#49 – Matt Cromwell on the Effectiveness of the WordPress.org Repository for Promoting New Plugins

On the podcast today we have Matt Cromwell. Matt is Senior Director of Operations and Marketing at StellarWP, and also one of the founders of GiveWP, a donations plugin which uses the freemium model. He's on the podcast today to talk about whether the WordPress.org plugin repository is still an effective place to host your free plugin. Over the past few weeks, the repository has been in the news for the unexpected removal of stats which many plugin developers said they relied upon. The podcast focus' on a post by Alex Denning in which he spells out why he thinks the repository is no longer viable. Matt disagrees and puts his side of the argument. Can you get noticed given the enormous reach of the incumbent plugins? Is it possible to convert enough users to your paid plugin to make it worthwhile? What can be done to improve the repository for plugin authors? It’s a fascinating chat and is sure to interest anyone thinking about starting a freemium plugin.