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How to do marketing for free WordPress/WooCommerce Plugins Platform?

by JoMel
8 replies
Hi there,

I have recently come to a site that offers 700+ of the most popular Premium WordPress Themes, Plugins and WooCommerce Extensions for free download.

The idea behind it, is that all the WordPress items offered for download are 100% GPL-licensed and therefore may be redistributed and made available to people who cannot afford pricey support licenses from the developers.

So far, so good. The goal of the guys who run it, is idealistic and the WordPress files are all exact copies of the originals (I checked some myself with subscriptions I have and there was nothing added, removed or nulled or some other crap).

The site I am talking about is https://gpldl.com.

My question for the marketing gurus is how you would do marketing for such a site. The guys running it are more techies and don't know much about about marketing and I would like to give them a helping hand.

Any ideas/suggestions are more than welcome!
#free #marketing #platform #plugins #themes #woocommerce #wordpress #wordpress or woocommerce
  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    Do you mean how to monetize?

    The thing with WP themes is they need to be maintained. The Wordpress platform frequently updates and themes and plugins often 'break' when a design element or feature is not compatible with the changes to Wordpress.

    For example, Thesis theme is offered with a GNU/GPL license but after recent changes to WP, old Thesis themes no longer work properly and the new Thesis theme was a complete redesign.

    If the guys who run the site are techies and they are making sure the themes/plugins are updated to remain compatible with WP changes they could charge for that - say a VIP membership or something that covers support.

    They could also use the WP themes to attract people onto a list and then monetize other ways by selling affiliate products around marketing, web design, ecommerce, etc.

    While what they are doing is certainly allowed, their clients could end up with a bunch of dead themes when WP changes and they would have to go to the paid source (Woo or wherever) to get the updated theme that works.

    If the site is popular and gets traffic, they could also monetize with advertising, banner or AdSense.

    You say none of the themes have had anything added, removed, nulled, etc. This isn't necessarily a good thing. One of the benefits of the WP GPL is that people like those who run this site can rebrand them, extend them and make them better or more suited to a certain market.

    For example, take a theme and "niche it down" do include predefined AdSense layouts or set-up to work with Amazon or build hooks to easily work with ecommerce platforms like Shopify.
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    • Profile picture of the author JoMel
      Thanks, these are good insights and much more than I expected in one answer! Wow!

      Are there any ideas how to promote the site in that specific WordPress-realted Niche?

      Any Forums, Interest Groups and Best Practices on how to proceed to avoid being considered a spammer?
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      • Profile picture of the author onSubie
        Originally Posted by JoMel View Post

        Thanks, these are good insights and much more than I expected in one answer! Wow!

        Are there any ideas how to promote the site in that specific WordPress-realted Niche?

        Any Forums, Interest Groups and Best Practices on how to proceed to avoid being considered a spammer?
        I don't know. They could try participating in marketing or design forums. A Facebook page to get fans/followers. Maybe make YouTube videos about how to work with the themes.

        I would hesitate to do any blatant promotion, advertising or PPC because that would draw traffic away from the original publishers like Woo. Although not really a problem, I would personally avoid directly stepping on other developers toes by marketing against them.
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  • Profile picture of the author JoMel
    any forums you could recommend?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      You'll clearly flounder until you decide on the purpose of your marketing.

      Are you promoting to make money?

      Are you promoting to build an email list of subscribers?

      Are you promoting to increase awareness of WP themes and plug-ins?

      Are you trying to build a niche community site?

      Until you decide why you're doing this and let us know, it will be hard to give you suggestions that will be helpful.

      Steve
      Signature

      Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
      SteveBrowneDirect

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  • Profile picture of the author JoMel
    Steve, regarding your questions I can quote the purpose of GPLDL right from the site which is philantrophic - to enable people built better WordPress powered websites:

    "Why GPLDL?
    At GPLDL we believe in Free Software and enjoy sharing the things we care about.

    We are striving to add our share to the future of a free society by making the world’s best GPL-licensed Premium WordPress Themes & Plugins and WooCommerce Extensions & Themes available for everyone!

    Study, modify, share and use the WordPress items available at GPLDL to create something great - may it be a professional blog to share your content and views with the world, an e-commerce shop to start an online business or a social network for your school or community to bring people together."

    The question is how to raise awareness and point it out to the right people who realize the benefit.
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  • Profile picture of the author JoMel
    Thanks again for everyone's feedback and recommendation. The site is growing really fast and I believe that would not have been possible without some of the advice from people at the Warrior Forum!
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  • Profile picture of the author gnraj
    Can you not get in touch with product creators & pass on your site to include in their bonuses. You may send your message on their fb groups ...
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