Building a $1.8M/year portfolio of 20 WordPress plugins

Executive overview

Most founders bet everything on one product. Katie Keith built 20 instead — 19 WordPress plugins and one Shopify app — generating $1.8M/year with a small remote team.

The model works because the products serve the same customer base, enabling aggressive cross-promotion. New ideas emerged naturally from user feedback rather than upfront planning.

Build one product, listen to users, and let the portfolio grow from their requests.

How the portfolio works

• 19 WordPress plugins + 1 Shopify app, each solving a specific, bounded problem
• $150K average monthly revenue; $9.8M in lifetime sales
• ~90,000 sites running premium or free versions; 17,000 active subscribers
• Lifetime deals account for ~15% of revenue
• Products are intentionally small and focused — complexity stays manageable across 20 products

Where customers come from

• Organic search is the primary acquisition channel
• First plugin targeted a gap found on the WooCommerce Ideas Forum — ranked immediately because no competitor existed
• Strategy: publish genuinely helpful, specific content around each plugin's use cases
• Unique positioning drives early ranking; breadth of content sustains it

Cross-promotion as a growth engine

• Each product is paired with a closely related plugin for upselling
• Post-purchase email at day 3: 50% discount on next plugin
• Black Friday campaigns segment existing vs. new customers; existing customers see "discount off your next plugin"
• Banners on plugin settings pages surface complementary products in context
• The key is recommending closely related products — not generic cross-sells

The 5-step playbook for building a plugin portfolio

1. Start in an area you already know — your experience surfaces gaps others miss
2. Generate several ideas simultaneously; validate all, then prioritise those with overlapping markets
3. Launch your single strongest idea first; give it dedicated time for marketing and user feedback before building the next
4. When launching the second product, treat it as standalone — then layer in cross-promotion via site links, emails, beta invites, and documentation
5. Repeat only as fast as you can maintain quality across the whole portfolio

Tools and tech stack

• ClickUp for project management, time tracking, and internal chat
• GitHub for source code across all products
• Zapier for automations
• Easy Digital Downloads (~$300/year) for e-commerce, licensing, and delivery
• WordPress for the company website