WordPress.TV just posted my second presentation from OCWordCamp, “How to Create a Premium WordPress Plugin” … If you're thinking about putting together a Premium Plugin for WordPress, this video will show you a simple way you could go about it. This basically documents the system I've come up with for distributing and marketing a Premium WordPress Plugin:
Here are the slides for this presentation: How to Create a Premium WordPress Plugin
COBOL!! LOL!
Good talk.. would be good to waive questions to the end of the talk. Definitely interested in the server code you mentioned. I’m far and away from the release of any premium plugin yet but would like to see what the landscape ahead looks like.
A great lesson Blair with some very useful tips, thanks. I too would like a copy of the server code you refer to for talking with prli…php. I am working on a few plugins at the moment and do not want to create a huge headache for my backend support by having to continually send out updates (hopefully not continually, but you know what I mean). I want to upload an update, tick a box or whatever, and all users will be notified automatically. Also, how do you control who gets the updates – registered customers only and not those who grabbed “free” copies of the code from friends? I think I worked that out – wishlist or amember, right? Do you encrypt your pro version plugin or does the subscription model and mothership concept take care of security and you can freely give away the pro plugin?
Yeah, I’m with R’phael on the COBOL comment :-O
I thought I knew everything about WordPress because I have had WP Mage for almost a year so I thought I knew about the different plugins for wordpress.
Hi Blair.
I have been searching for some advice on a premium plugin I am building and you seem to be the voice of authority here! There is surprisingly little info about building premium plugins… A dark art!
I wonder if you can advise me? I am trying to think how I protect my code from tampering developers. Obviously anyone who has bought the plugin will have access to their server and I need to be able to detect if the code has been altered in anyway. Maybe I am being naive but I would like to eliminate the option of people being able to alter the code….
I am also toying with the idea of a freemium style plugin but again have the same problems.
Any thoughts? How do you prevent your premium code being hacked about?
On another note, how do you deal with updates that require database table structure alteration? Without losing the existing data.
And one last question I promise! Do you think a plugin would be listed in the repo if it was free to download but actually did nothing at all until paid for?
Thank you for your time!
Andy
Where did the video go? I’d love to see it as I’m developing my first premium plugin.