- If you have a WordPress website for your blog,
hobby, or brick and mortar shop,
adding WooCommerce is a great option
to get an e-commerce platform up and running in no time.
Your customers can then order or have access
to your products and services online, which is great.
WooCommerce is the most used WordPress e-commerce plugin
and it allows you to configure your products,
choose tax and shipping settings,
provide payment options, and create transaction emails.
So, are you ready to get started?
Great, we're going to cover the basics
for new WooCommerce users.
- The WooCommerce plugin turns any WordPress site
into an e-commerce site.
You can sell anything in unlimited amounts
on a WooCommerce-powered site
from physical to digital products,
including subscriptions and appointments.
It has many of the standard functions
of WordPress experience,
but adds e-commerce capability, configuration,
and customization with more than 400 extensions.
If you're currently using WordPress for blogging
or to showcase your business,
WooCommerce will look and feel familiar.
- So what are the pros and cons of WooCommerce?
Well, while there are plenty of platforms
you can list your products on,
the problem is, you don't own your own content
and you are subject to their fees and limitations.
Now you can configure your site
to display in multiple languages except various currencies
and automatically compute taxes in different regions
through numerous payment gateways.
Best of all, WooCommerce is free to install.
Yeah, you heard me right.
And to use.
So technically there are no plans or pricing to discuss.
However, you can extend its functionality
by purchasing additional paid WooCommerce
and WordPress plugins.
However, WooCommerce itself
does not have a dedicated support team.
It does have a step-by-step setup process,
but setting up and using it can still be challenging
for those of us with no coding experience.
So if you run into issues, you can get help
from various WooCommerce or WordPress communities.
- Okay, let's get into how to actually get it installed.
It's actually simpler than it sounds.
First, if you're not already a WordPress user,
check with your web host to make sure they support WordPress
so that you can install it.
Most hosts have installation tools for you
or you can do it yourself.
Once you're logged in, go to Plugins, Add New.
And in the top right corner, search WooCommerce.
Results will show by click Install next to WooCommerce.
After a few seconds, installation will finish
and the Activate button will appear.
Click Activate.
Right after activation,
WooCommerce will start your basic setup.
Follow the steps and enter your store info,
industry, product types, and business details.
The last step will be selecting your theme.
WooCommerce has three free themes that you can choose from,
but you can use any of the 9,000 or so WordPress themes
for more design flexibility.
We recommend the Storefront theme to start.
It's built by the same team that builds WooCommerce.
It's lightweight and fast
and offers a lot of customization options.
To install a theme, go to Appearance, and then Themes.
Then the similar process as we did before,
click Add, and then search Storefront in the search box.
It should be the first option in the list.
Hover over it, click Install,
and then Activate.
The Storefront theme will be installed
with the default settings.
To customize it, go to Appearance, and then Customize.
You'll be pro prompted with a message
to take a tour on the Customizer tool.
I recommend taking the tour
so that you learn about how everything works.
Just be careful switching themes before doing any backups
because you might lose content currently
on your WordPress site.
Once that's all done,
you'll notice a notification to design your store.
You can do this at any time.
And it includes adding example products
that you can use as a template.
- And since this is a new WooCommerce install,
you'll start to see little tips pop up along the way
to guide you.
But if you'd like a video showing you how to add
and optimize your first product,
hey, just let us know.
All in all, WooCommerce offers the power
of a scalable digital platform for e-commerce
with the reputation and reliability of WordPress.
All right, that's a wrap.
Your journey doesn't have to end here.
We have over 300 videos for you to watch.
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Thanks for watching.
This is The Journey.