you like without the ordinary clutter: stream, faces, count, and all of the other junk that comes with the “fan page like box” ordinarily. Basically, it generates a fan page subscription button that looks *identical* to the one ordinarily only for *sharing* a page (as opposed to actually subscribing).

Download Now

 

Installation Instructions
All you need to do is unzip it in your wp-content/plugins folder and then activate it in the wp-admin area of your blog.

Like this plugin? Want to contribute?
If you like this plugin there’s a few different ways you can contribute.

 

Screenshots!

 

The Facebook fan page like button with the default white (#FFFFFF) iframe background (generated with the shortcode), contrasting with the ordinary look of the Facebook "like box."

The settings/configuration page for Facebook Simple Like.

The profile pictures section of your facebook fan page, which is where you find the requisite "profile id" of your fan page.

 

Build A References List Instantly with PMID Citation Plus for WordPress

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PMID Citation Plus for WordPress is here! This plugin fills a very unique need that I’ve observed in the WordPress community. It allows you to input PMID numbers listed on abstracts at PubMed and have a Wikipedia-styled references section at the bottom of your post built for you.

Download Now

 

Installation Instructions
All you need to do is unzip it in your wp-content/plugins folder and then activate it in the wp-admin area of your blog.

Like this plugin? Want to contribute?
If you like this plugin there’s a few different ways you can contribute.





Screenshots!

 

The references block at the bottom of a blog post.

The PMID Citation Plus entry field above the update/publish button.

and the place you get this PMID from, of course….

Adding Files via a Custom Meta Box In WordPress

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From wordpress 3.0 version wordpress introduced the custom_post_type function. Many people want to attach the file field with add_meta_box function. In this tutorial I will tell you how to upload file with custom meta box and post type.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create the custom post type and add custom meta boxes to that post type and upload file with custom meta box.

See full tutorial at: File upload with add_meta_box or custom_post_type in wordpress

Simple Tags WordPress Plugin

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I’ve stopped using categories for the most part, at least temporarily, as I’ve started to adopt tagging more. This is a more intuitive way of organizing my posts, I think. I used to use delicious a lot, but since I realized I could use my blog for almost all of the exact same purposes by making better use of the WordPress tagging feature, I’ve transmuted that same energy into blog posts. Suddenly I’ve realized I actually have a lot of blogging material.

So when I first started doing this I asked myself the obvious question: OK, these tags are great, but is there a way to make them awesome? So I started looking around for plugins that augment the behavior of WordPress’ tags just to see what is available. What I found is that, seemingly, SimpleTags is the undisputed heavy-weight.

SimpleTags Features:

  • Allows pages to be tagged.
  • Suggests tags via: Yahoo! Term Extraction API, OpenCalais, Alchemy, Zemanta, Tag The Net, Local DB. (All of which I know nothing about)
  • Allows you to auto link tags into post content. This means if you tag “WordPress” on a post, every time you mention “WordPress” within the post it will become a link to all the other posts with the wordpress tag in them.
  • Allows you to automatically include tags in your meta keywords.
  • Allows a related posts section to posts, and optionally, the feed as well. Usually I use contextual related posts, but this is pretty cool and seems functional.
  • Gives you access to a customizable tag cloud that can be inserted into the template, or within posts and pages.

This plugin is very customizable, and might be a keeper: Get SimpleTags

Useful SEO Tools and Links

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Just starting a post to compile useful tools, with a short description of why they’re useful. Most of these were compiled by going on a huge stumbleupon spree using very specific tags (in this case “seo”). I would say this experiment was very successful, and I’ll be using StumbleUpon in this manner in the future.

Scripts, WordPress Plugins, Firefox Plugins, etc.

  • “Link Building Pro” (seox.com) – A javascript for automatically inserting a source link with keyword rich anchor text to the clipboard if someone copies ANYTHING from your page. Good for SEO, and encourages people to list you as a source. Discovered from the SEO tag on stumbleupon.
  • Cross-linker – WordPress plugin that may no longer be functional, worth a shot however. Turns all instances of a phrase throughout a blog as a link to a pre-defined URL.
  • wp db backup – A plugin that automatically backs up a wordpress database.
  • Breadcrumb NavXT – A wordpress plugin that adds some nifty navigation/link hierarchy thats useful for SEO and usability.
  • Intense Debate – A wordpress plugin that alters the commenting system, allows comment email subscription, reply by email, and comment threading. Increases reader engagement. View the features page here.
  • Digg Digg – A wordpress plugin that immediately inserts all the share/bookmarking buttons on your posts and pages, and allows custom formatting options. Very useful. Not restricted to digg as name might imply.
  • Better Google Analytics Firefox Plugin – Will take a snap shot of a report and export it to google docs.
  • Firefox addon to turn off google personalized search.
  • Seoaddons.com – A long list of firefox addons, cms mods, and other SEO-related goodies. My personal favorite found from here was a firefox addon called KGen which shows you the keyword composition of pages you’re viewing so you can scope out the competition.
  • Google chrome plugins for SEO

Informational Articles

Keyword Analysis

  • Spyfu.com – Keyword that gives approximate traffic to website/keywords, and adwords price range for hits. Pretty cool.
  • Google Alerts – A useful tool that allows you to setup emails watching for keywords. Sets up an RSS feed for your use OR sends you daily/weekly emails. Can use advanced google search operators (big key to success there).
  • Nichebot.com – A pay membership service that helps with appropriate keyword targetting.
  • Keyword Discovery (Trellian) – Another membership site, similar to wordtracker or nichebot, but surprisingly expensive. $200/month.
  • Google Keyword Research Tool – Gives approximate amount of monthly trafic, as well as average cost per click rate. In order to see the CPC information click the “Choose columns to display” drop down, and click show all.
  • Google Trends – Information on keywords that are hot right now.

Video Sites

  • blip.tv – Video hosting website. Allows clickable links to be placed within the videos.

Useful Pay Services

Inserting Posts Into The Thesis Drop Down Menu

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The thesis menu is relatively easy to customize. One issue that I ran into with it, however, is listing POSTS in the drop down proves itself relatively difficult by default. In fact, my impression so far is that by default you’d have to manually convert pre-existing posts into pages to get them in the drop down causing you to lose all your comments! Forget that.

I — thankfully! — ran across a really useful post from beingruth.com that makes creating a custom menu relatively simple, so long as you don’t mind editing the most basic of html code, and installing a wordpress plugin called thesis openhook (which you should do anyway, if you’re a thesis theme user).

Thesis Openhook, which I mentioned briefly in my list of the best wordpress plugins, adds a nifty menu to your WordPress administration panel that allows you to drop code into thesis hooks very rapidly — allowing you to completely avoid having to edit any of the themes files manually.

Basically, what you’ll need to do is disable the default menu generated by thesis, and then plug in a replacement using the thesis_hook_before_header hook. All of this can be done in thesis openhook.

Here’s a sample menu code you can modify to suit your tastes (thanks Ruth!)

<ul class="menu">
<li class="tab"><a href="">Item 1</a></li>
<li class="tab"><a href="">Item 2</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="">Item 2, Child 1</a></li>
<li><a href="">Item 2, Child 2</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="tab"><a href="">Item 3</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="">Item 3, Child 1</a></li>
<li><a href="">Item 3, Child 2</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="tab"><a href="">Item 4</a></li>
</ul>

Meanwhile, Inside Thesis Openhook…

Openhook after you drop the code in

If you were to do something silly and not actually edit the sample code you’d end up with something that looked rather much like…

Thesis Menu Using Sample Code

Clearly manually inserting your menu like this using thesis’ hooks means that you can put any links in your menu that you darned well please without dilly dallying with page parent-child relationships, or having to convert your posts into pages (what a pain!). If you’re interested in exploring customizing other aspects of Thesis you’ll probably find the Thesis Hook Map *very useful, so make sure to check that out.

Oh, one last thing… If you’re real new to wordpress and haven’t got a clue how to add plugins like thesis openhook make sure to check out this video.

What is the “Digg Effect” Like?

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The “Digg Effect” has been something of legends among some web development communities. It’s been known to crash websites, and this is what the term actually specifically refers to usually.

Speaking first hand (as of approximately a month ago at the time of this post) I can say with certainty now that a website on shared hosting, and the wp-supercache plugin installed for wordpress (which I mentioned in my top plugins for wordpress post) can survive it. I was very pleased with how wordpress held up under the stress in this arrangement.

Actual Traffic Screenshot (from Google Analytics)

As can be seen in the image just two days before the website had 0 visits, and then shortly after an initial surge which ended up totaling about 34,000 visits over the stretch! Pretty good! Not so impressive is the attention span of the average visit — the traffic only stayed for an average of fourteen seconds. Not very long. What is notable, however, is the traffic does continue for a long number of days after that having a steady slow stream which is far better than baseline was with the very last day totalling about 34 unique visits. This probably had much to do with the enormous number of facebook shares, reblogs, etc., and a general slight SEO/boost in the search engines, which I briefly mentioned in my backlinking tips post.

Viral Side Effects from Digg

This was some of my favorite parts of the traffic. Many of these visits were strictly side effects from people viewing the site from Digg, then immediately sharing it on facebook or twitter. This was made particularly easy for them by intelligent placement of share buttons.

Interesting to note that while Reddit was responsible for more than 20% of the traffic, pulling in over 7,000 visits, you can see the actual vote count on the post from Reddit is relatively low at 33 upvotes. The amount of traffic Reddit delivers is very specific to the actual subreddit submitted to (in this case reddit.com/r/pics). Having seen the amount of traffic just 33 votes can get you on Reddit, if you use a little imagination you might be able to come up with your own numbers on what kind of traffic infographics that get several hundred votes get.

The only two sites that did not pull in a lot of traffic was StumbleUpon and Google Buzz. StumbleUpon is notorious for being unpredictable and in some circumstances dumping far more traffic than even Digg and all of the others.

Top or “The Best” WordPress Plugins – Dan Picks!

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This is my list of top wordpress plugins that are absolutely must have, and I generally install on every single blog I setup.

  • Subscribe to Comments Reloaded – This plugin is excellent for boosting a blog’s stickiness. It lets readers subscribe to a comment thread.
  • wp-db-backup – A plugin that automatically backs up a wordpress database.
  • WPTouch – Instantly create a mobile version of your blog.
  • Simple Tags –
  • Breadcrumb NavXT – A wordpress plugin that adds some nifty navigation/link hierarchy thats useful for SEO and usability.
  • WP-Cumulus – Not particularly SEO friendly since it’s flash based, but a truly visually stunning tag cloud.
  • Subscribe2- An excellent email subscription plugin allowing people to get digest emails of your blog updates on a daily or weekly basis. See the guide for pictures and the other options I didn’t bother to mention.
  • Topsy Retweet Button – This button retweets your post, much like the more common tweetmeme variety. This one, however, adds in a nifty post ranking (top 10k, top 5k, etc.) that is generated by topsy’s specialized algorithm. In all other respects functions identically to the tweetmeme retweet button.
  • WP-to-Twitter – This plugin allows you to setup wordpress to tweet either a default or custom tweet to an account of your choice, complete with bit.ly shortening, at post time.
  • TwiBadge – This plugin enables a widget that can be dropped onto a sidebar that shows a twitter stream. I like this particular one because it looks really cool, and has a few different color options. There’s a million different plugins that serve this same feature, however.
  • Facebook Fan Box – This plugin adds a facebook fan box widget letting you advertise your facebook fanpage with ease.
  • Share and Follow – Creates social media buttons both for sharing posts, and to allow users to follow you. Very customizable and has a level of functionality that is the equivalent to a combination of other plugins.
  • Google XML Sitemaps – This outputs an xml file to be given to google to increase indexability of the website. Presumably a boon to SEO.
  • Contextual Related Posts – This inserts a short bulleted link list of “related posts” to the end of every post. Good for SEO, and giving people more to read about automatically.
  • DISQUS Comment System – This plugin integrates the Disqus comment system into the blog. Disqus adds really cool features like avatar import from and posting to facebook, and twitter. Additionally it allows for subscription to posts, and inserts the comments into the actual wordpress database for easy removal if you later decide Disqus isn’t for you.
  • EzineArticles Plugin – This allows you to submit EzineArticles directly from your blog, as well as monitor their status from the administrative panel.
  • WP Super Cache – This plugin is so important it’s actually automatically included in all wordpress blogs setup at my webhost provider, Dreamhost. It can prevent a website from crashing when suddenly receiving a large number of hits (like those sent from a story going popular on Digg).