Project Spotlight#<\/a><\/h3>\nI also crafted and executed a mega marketing campaign for WAAR the movie<\/a>. <\/em>With more than 20,000 ratings that averaged a 9.4 rating, WAAR ranked as #1 in\u00a0Highest Rated Feature Films Released In 2013<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nIt kept ranking for almost two years; that’s one year after I had left the position.\u00a0It’s still the most voted movie<\/a> in the history of Lollywood*<\/a> and still has about 20k more votes as compared to the one at the second place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nI guess that’s enough evidence to make a case that I know what I am talking about. My only intention here is to make sure, anyone who reads this post takes it seriously.<\/p>\n
Small WordPress Businesses#<\/a><\/h2>\nLong story short, I left that marketing position because I felt that good about myself as a developer. I had a long history with WordPress which is, of course, I was not ready to give up on development for project management and marketing. That’s just me. Nothing against the marketing niche.<\/p>\n
Getting Into Products Business#<\/a><\/h3>\nIt was the same time when I started a small WordPress business (to sell products, been working as a WP contractor for about five years before that) and dropped out of the eMBA program.\u00a0Since then I have had been selling products, building relationships in the WordPress community and have read about almost all of them. Maybe not all of them, what I mean is that I read a lot\u00a0about what’s WP community up to. Damn, I suck at writing about myself.<\/p>\n
Building Relations#<\/a><\/h3>\nIt’s fundamentally hard to build a relationship without meeting someone in person. Especially, when\u00a0you are sitting here in South Asia and your clients are in the US. But without building relations with other developers and your clients, you can’t really grow fond of the WP community.<\/p>\n
Add Value\u00a0Get Value#<\/a><\/h3>\nI found out that the best way to build relationships was to give back. You need to add more value to the community to find value in the community. I did that by writing, helping in the support forums, getting people to care about WP by arranging meetups, contributing back to the WordPress core and many many other WordPress businesses.<\/p>\n
Doing It Wrong#<\/a><\/h2>\nSo, now you know that I had a marketing background before I got into all of this and that I started a business and eventually gave back to the community to build relationships. During\u00a0this time, I began to pick up on a few things that I think almost every new WordPress business is doing wrong.<\/p>\n
Traction!#<\/a><\/h3>\nTraction is one of those silicon-valley-startup words which you might have grown accustomed to hearing if you have anything to do with the\u00a0startup scene.\u00a0For simplicity,\u00a0let’s think of traction as engagement<\/strong>. Otherwise, there’s debate on what it actually means, and you’re more than welcome to read about it<\/a>.<\/p>\nTraction but How?#<\/a><\/h3>\nEvery new WP business is looking for traction. What happens is that developers get an idea \u2014 they either partner up with another developer or build it themselves. Once they have spent months developing a product, it’s only then they start thinking about selling it.\u00a0Most of them, like any other business, are new to this and have no experience in marketing or talking about their products.<\/p>\n
Good Product Sells Itself (Not Really)#<\/a><\/h3>\nSome products are magnificent, which are needed for a good deal of people, and they do not care about how the business is being marketed, they just go ahead and buy them. You know \u2014 shut-up-and-take-my-money kinda businesses! But the fact is, there is so much saturation in the WP market that there ain’t any gap left for you to tap and wait for revenue to rack up.<\/p>\n
Just Use It Once#<\/a><\/h3>\nMore often than not, when I talk to small WordPress businesses, I end up hearing questions like these \u2014 Why are people not talking about my product? How to get people to care about what I’ve built?\u00a0Why can’t WPTavern write a post about my product? Holly shit, how did this new product got so much attention and not mine. My product is far superior. And all of it ends up with one last remarkable question \u2014 If they can just use my product once, they’ll know what I am talking about. How do I get them to use my product once!<\/p>\n
How Do I Help?#<\/a><\/h2>\nWell, I haven’t really thought much about it, but I have two small WP local agencies on a retention. Where they have hired me as a consultant to help them grow. More often than not, I come in where they want advice about WordPress security\u00a0when they are thinking about adding a 3rd party plugin to a client’s side when they expect me to evaluate their new business idea about a WordPress startup.<\/p>\n
Invest in the Copy!#<\/a><\/h3>\nThis is a very common problem that I see\u00a0at almost every single new WP startup. What happens is a developer or two,\u00a0partner\u00a0up, short on the\u00a0funds and being frugal they seldom invest in the copy (i.e. the sales pitch of a product, or whatever is written on the landing page) on their website. Which comes back to bite them in the ass more often than they even realize.<\/p>\n
Whatever Happened to Content for HUMANS?#<\/a><\/h3>\nMost of the copy that I read in case of new WP businesses, I find it to be written by one developer for another developer. Mostly, though, the products being sold are for an average WordPress “User”. Do you realize what I just said? Let it sink in for a minute.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n
\n\nYou should speak to the HUMANS instead of robots. You should write the copy of your web product as if potential clients of yours are sitting right next to you, and\u00a0do NOT even have an idea if they want to buy your product or not. Add to it the short attention spans\u00a0people have when they are browsing web and you are left with hardly 6 to 9 seconds for grabbing their attention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSo, if in these 9 seconds you are talking gibberish, no would even care how beautiful or useful your product is.<\/p>\n
Do You Know Your Product?#<\/a><\/h3>\nThe thing is that you have a very thorough idea of what you have built. You were there when the product you have was just an idea. You were also there when you had to research and change the direction of how you were going to stand out of the crowd by not competing with others for a niche or for doing something that everyone hates. But do you actually know what your product is for an ideal customer?<\/p>\n
The Avatar Theory#<\/a><\/h3>\nI like this one, I really do. So, the Avatar theory of relevance is creating a perfect user in your mind that would need your product. Create a complete character, his needs, what would he need, why would he buy your product, the new feature you are so excited about, will that help him? (and save yourself from feature-creep \u2014 but that’s an article for another day).<\/p>\n
Explain The Value#<\/a><\/h3>\nYou know your product, you have a perfect avatar that would need your product, now you need to explain the value that your product adds and not the features that it has. That’s all it takes. Stop explaining\u00a0the features of your product like you are talking to other developers (unless your target audience is developers). Stop talking to robots where everything you say is a computer terminology.<\/p>\n
More on That later…#<\/a><\/h2>\nI have already written a long blog post; it’s\u00a0about to touch 1500 words.\u00a0I think it’s enough for today. I have told you about what I am talking about; you know the problem now, or what I think is the problem, you also know how to solve it. Give it a try. Talk to HUMANS and not robots. Talk value and not features.<\/p>\n
It kept ranking for almost two years; that’s one year after I had left the position.\u00a0It’s still the most voted movie<\/a> in the history of Lollywood*<\/a> and still has about 20k more votes as compared to the one at the second place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I guess that’s enough evidence to make a case that I know what I am talking about. My only intention here is to make sure, anyone who reads this post takes it seriously.<\/p>\n Long story short, I left that marketing position because I felt that good about myself as a developer. I had a long history with WordPress which is, of course, I was not ready to give up on development for project management and marketing. That’s just me. Nothing against the marketing niche.<\/p>\n It was the same time when I started a small WordPress business (to sell products, been working as a WP contractor for about five years before that) and dropped out of the eMBA program.\u00a0Since then I have had been selling products, building relationships in the WordPress community and have read about almost all of them. Maybe not all of them, what I mean is that I read a lot\u00a0about what’s WP community up to. Damn, I suck at writing about myself.<\/p>\n It’s fundamentally hard to build a relationship without meeting someone in person. Especially, when\u00a0you are sitting here in South Asia and your clients are in the US. But without building relations with other developers and your clients, you can’t really grow fond of the WP community.<\/p>\n I found out that the best way to build relationships was to give back. You need to add more value to the community to find value in the community. I did that by writing, helping in the support forums, getting people to care about WP by arranging meetups, contributing back to the WordPress core and many many other WordPress businesses.<\/p>\n So, now you know that I had a marketing background before I got into all of this and that I started a business and eventually gave back to the community to build relationships. During\u00a0this time, I began to pick up on a few things that I think almost every new WordPress business is doing wrong.<\/p>\n Traction is one of those silicon-valley-startup words which you might have grown accustomed to hearing if you have anything to do with the\u00a0startup scene.\u00a0For simplicity,\u00a0let’s think of traction as engagement<\/strong>. Otherwise, there’s debate on what it actually means, and you’re more than welcome to read about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every new WP business is looking for traction. What happens is that developers get an idea \u2014 they either partner up with another developer or build it themselves. Once they have spent months developing a product, it’s only then they start thinking about selling it.\u00a0Most of them, like any other business, are new to this and have no experience in marketing or talking about their products.<\/p>\n Some products are magnificent, which are needed for a good deal of people, and they do not care about how the business is being marketed, they just go ahead and buy them. You know \u2014 shut-up-and-take-my-money kinda businesses! But the fact is, there is so much saturation in the WP market that there ain’t any gap left for you to tap and wait for revenue to rack up.<\/p>\n More often than not, when I talk to small WordPress businesses, I end up hearing questions like these \u2014 Why are people not talking about my product? How to get people to care about what I’ve built?\u00a0Why can’t WPTavern write a post about my product? Holly shit, how did this new product got so much attention and not mine. My product is far superior. And all of it ends up with one last remarkable question \u2014 If they can just use my product once, they’ll know what I am talking about. How do I get them to use my product once!<\/p>\n Well, I haven’t really thought much about it, but I have two small WP local agencies on a retention. Where they have hired me as a consultant to help them grow. More often than not, I come in where they want advice about WordPress security\u00a0when they are thinking about adding a 3rd party plugin to a client’s side when they expect me to evaluate their new business idea about a WordPress startup.<\/p>\n This is a very common problem that I see\u00a0at almost every single new WP startup. What happens is a developer or two,\u00a0partner\u00a0up, short on the\u00a0funds and being frugal they seldom invest in the copy (i.e. the sales pitch of a product, or whatever is written on the landing page) on their website. Which comes back to bite them in the ass more often than they even realize.<\/p>\n Most of the copy that I read in case of new WP businesses, I find it to be written by one developer for another developer. Mostly, though, the products being sold are for an average WordPress “User”. Do you realize what I just said? Let it sink in for a minute.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n You should speak to the HUMANS instead of robots. You should write the copy of your web product as if potential clients of yours are sitting right next to you, and\u00a0do NOT even have an idea if they want to buy your product or not. Add to it the short attention spans\u00a0people have when they are browsing web and you are left with hardly 6 to 9 seconds for grabbing their attention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So, if in these 9 seconds you are talking gibberish, no would even care how beautiful or useful your product is.<\/p>\n The thing is that you have a very thorough idea of what you have built. You were there when the product you have was just an idea. You were also there when you had to research and change the direction of how you were going to stand out of the crowd by not competing with others for a niche or for doing something that everyone hates. But do you actually know what your product is for an ideal customer?<\/p>\n I like this one, I really do. So, the Avatar theory of relevance is creating a perfect user in your mind that would need your product. Create a complete character, his needs, what would he need, why would he buy your product, the new feature you are so excited about, will that help him? (and save yourself from feature-creep \u2014 but that’s an article for another day).<\/p>\n You know your product, you have a perfect avatar that would need your product, now you need to explain the value that your product adds and not the features that it has. That’s all it takes. Stop explaining\u00a0the features of your product like you are talking to other developers (unless your target audience is developers). Stop talking to robots where everything you say is a computer terminology.<\/p>\n I have already written a long blog post; it’s\u00a0about to touch 1500 words.\u00a0I think it’s enough for today. I have told you about what I am talking about; you know the problem now, or what I think is the problem, you also know how to solve it. Give it a try. Talk to HUMANS and not robots. Talk value and not features.<\/p>\nSmall WordPress Businesses#<\/a><\/h2>\n
Getting Into Products Business#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Building Relations#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Add Value\u00a0Get Value#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Doing It Wrong#<\/a><\/h2>\n
Traction!#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Traction but How?#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Good Product Sells Itself (Not Really)#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Just Use It Once#<\/a><\/h3>\n
How Do I Help?#<\/a><\/h2>\n
Invest in the Copy!#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Whatever Happened to Content for HUMANS?#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Do You Know Your Product?#<\/a><\/h3>\n
The Avatar Theory#<\/a><\/h3>\n
Explain The Value#<\/a><\/h3>\n
More on That later…#<\/a><\/h2>\n