Business

The Stream plugin lets you track all WordPress user activity

Brian Krogsgard

April 29, 2014

Stream is a WordPress plugin by X-Team that allows site owners to track all activity on their website. The free version of the plugin was released in December of 2013, and this last weekend they announced their first commercial extensions.…

Demo WP Pro helps you create demo sites for WordPress products

Brian Krogsgard

April 24, 2014

BusinessHosting

The folks behind Ninja Forms are working on a new plugin, called Demo WP Pro. Demo WP Pro is pretty meta, as it's intended for people that sell WordPress related products. The plugin allows you to create demo sites available for users…

Syed Balkhi, of WP Beginner, enters the commercial theme market with ThemeLab

Brian Krogsgard

April 23, 2014

BusinessWordPress Community

ThemeLab has been around since 2007, started by Leland Fiegel. Leland released dozens of themes on ThemeLab, most of which were free. He also wrote a consistent blog and was generally an active member of the WordPress community. Over time…

The power of WordPress.org on freemium products

Brian Krogsgard

April 23, 2014

BusinessWordPress News

There's a ton of discussion going on around the WordPress.org theme review incentive program right now. The incentive program was structured around a concept of rewarding reviewers for their work by allowing them to choose which themes get featured on the WordPress…

From ThemeForest to Array, the story of a theme business

Brian Krogsgard

April 22, 2014

BusinessDesign

Mike McAlister has been an active member of the commercial WordPress theme space since 2009. He started by selling themes on ThemeForest. He transitioned to the Okay Themes brand in December of 2011. And at the end of March of this year, Mike…

Tips for a better eCommerce website

Brian Krogsgard

April 21, 2014

Business

I've seen it many times. A business owner goes to a consultant, and they want an eCommerce offering for their products. They may even have some functionality in mind that they'll need. But have they considered the things that will…

Lessons learned from the Obox affiliate program

Brian Krogsgard

April 21, 2014

Business

Obox has run their affiliate program since 2009, but made it invite-only last week. It was not an easy decision for them, since there were some months that their affiliates accounted for more than 30% of all revenue. That said, after investigating…

Press75, one of the oldest WordPress theme shops, is for sale

Brian Krogsgard

April 15, 2014

BusinessWordPress Community

Started in 2008, Press75 is one of the oldest WordPress theme shops. Jason Schuller has run the site for years, and according to the listing, it was once a half a million dollar per year business. Now it's for sale. Jason…

Keys to building a successful remote workforce

Brian Krogsgard

April 14, 2014

BusinessSecurity

Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood writes why companies are not hiring the best and the brightest employees. While the title says the article is about hiring, it's really about working. His points boil down to a promotion for distributed workforces.…

Devin Price is the new owner of DevPress

Brian Krogsgard

April 11, 2014

Business

Devin Price is a developer from Austin, Texas and owner of WP Theming, an excellent WordPress blog. He also hosts his plugins and themes on WP Theming. Devin is the author of the popular Options Framework plugin, the Portfolio Post…

DevPress sold for $14,000 on Flippa

Brian Krogsgard

April 6, 2014

BusinessDesign

Update: Devin Price is the new owner. DevPress has a storied four year history, and today it's been sold on Flippa for a mere $14,000. What started as a partnership between four well known WordPress community members was eventually reduced…

How to market your first WordPress product

Brian Krogsgard

March 27, 2014

Business

Oli Dale has put together a nice post outlining methods he's found to be effective for marketing his WordPress themes and plugins. I wrote tips for marketing WordPress products last year, but my list was more focused on what I…

Pantheon for WordPress: a website hosting and management platform

Brian Krogsgard

March 26, 2014

BusinessDraft

Pantheon is a website development, deployment, and hosting platform. But they aren't just any host. They like to think of their product as a hosting killer, because in their mind, they do much more than just hosting. I heard about…

Tips for clients hiring a web consultant

Brian Krogsgard

March 24, 2014

Business

Chris Lema has dropped some excellent tips for clients looking to hire a web developer / consultant. My favorite part was his description of why clients should know their budget: Sure, low prices exist, but in parts of town that…

Creative Market acquired by AutoDesk

Brian Krogsgard

March 20, 2014

BusinessDesign

AutoDesk is an enormous company. Publicly traded on the Nasdaq, they have a market cap just under $12 Billion. You may have heard of AutoCAD, the thirty year old drafting software that's an absolute titan in a broad range of…

WordPress.com has opened applications for commercial themes

Brian Krogsgard

March 17, 2014

BusinessDesign

Automattic has added a new page on WordPress.com inviting theme makers to submit their theme shops to the platform. Historically, Automattic has invited particular theme makers to be a part of the WordPress.com commercial theme program. I have heard from some…