At wpPluginCollege.com) we are exploring 7 different ways for solo-programmers to develop income producing products and businesses using WordPress as the development framework. This is the first in a series covering a detailed SWOT analysis of each idea.
Selling or licensing plugins is what I call the "traditional" business model in the world of WordPress programming. There are over 50,000 free plugins found in the WordPress.org/plugins repository, all open source. Many of those have up-sells to paid, premium versions. There are also hundreds of premium plugins sold directly from websites and other commercial marketplaces.
To some, this would sound like a "saturated" market, but that is not a correct way of looking at how the plugin market functions.
Many of the plugins that exist are outdated or aging rapidly. New features in WordPress and other technologies (like APIs) now enable more feature-rich and advanced plugins to be developed.
The so-called "Bread-and-butter" plugins, like form builders, are not 100% locked in by the existing products. There is always room for the brand new approach, especially since there are so many new businesses and users coming online every day.
Inventive and creative programmers can find new ways of doing the same thing faster, easier, cheaper... or just plain more fun.
The WordPress admins and developers are constantly seeking new features and capabilities that will help make what they provide or sell more interesting and desirable to their users.
