When I published my first WordPress plugin, I had no idea what I was doing. A few years and 9 plugins later, I've crossed 115,000 active installs. Here's what I've learned.
Start with a real problem
Every successful plugin I've built started with a problem I personally had. Ultimate Blocks came from my own frustration with the limited Gutenberg blocks available for bloggers. WP Table Builder came from needing a simple drag-and-drop table editor that didn't require a PhD in shortcodes.
The plugins I built because they "seemed like a good market opportunity"? They're the ones sitting at under 100 installs.
The WordPress.org review process is your friend
Your first submission to the WordPress plugin repository will feel painful. The review team will point out security issues, coding standard violations, and UI problems you didn't know existed. Embrace it. Every piece of feedback makes your plugin better.
Support is marketing
Answering support tickets isn't just maintenance — it's your best marketing channel. Happy users leave 5-star reviews. Reviews improve your ranking. Better ranking brings more installs. It's a virtuous cycle.
I've seen plugins with technically superior features lose to plugins with better support. Users remember how you made them feel when they were stuck.
Ship fast, iterate faster
My best-performing plugins weren't the most polished at launch. They were the ones I got into users' hands fastest and then iterated based on real feedback.
Ultimate Blocks v1.0 was rough. But it was usable, it solved a real problem, and it gave me data I couldn't get any other way.
What's next
I'm now focused on building SaaS products alongside the plugins. OptimizeCamp, GritShip, and SurePrompts each tackle different problems — but they all follow the same philosophy: build for real people, ship fast, and iterate in public.
The plugins got me here. The SaaS products are where I'm going.