I'm not sure how vbulletin started promoting their product but once again the key is offering something other sites are not and your product would spread like wildfire. If you think about it, there are only about 3-4 popular paid message board scripts and they got popular because they offer features that other message board scripts don't provide. That's why they have no problem selling thousands of copies of a $150 product.
So if you think about a problem many developers have (or whoever is in your target audience) and you can create software that will help that problem and promote it in the right spaces (developer message boards, etc.) then your product will largely spread by word of mouth.
If you think about it, becoming successful with a product is no different than trying to make money with a content/information site. Know who you are targeting and create a product that solves the problems of your audience. Post in forums where your niche congregates (digitalpoint forums is a great example of a place where there are a lot of developers) and if these people start recommending your product to their audience, your product can get a lot of word of mouth.
You know your subject matter better than anyone. So what are the hurdles of PHP? Can you create a software program that can rectify that problem? Offer a limited/trial edition for free to get people to try your product and then offer a full version for a fee. To start, find develop forums and promote it in your sig file to get some feedback.
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