Whoever said WordPress is dead isn’t aware of Prospus’ plans for the veteran CMS that runs over 40% of all websites, globally.
Prospus has committed to a multi-year strategic alliance with several Indian and US-based investors to build the next-generation WordPress workflow. According to Prospus Inc CEO and Founder Marc Ragsdale, the WordPress marketplace represents a vast, untapped market for new revenue. Although Ragsdale did not disclose his company’s “secret sauce”, in his recent presentation at Prospus HQ in Noida, India, Ragsdale did outline the issues and presented some compelling evidence to support his new focus on a surprisingly old technology. “Despite the fact that the majority of websites run on the [WordPress] CMS, finding, recruiting, and executing WordPress-based work is excruciatingly difficult”, Ragsdale said. He concluded, saying, “… I know WordPress isn’t sexy or modern. But there is a lot of dollars on the table that so far, no one has found. Prospus believes it has found those dollars”.
The crux of Ragsdale’s findings, were the following:
- The adoption of WordPress is accelerating, despite the entrance of many new options. WordPress commands the top position in virtually all categories when it comes to website development.
- The client-contractor work model led by the likes of Upwork is broken. Though these marketplaces do not publish job outcomes, our own research indicates that they are very poor. This is primarily due to the following:
- The online marketplaces are flooded with low-level, poorly-educated contractors.
- There is a dearth of transparency, leading to opportunistic contractors price gouging customers.
- Clients are dissatisfied with the haggling over rates. “When a contractor starts at $35 per hour, but drops their price to $12 per hour when you walk away, that degrades the entire marketplace,” Ragsdale commented. “What kind of people are looking at my job?”.
- The work rating metrics are unreliable and broken. “As a client in these marketplaces, you quickly learn how it feels to be emotionally blackmailed into giving 5-star reviews”, Ragsdale stated. Many clients who aren’t satisfied, simply opt to give 5-star reviews to avoid the inappropriate follow-up pleas from contractors.
- There is a cash on the table when it comes to solving this problem in a new way.
“The world does not need another marketplace with thousands of fake profiles, unverified contractors, and an unregulated clash of cultures”. With its forthcoming services, Prospus aims to bring organization and standardization to the WordPress labor marketplace that benefits all sides in the arrangement. Including more and reliable work with vetted clients for contractors, and higher-quality interactions with contractors for clients. While Prospus is not disclosing exact details of its plans, it has released sneak previews of various features on its website, and share details with members of its newsletter, and intends to continue to do so.
Despite the slowdown of 2020 and 2021, Prospus has reiterated its commitment to India, and intends to invest millions into a new development center over the coming years. Until then, Prospus will continue to operate as a remote agency.
