Leaving a WordPress plugin review

Imagine spending hours on a project for which you know you will not get paid. Additionally, with that project, you handle hours of support request. Maybe you just do it because you love it or maybe you are doing it to give value to the community.

The project might even lead to a pay off in terms of additional paid work.

Now, imagine when someone tells you how much they appreciate what you do. They “ring the bell” if you will. They promote your project.

That is how it feels for plugin developers when you rate their product. Plugins in the WordPress repository are free to download, so for many plugin developers, they are creating and supporting plugins for free.

A review is like social proof, a testimonial if you will. So, developers are grateful when you leave a positive review.

Recently, MainWP hit the 1300 5 star reviews. It means a lot to the team. What about your other favorite plugins? Could they use your review?

I realized after Dennis’ post that I have left very few reviews. I decided I need to do something about that. After all, I use so many plugins and have done so for over 10 years. I even recommend plugins in various Facebook groups. I decided I needed to leave some reviews.

Soo, if you are like me and if you want to leave a review (or two, or three), here’s what you need to do.

Go to WordPress.org/plugins. From there you will need to log in. If you don’t have an account for WordPress.org, you will need to sign up. This becomes your official account for the WordPress community. You will use it in the WordPress Support forums when you are reporting an issue with a plugin or when helping others.

It is important to note that this login is different than the one you may have at WordPress.com. This can become confusing if you aren’t careful.

Next, navigate to the plugin you want to review.

About halfway down the page on the right side, there is a place for reviews. From there, click the “Add My Review” button.

On the next page, you can leave your review.  Notice the yellow box at the top with guidelines for leaving a review. You have to leave a written review for a star rating. Essentially it is a rate/review for the plugin.

From there, add your title, your rating by clicking the stars, and your review. Below the review box, you can add a tag making it easier for search, click the notification box if you like, and then click submit.

Once you hit submit, you will be able to see your review and you make changes at any time.

Other features

Having a login at WordPress allows you to participate in forums and you can even indicate your favorite plugins for easier navigation.

To add a favorite, navigate to the plugin you want to mark as a favorite. Next to the blue “Download” button, to the left, on the right side of the page, you will see little heart. Click the heart. Once you click the heart, it will turn red to indicate it is now a favorite.

Once you mark it as your favorite, it will show in your profile under “Favorites.”

With your WordPress login, you can also review free themes in the WordPress repository.

Wrapping it up

Reviews are important for WordPress developers as well as other business. The WordPress community works better when there is greater participation. Leaving a rating and a review is a simple way to participate in the community. Once you have created your account, it gives you more options to be a participant.