What 1st step should be done when you got a brilliant idea and decided to develop new amazing WordPress plugin? Yes, you need to choose right name for it. There are 27891 names registered at WordPress plugins repository for this moment. So your plugin name should be unique, descriptive, but short enough, in order to user can remember and easy share it. How to make plugin name unique, but do not lose the main sense. It could be good practice to start plugin name from your business name, your own name or nick. This way your plugin name will have its own place in the whole WordPress plugins list and will not be lost between tens or hundreds of other plugins, which try to do similar things and for that reason may have and really have similar names.
The worst practice is to use general words at the begin of plugin name. The true aim of using such word is to isolate plugin name, make it more noticable, more attractive then others. But it makes really opposite thing. Using such word just hides your plugin among many and many others. Examples of such words which do not help to make your plugin name really unique (and should be blacklisted per my opinion) are:

• simple – 435 plugins names have this word at the begin
• easy – 248 plugins
• super – 66 plugins
• all – 65 plugins
• better – 55 plugins
• best – 28 plugins
• enhanced – 27 plugins

I think that you are agree, that such word, as one of from list above, does not add any new value to the plugin name, doesn’t make it more descriptive. Do not make harm to your plugin yourself.

Other group of names which have less success, then it could have, are names which are started from word, which exactly corresponds to plugin’s functionality. It’s right decision and good word, but this way you help your plugin to be lost in the crowd. For example,

• post – 315 plugins names have this word at the begin;
• custom – 247 plugins;
• comment – 164 plugins;
• add – 172 plugins;
• category – 91 plugins;
• seo – 84 plugins;
• user – 80 plugins;
• author – 68 plugins;
• content – 51 plugins/

How to stand out from the crowd? Make your plugin name more personal. Try to start it from your name or nick-name. For example, this way I think I should take ‘ShinePHP User Role Editor’, not just ‘User Role Editor‘ for my plugin, as 80 other plugins names begins from ‘user’, but no one starts from ‘ShinePHP’.

Visit WordPress plugins repository page and check selected name for your new plugin against full WordPress plugins list. It could help, really.

Tags: WordPress, wordpress plugin

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 8th, 2012 at 07:57 and is filed under WordPress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.