The Problem with IM Developers and Warriors who Sell Wordpress Products

Ok I have something I need to write about and get off my chest which is aimed at pretty much all internet marketers and software developers of any kind but in this instance I am aiming squarely at anyone developing themes, plugins and tools for WordPress.

I Don't think that it is going to do one shred of help in resolving anything but I really need to vent a frustration today and maybe by posting this here it can at least get some discussion going about what I think is a major scam and huge problem so here goes..

As a long term and serial buyer of WSOs and products hoping to have a great library of tools I get really frustrated when I go to a tool or product I purchased a year or so ago and find the product is no longer supported or the website has disapeard or the seller is no longer available but it is something we all seem to not only accept but expect so we keep buying new products and dont even get suprised when they are gone 12 months later. I am consistently buying new products on a weekly basis as I enjoy it and I am mainly focused on purchasing helpful software apps and plugins but I am now getting really tired of not being able to actually build a great library up because way too high a percentage of the stuff I have purchased is no longer supported and so I feel its time that I made a little bit of noise complaining about a massive problem that seems to be overlooked by the entire internet marketing industry and that is the problem of longevity...

A a case in point my main area of issue as a web developer who focuses a lot of time, expense and energy is on Wordpress and therefore I purchase a lot of themes, plugins and tools for wordpress.

There is a simple fact that not many internet marketers seem to understand and that any developer who releases a paid or premium wordpress themes or plugin or an external tool that works with wordpress needs to understand the commitment they are making because wordpress is notorious for constant updates and changes to their code that require themes and plugins to keep up with those changes, on top of that there are PHP updates and PHP module updates and things are constantly changing so it really is a big commitment to release a new product for this technology and it really is unethical to release a product for wordpress without the comitment to continued ongoing development of that product "forever" or as long as wordpress exists. The difference between someone that creates a theme or plugin for free to someone that charges money for it is that commitment, the very fact that you dont release your plugin or theme for free to the repository suggests that you are covering the costs and taking it seriously as a business to commit to follow the wordpress development cycle and keeping that product alive and working and up to date forever.

that commitment is taken way too lightly by todays developers but look at the real money makers with apps and so on and you will see some very rich people who might only have made one or two paid apps.. This problem is the very reason that it is not easy to get an app in the apple app store, because Apple only want commited developers who really do understand that they are making a massive commitment the moment they start making money by selling their apps.

So that is the problem that you guys who are pumping out and developing new products at an alarming rate need to really understand. At the end of the day if there is no real commitment to keep a product going far into the future then you end up turning what might be an awesome product into a future problem that you actually already fully know will some day soon affect the customer in a negative way and they will have to delete it because it just doesn't do what it once did at some point. So ultimately the customer is buying something that promises a result and gives it to them temporarily but they are really only paying in advance for what will soon become a problem to them.

As a seller It is not good business sense to fall into the trap of pumping out new products constantly and forgetting about those that you have successfully launched already. It means your working under an illusion where you establish yourself as a trustworthy person by creating or marketing a great product and giving good support but have no staying power. You cannot possibly be a trustworthy seller if your letting your already released products fall behind the technology they were built on and ultimately end up cutting your own throat and will eventually become exposed and loose your existing customers loyalty..

Because its a really big problem that is getting worse by the day I have started gravitating away from all internet marketers and "warriors" which includes anyone selling through jvzoo and clickbank for this very reason and now I am more inclined to only purchase from those who have indeed kept their products going and updated for several years and are still supporting those products to this day and its not hard to find out if a seller is one of those commited people or not, Google can reveal that quite quickly.

It seems that the only place to find trustworthy new sellers of products for wordpress and other platforms is "Envato" since Envato takes things seriously and is more in line with how the Apple App store is in that it makes sure that their sellers have worthy products and that they understand the commitment they are making and so envato sellers are extremely good at keeping all their products up to date and working nicely with the technology they are working with so therefore those sellers get a super solid reputation which means they get lots of testimonials and their "public comment and support threads" generally reflect their commitment ongoing sales for products they release that will not cease as long as they keep their products updated.

I am not saying all internet marketers or warriors are guilty at all because I do have products that I have purchased as far back as 1999 that I still use and who's websites still exist and if you email them they still reply to this day. that is true commitment.

Internet marketers of today seem to focus on product launches where they rake in piles of cash for a short time and then move on to the next launch to do it again, how many times I see the phrase "Rinse and repeat" in marketing courses has become a total bore and its places like the warrior forum that are I am sad to say the worst for this.

Envato on the other hand has sellers that might not make thousands of new sales when they launch a new product however their profits are way more steady and solid and their customer loyalty and retention is really high and keeps building more and more over time because they have to establish themselves and their products as being solid with Envato and prove they are committed and in it for the long term so they cant really focus on making all their money out of product launches pumping out new products constantly and forgeting about their older ones a few months down the track because Envato see to it that its not possible to stop supporting existing products and clients due to their terms and conditions so sellers are forced to keep these kinds of technology products up to date with the platforms they work on.

A smarter and more long term aproach would be to keep developing your existing products making them continue to do what they are meant to do for decades instead of months or at best 1-2 years and when you release new products give them the same commitment and keep them related to what you already have in the market place so when you launch you are pretty much gauranteed a bunch of sales from your existing customers and dont have to use armies of JVs and affiliates to generate massive buzz and sales that only last for a short time then your onto the next thing where you will generally be chasing new customers for every launch. People are not entirely stupid, they may throw money at new launches from the same marketer several times but eventually we wake up, eventually the light goes on and we realise hey I am wasting my money here and my time because all the effort I put in to learn this product and use this product seems to end up being for nothing when 6-12 months later I have to delete this product because it no longer works and I cant get any help with it.

Sure you may be able to get away with it for 3-4 years getting new sales from the same people and getting new customers and dont give them some nasty future suprise when they discover a site was working but now your product has broken it so yes you can make big money, even really massive big money doing this but if your not going to be there for a product in 5 years then it simply is not ethical to sell it guys, it really isn't and in the end your reputation will die and the money will slow as people do eventually wake up to it even if you were producing great products.
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If like your customers you actually want real loyalty and longevity and solid unbreakable income streams then build and focus on creating and selling products that will really be around for a lifetime.,commit that you need to support that product AND that customer for the rest of your natural life...

Of course sometimes a product life cycle will for whatever reason come to an end but there are ways to ethically forsee and plan for those times and have ethics about it that mean you will be honest with your customers as that lifecycle goes so even if a product you made is no longer profitable to support and so is not going to be updated just ensure that you communicate with your existing customers and be fair with them, Give them the next generation of that same product at a special new price or have some strategy in place that protects your reputaion and your customer loyalty.. You could develop and relaunch the same products instead of pumping out new crap that will inevitably also die down the track and still make great ongoing sales or release addons or courses for your existing products.

It's a simple fact that technologies like wordpress pump out consistent updates and change their code a lot, many people say too much, too fast however that is what we all have to deal with if we want to use it so as a developer you have an obligation to really understand this fact and stand behind your products otherwise you are ultimately just scamming your customers in the long run..

ok end of rant now .. ha ha
I would be interested to know if others are getting frustrated with these same issues and what can be done to protect ourselves from buying wordpress themes and plugins that simply will not be usable within 18 months time.