Excerpt Talks Episode #5 – Ahsan Parwez of WPdiscounts.io
The conversation covers Ahsan’s journey through WordPress marketing, the role of content and partnerships in long-term growth, and practical lessons from running one of the most comprehensive Black Friday and discount websites in the WordPress space.
From why Black Friday success is built months in advance, to how AI is reshaping discovery and trust, the discussion offers grounded insights for WordPress product companies and agencies alike.
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Content and partnerships compound over time
Investing early in content (like WPFounders and WPdiscounts.io) creates long-term leverage – trust, traffic, and partnerships that later support products, hosting, and services.
Black Friday success starts months earlier, not in November
The most effective Black Friday campaigns are planned from October (or earlier), with early outreach, listings, partnerships, and relationship-building driving most of the eventual impact.
Black Friday is as much about relationships as revenue
The period creates a rare window when WordPress companies are more open to collaboration – podcasts, content swaps, affiliate partnerships, and long-term connections often outlast the sales spike.
Unbiased recommendations build credibility in a crowded ecosystem
Promoting products based on real experience – not just affiliate payouts – strengthens brand trust and positions companies as long-term ecosystem players rather than short-term marketers.
AI is changing discovery, making brand and visibility critical
As AI tools influence how users find products, WordPress businesses must focus on being discoverable and positively referenced – not just ranking for keywords.
Lawrence Ladomery
Well, thank you, Ahsan, for joining us on Exit Talks. I should disclose that we actually worked together a few years ago. I think it was around 2019 or 2020 when we were at Convesio, so we know each other quite well and have kept in touch.
I was really interested in talking to you at this stage, especially since Black Friday has just wrapped up. One of the brands you own is WPdiscounts.io, so you have a very strong understanding of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the broader discount economy in WordPress.
To start with, tell us a bit about your background in the WordPress space and how you got involved.
Ahsan Parwez
This journey started quite a long time ago. It was back in 2014 when I began working for a WordPress hosting company called Cloudways, but even before that, in 2012, I started using WordPress myself.
Initially, I was using Joomla to build personal hobby websites, mostly for learning and experimentation. When I discovered WordPress, I found it much easier – the backend was simpler, publishing was faster, and overall it felt more intuitive.
I built my own website, and by chance, someone at Cloudways discovered it. They reached out and offered me a role they had just created: WordPress Community Manager. That’s how I officially entered the WordPress ecosystem.
My role involved engaging with WordPress communities, forums, and groups – helping people, learning along the way, and turning those learnings into tutorials. Over time, that role evolved into full-scale marketing: community marketing, SEO, affiliate marketing, content marketing, partnerships, and social media.
Today, I’d describe myself as a digital marketer with hands-on WordPress development experience as well.
Lawrence Ladomery
It’s fair to say you were there very early in Cloudways’ growth. I remember Cloudways being very active in WordPress communities back then. That kind of community-first strategy feels relevant again today, especially in the age of AI where authenticity matters more.
Let’s talk about WPdiscounts.io. What’s the idea behind it, and how did it start?
Ahsan Parwez
We registered many keyword-rich domains around 2017-2018, but we didn’t actively use them at first. In 2023, we officially launched our company WPdots.io, and initially our focus wasn’t discounts at all.
Under WPdots.io, we were building a hosting business and a WordPress development agency, both heavily reliant on content marketing. That led us to the idea of creating a central content property where we could publish comparisons, reviews, and coverage of WordPress products, offers, and discounts.
That’s how WPdiscounts.io was born. We started by collecting popular plugins, themes, services, and hosting companies, categorizing them extensively. Over time, it grew into a large content platform with hundreds of product listings, dozens of landing pages, and over a hundred blog posts.
What began as a side project gained momentum after we realized that even if only a small percentage of users search for discounts, those searches convert well. We leaned into that, expanded our editorial approach, and focused on unbiased reviews – even recommending products we don’t earn affiliate commissions from.
Our goal is trust, not short-term affiliate revenue. That’s why WPdiscounts.io ended up taking a lot of our attention through 2024 and into 2025.
Lawrence Ladomery
You also run WPFounders, which focuses on interviews with WordPress founders. How do these brands work together?
Ahsan Parwez
WPFounders was actually the starting point of WPdots.io. It launched in 2020 and exclusively publishes interviews with founders of WordPress companies – small, large, and everything in between.
Many people search not just for products, but for the people behind them. We’ve seen journalists, investors, and industry researchers visiting the site. It’s intentionally lean and focused.
From there, we explored hosting and agency services. Hosting turned out to be far more competitive than expected, which led us to differentiate through real-world experience – building and managing client websites. That naturally evolved into an agency model and later strengthened our hosting offering.
Today, WPdots.io operates multiple brands, including WPFounders, WPdiscounts.io, hosting, and development services. These brands support one another through shared insights, partnerships, and trust.
Lawrence Ladomery
That ecosystem approach is fascinating – content first, product second. Looking ahead, what will your focus be in 2026?
Ahsan Parwez
Our main goal is focus. In 2026, we’re prioritizing our hosting business now that we fully understand the hardware, software, and support challenges involved.
We’re also exploring product opportunities born out of agency work – much like how plugins often start as internal solutions before becoming products.
WPdiscounts.io and WPFounders will continue to grow as content properties, especially with better social distribution. At the same time, we’ll be reducing the number of parallel projects and concentrating on what’s working best.
Lawrence Ladomery
AI is changing everything – from marketing to discovery. How do you see AI impacting WordPress and your own projects?
Ahsan Parwez
AI is absolutely necessary for WordPress’ evolution. The next generation won’t build websites the way we did – they’ll use AI assistants to do it for them.
For our projects, we’re not rushing to add AI agents directly to WPdiscounts.io, but we are optimizing content for AI discovery. We’re already seeing traffic and conversions from tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT.
Blocking AI bots doesn’t make sense anymore. Discoverability matters more than control.
Lawrence Ladomery
Before we wrap up, what advice would you give to WordPress businesses today, especially around collaboration?
Ahsan Parwez
We need to work together more. The ecosystem is changing fast, and survival isn’t just about individual success – it’s about the health of the entire WordPress ecosystem.
Collaboration, recommendations, and win-win partnerships matter more than ever, especially in an open-source world that stands in contrast to big tech’s closed platforms.
Lawrence Ladomery
I completely agree. That’s a big reason we started this interview series at WPBakery – to highlight collaboration and shared growth.
Finally, how can people get in touch with you?
Ahsan Parwez
You can find me easily on LinkedIn or Twitter. My handle is @AhsanParwez
Lawrence Ladomery
Thank you, Ahsan. This was a great conversation.
