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

1. Research – Keyword search volume
2. Research – demand within WP directory
3. Talking to prospects
4. Just because people tell you it’s a good idea doesn’t mean they will pay for it
   1. Dan Norris talked about his experiences with validation on Inform.ly and WP Curve in Episode 26 http://wpcast.fm/wpcurve
   2. Dan’s blog post: http://wpcurve.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/
   3. The 7 Day Startup: You Don’t Learn Until You Launch
   4. Doug’s experience trying to sell EfficientWP as a reseller platform
5. Beta testing – get people who are serious
   1. Paid – Matt Medeiros talked about his paid beta of Conductor plugin in Episode 24 http://wpcast.fm/mattreport
   2. David: I’m asking friends with Easy Opt-ins
   3. Find out a way to filter out people who aren’t serious – more beta testers are not necessarily better
6. Pricing correctly
   1. http://wpcast.fm/pricing
   2. Pricing with Confidence: 10 Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table
      1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086I1VG0
   3. http://www.priceintelligently.com/
   4. https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/ & https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro-1-4-4-media-files-1-2-released/ 
   5. “charge more”
7. Launch – Big launch vs. slow rollout
   1. 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