Devrims: Hi Michael, it’s a pleasure having you with us today. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got into WordPress plugin development? What inspired you to specialize in WooCommerce plugins?
Micheal: I was born in Belarus and graduated in 2012. After being assigned to work as a design engineer for two years I quickly realized that this wasn’t the right path, so I turned to freelancing, focusing on programming. I started by working on landing page projects but soon shifted to creating WordPress themes, which I sold on ThemeForest.
After some time, I recognized that plugins had more potential, so I started creating and selling WordPress plugins, beginning with a social sharing button plugin designed for sharing specific images. This move proved successful, and I realized that plugin development was the right direction for me.
I later joined an IT company, where I worked with WordPress on the company’s website and other services. During this time, I came up with the idea for my main plugin, Advanced Woo Search. Although my initial attempt to sell it on CodeCanyon was rejected, I decided to sell it on my own website and offer a free version on WordPress.org. This decision paid off, and I continue to actively develop Advanced Woo Search and other plugins.
Devrims: Were you always entrepreneurial, or did you transition from a different career path? What are some of the most successful or popular plugins you’ve built?
Micheal: For a long time, I worked as an employee while simultaneously developing my own plugins.
At one point, my contract at my current job was coming to an end, and I faced a choice—look for a new job or fully switch to developing my own products. I chose the latter, and for over two years now, I have been working solely for myself.
At the moment, my most successful plugin is Advanced Woo Search, a search plugin for WooCommerce. I am also actively developing Advanced Woo Labels, another e-commerce extension.
I have many more plugin ideas in the pipeline, and the only limiting factor is the lack of sufficient free time.
Devrims: What challenges do you often face when developing plugins for WooCommerce? How do you decide what features to add to your plugins?
Micheal: When developing plugins for WooCommerce, I have never encountered major difficulties—everything has gone quite smoothly. The only challenge was my lack of extensive experience.
I add new features to my plugins based on user requests. If I frequently receive emails asking about a particular feature, it means it’s something worth considering for inclusion in the core.
Devrims: What do you think are the biggest advantages of using WooCommerce over other eCommerce platforms?
Micheal: Full autonomy—you install everything on your own server and have complete access to all files and data. Plus, there is a huge number of plugins, many of which are free or relatively inexpensive compared to similar ones on other platforms.
Devrims: Let’s do a quick rapid-fire round.
| Mountain or Beaches | Beaches |
| Cats or Dogs | Cats |
| Tea or Coffee | Both |
Devrims: What do you love most about working with WordPress? How do you keep up with WordPress core updates and ensure plugin compatibility?
Micheal: In my opinion, the biggest advantage of WordPress is its stability from version to version. Of course, I always test my plugins for compatibility whenever a new version of WordPress or WooCommerce is released—but I don’t recall a single instance where something broke. Usually, the testing ends with simply updating the supported version number in the readme file.
Recently, I was helping a client fix a minor bug and discovered that they were running a six-year-old version of WordPress—yet the plugin still worked perfectly. That says everything you need to know about WordPress’s stability.
Devrims: How do you approach SEO when developing for WordPress and WooCommerce?
Micheal: To be honest, I don’t give this enough attention.
On my plugin websites, I write tutorial articles and try to describe all the features, but I don’t focus much on optimizing them for SEO.
Devrims: What are your go-to tools and plugins (besides your own) for enhancing a WooCommerce store?
Micheal: I don’t have my own WooCommerce site and don’t build them for clients, but from the plugins I frequently see on client sites, the most common are Yoast SEO, ACF, FacetWP, Elementor, and WPML.
For these plugins, I’ve also made an effort to add advanced integration with my own plugins and write dedicated articles about it.
Devrims: How do you handle compatibility with WooCommerce updates? What features do you think WooCommerce is currently missing?
Micheal: As I mentioned, WordPress and WooCommerce have maintained strong compatibility across releases, so I don’t anticipate any issues in that regard.
Regarding missing features, I don’t believe WooCommerce needs to add extra functionality to its core, as there are plenty of plugins available for any additional features users may need. Instead, the focus should be on improving the UI and UX—creating a better first impression for new users and making the interface more intuitive.
Devrims: How do you handle caching for WooCommerce sites without breaking dynamic functionality (like carts and checkout)?
Micheal: WP Rocket is pretty good for site caching. For pages like cart and checkout I prefer not to use caching at all.
Devrims: What’s your take on managed WordPress hosting vs. self-managed hosting for WooCommerce?
Micheal: As a developer, I prefer self-managed hosting, but I understand that for many users, managed WordPress hosting is the best and simplest solution.
Devrims: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self when starting?
Micheal: Start as early as possible.
Don’t be afraid to set a subscription-based price for your products—this was something I hesitated to do for a long time, but in the end, it’s what took me to the next level.
Devrims: Would you mind sharing a glimpse at your workspace?
Micheal: I work from home and have set up a small workspace right in my bedroom. It’s just a desk and a laptop in the corner of the room, along with a few notebooks for notes and a fish tank with a fish.
And of course, a comfortable office chair, which is probably the most important thing.
Devrims: Who would you recommend us to interview next?
Micheal: Maarten Belmans
Related Tutorials
