7 Lessons We Learned About Product Validation – WPCAST027

This week, we’re sharing seven lessons we learned about product validation. We’re also talking about optimizing your plugin for the WordPress.org repository, pricing and running a beta.

Changelog

* Doug’s new plugin.

* Kyle left a voicemail asking about product/startup validation.

The Core

* Research – Keyword search volume

* Research – demand within WP directory

* Talking to prospects

* Just because people tell you it’s a good idea doesn’t mean they will pay for it

* Dan Norris talked about his experiences with validation on Inform.ly and WP Curve in Episode 26 http://wpcast.fm/wpcurve

* Dan’s blog post: http://wpcurve.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/

* The 7 Day Startup: You Don’t Learn Until You Launch

* Doug’s experience trying to sell EfficientWP as a reseller platform

* Beta testing – get people who are serious

* Paid – Matt Medeiros talked about his paid beta of Conductor plugin in Episode 24 http://wpcast.fm/mattreport

* David: I’m asking friends with Easy Opt-ins

* Find out a way to filter out people who aren’t serious – more beta testers are not necessarily better

* Pricing correctly

* http://wpcast.fm/pricing

* Pricing with Confidence: 10 Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table

* http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086I1VG0

* http://www.priceintelligently.com/

* https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/ & https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro-1-4-4-media-files-1-2-released/ 

* “charge more”

* Launch – Big launch vs. slow rollout

* http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-168-things-that-dont-scale-and-why-you-should-do-them

Bonus question:

Chris from http://bootstrapbay.com/: “I was wondering if you have any tips on how to be visible in the WordPress repository?”

* mostly search driven (Google kw research)

* rankings: kw density, tags

* trust indicators: reviews, answering support threads