I sort of fall into two camps at the moment as I have one site, my principal site on Classicpress and one, which is sort of semi-mothballed, on WP4.9
I upgraded my main site from a very early stage, as I did not like gutenburg and the direction that WP was going. I thought I would take the risk and move my main site.
Why haven’t I done the same for the other site? Well because at the moment, there is no advantage, and eventually, I can see me going back to WP, not through wanting to but by having no choice.
I have an ordinary news site, that rely on plugins, which I know will eventually stop working with Classicpress, plus at the present I also have a free theme as there is no point in buying one as compatibility with Classicpress cannot be guaranteed.
At the moment, I truly want Classicpress to succeed, I want a lighter CMS and a plugin directory, and I imagine that if we could provide this, then we would be able to target the 4.9 users more successfully, saying that we are lighter, faster, more secure and have a full range of plugins and themes 100 percent compatible.
Unfortunately, until we reach this point, I feel we will always fall under the radar, with the existing 4.9 users slowly upgrading to WP 5+ as they will have no choice as their plugins start to not be compatible, and then we will have missed our chance.
We are trying to address all of this. We recognise we need to grow our audience and the new web page is only a part of our line of “attack”.
We are currently targeting WP 4.9 users and WP5 users with the Classic Editor plugin installed.
The reason it was decided to target these users is because:
a) it’s an easily definable target
b) it’s huge. WP 4.9 users amount to around a quarter of all WP sites. Users on WP5 with the classic editor installed increases this still further (possibly quite considerably).
The new web page is heavily optimised towards “wordpress 4.9” for SEO purposes and this will be monitored. The page is also likely to be quite fluid and may change according to circumstances.
The page is also being pushed and used as material for social media (follow @GetClassicPress on Twitter). As Michelle mentioned in the meeting:
I’ll be able to use a lot of this to build a social media campaign that should last us a couple of months, so if you’re on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn please keep an eye out and share.
Just to stress that point, everyone can help to promote CP. For instance, I don’t do social media but I’ve just resurrected an old Twitter account to help out.
To spread the word further, as you may have seen from this post, we are participating in the Twitter-based Hey Pressto! Conference 2020.
WP 4.9 users will not be the only target but it’s certainly a good one. Suggestions for who else to target and how to reach them will, as always, be welcomed.
As also mentioned in the meeting:
Right now, I would say we should be thinking about now . Time is of the essence. We need to try and capture the 25% because that audience will almost certainly be 0% in 5 years.
I know the minutes of the meeting are a long read but it’s worth taking a bit of time out to read them fully. You’ll see that most of what’s been mentioned since has already been discussed.
As to why people are still using WP4.9 or the Classic Editor, I think this is pretty pertinent:
However, I would just like to add:
If you’re still on WP4.9, don’t feel pressured into upgrading plugins and themes when new releases come out. If you find a version that works, is secure and does what you need, stick with it. And then you can safely use that version with CP.
Lastly, don’t forget you can easily revert to any version of WP should CP not work out for you.
There are real advantages of moving to CP, not least that a fiasco like Gutenberg would never happen here. And that is, after all, why we’re all here in the first place.
I think the project does need a public “face” (more on that in a moment), but, that’s not the crux of what I was trying to say. My overall point was that unless/until we have actual data from potential users – that is, data on their actual needs – it’s impossible to market to anyone because every attempt would be a shot in the dark. It would leave us moving in circles, redefining the parameters/terms/wording to fit a market that we haven’t actually figured out.
This is more germane to the point I was making. We don’t know how to get the message in front of the right people because we don’t know who those people are; I was positing that that was the result of our not having any market research to point out the actual, stated needs of potential new users.
Regarding a “face” for the project… I agree, the project needs an ambassador, but, just having a willing person isn’t enough. The person would need to be pretty involved in CP, have a large social following composed of followers that are all about WP, and who are not controlled by the WP-or-die mentality. That’s going to be a tough find, but, I think it’s not as important as having market research to steer the effort forward.
I agree that the zero-risk factor is appealing as a nice extra, but, it’s not much of a selling feature itself because most people would probably only ever use it a couple of times, at most. You’re not alone; some of us came here because of Gutenberg; others came because…politics.
In terms of compatibility, there will be some issues down the line when support for 4.9.x is fully dropped, but, so long as plugin/theme developers continue to support 4.9.x versions, the code should continue to just work on ClassicPress. With a quarter of WP sites <5.0, it will still be awhile before 4.9.x support is completely dropped. It doesn’t seem likely that plugin/theme creators will want to leave that money on the table.
For sure. The directories (and internal integration) will be a much better experience for users and I think it will paint a picture that the project is moving forward. It will be wonderful to have everything in the dashboard again. While it’s second nature for many of us early adopters to just go and download something from GitHub, I think our potential market(s) will find see in-dashboard capabilities a very important feature.
Yes, missing the boat was also something I’d thought about. COVID and current events have slowed things down, for sure. Plus, it’s exhausting to keep up with current events in these crazy times. I think we’ll have a bit of a rebound as things get back to some sort of normal.
This brings me back to the point of my original post: without market research, I don’t see how we can devise a plan that can be executed. Or am I thinking about it wrong? My thoughts are that we have some questions like… How do we find the people? How do we approach them? How do we get the market research? …before we can figure out how to take the actual actions that will target them. We have the strategy (what we need to do,) but, we’re lacking the tactics (how to get it done.)
I’ve looked at the PressTo thing a few times; I just didn’t get it. Maybe I’m too old.
Reaching out to WP 4.9 users is an obvious and potentially huge target and I don’t think we need any market research to tell us that. After all, switching from WP to CP is as easy as it’s going to get for anyone contemplating a move to a new CMS.
We’ll be trying to reach them via search engines, social media and by things like the Twitter conference as well as by reaching out to developers, hosting companies and anyone else that has anything to do with WordPress.
The more big names we get on board, the better chance we succeed. That’s why I initially targeted the likes of Softaculous, Installatron and Litespeed – and I’m nowhere near finished. Plus, don’t forget we’ve got Beaver Builder and Shield Security on board already.
And as long as the trend keeps going upwards, we’re obviously doing something right.
My main problem with the Hey Pressto! Conference is the colours on their website. But seriously, imho, it’s giving us exposure and any exposure is better than none.
I’ve been watching the comments here – thanks to all of you for your input. I’m not entirely sure where to start or what’s most important to respond to.
I think the most important positive outcome I’m seeing from this so far is that people are talking again here in the community. I know we are all under a variety of [insert COVID-related cliché here] stressors but if we work together as a group, we can start making progress again.
Market research would be fantastic. Polling our own community will result in skewed results, so it will be important to reach the larger universe of users. It may not even need to be restricted to WordPress users, but CMS users in general.
There are some inexpensive ways to DIY some market research. I’ve split this into another topic for further discussion.
These are valid comments. We need to get clear on our “WHY” – why switch? Until we have a few additional compelling reasons (other than “We’re block-free!”) we will struggle in this area.
IMO, with so many other voices saying “Update now in order to stay secure!”, this may be a difficult sell, particularly for less tech-savvy people. “Update now because we don’t support old versions!” is also an issue.
Then, there’s FOMO – “Update now to get these cool new features!”
I’m the last one to want to go negative here, but we need to take a hard look at the reality in order to start plotting a way through to the other side. We want to put out there that we are stable, but we can’t afford to put out there that we are stale, and I think that’s a very fine line when you start talking about updates.
This sounds great but it forces us to rely on the WP ecosystem for our success. The sooner we get the directory up & running, the better.
Between Scott’s departure, COVID, and the plain reality that we are all volunteers here, we’ve lost momentum and need to get it back if we want to survive. WP 4.9 users and disgruntled 5+ users are our “low-hanging fruit” so it makes sense to start here. However, it’s going to take a ton of work. Like Aussie said:
I am thrilled to see the spirited discussion taking place, but we can’t stop here. Action must be taken and it has to come from each of us, not just a select few.
It would be wonderful if multiple members of the CP Community get involved with the Hey Pressto! Conference. The price is right, and even if not many people “attend”, our tweets will be out in the Twitterverse for someone to pick up on in the future. It’s something we’ve been expressly invited to participate in, so I think it’s important that we do so.
The conference and the upcoming social media posts (which are scheduled 2x/wk through the end of October, so please keep an eye out for them and like/comment/share them!) are just two parts of what will (hopefully) become a larger marketing plan. Market research can and should be a part of that, but we’ve already been silent for too long – we need to get our momentum back and that means taking action, even if it turns out to be imperfect.
Our message all along has been “if it works with WP 4.9, it should work with CP”. From the new web page:
if your site is running WordPress 4.9, that means hundreds, if not thousands, of add-on features are available immediately via the WordPress repository and third-party websites.
From the ClassicPress for Plugin Developers page:
Your plugin will normally work in ClassicPress if it supports:
WordPress 4.9.x
The reality is that if/when people move to CP, they may well still have to use older versions of plugins. It’s not a case of trying to sell it. It’s just a fact.
We’re also saying that CP is unlikely to move too far from its roots.
The new web page is at pains to point out that CP is like WP 4.9 but under active development and I see that very much as a positive. None of this means it’s stale. It means we’ve got a working “formula” and we’re going to build on it and, for the moment at least, it also seems to be the formula that works for at least 25% of WP users.
I get that – no confusion here. My point is that there are other “authoritative” voices banging the “Update now or else…” drum. I’m not saying we sound stale, I’m suggesting we remain aware, so we can guard against that.
But seriously, imho, it’s giving us exposure and any exposure is better than none.