The first step in setting up your WooCommerce-powered online store is to install WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin itself. But before doing so, you should check your hosting environment. As a guide, we recommend:

• PHP version 7.2 or greater
• MySQL version 5.6 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.0 or greater
• WordPress memory limit of 128 MB or greater
• HTTPS support

You should also check WordPress requirements.

Optional Items

Other optional things that may be required include:

• CURL or fsockopen support, used by WooCommerce and by several of our integrations, e.g.,  PayPal IPN
• Some WooCommerce.com extensions require SOAP support
• Multibyte String support if you’re running a non-English store.
• Additional requirements listed at Codex: Using Permalinks, if you want WordPress “pretty” permalinks.

After installing WooCommerce, check if your server has the items listed using the System Status page.

Moving Hosts↑ Back to top

Need a new host? Check out our hosting partners here or dedicated WordPress web hosts listed here.

The post Server Recommendations first appeared on CODIBU.

Take a moment to review the server requirements before installation or you may encounter issues when using WooCommerce. If you need a new host or don’t have one yet see our recommended hosts who can get you set up with WooCommerce right away.

With WooCommerce activated several items are added to your site for it to function properly:

• New menu items, custom post types, and taxonomies for orders, products, and more.
• New widgets and shortcodes.
• User roles for shop managers and customers.

Deactivating and deleting the installed plugin does not remove any data in your site database so this requires an additional destructive step.

Installation via WordPress Admin

If you have an existing site and want to install WooCommerce, using the WordPress Admin is the most straightforward option as it handles everything for you.

Installation

To install WooCommerce:

1. Go to: Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for “WooCommerce”.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Click Activate Now and you’re ready for the WooCommerce Wizard.

WooCommerce Setup Wizard

When WooCommerce is activated for the first time, the WooCommerce Setup Wizard will be the next screen you see after clicking “Activate”.
This helps you set up and configure your site with WooCommerce functionality.

For a full walkthrough of the Setup Wizard (also known as the Onboarding Wizard), please read through the WooCommerce Setup Wizard documentation.

Multisite Network Installation

On a multisite network installation, WooCommerce acts like most other plugins. Each site in the network, although sharing a database, stores its information in separate tables. Each store is a separate setup.

While you can network-activate plugins, such as WooCommerce and its extensions, you would be unable to share product databases, checkout, and user accounts across sites in the network.

Only themes and plugins are shared across the network of sites.

Reverting to a Previous Version of WooCommerce

We always recommend using the latest version of all plugins and extensions on your site for security reasons. Further, the latest version of our plugins and extensions will always have the advantage of any features and functionality now available. As a consequence, this section is for guidance only.

To use a previous version of WooCommerce:

1. Disable and delete the current plugin.
2. Restore a previous backup of your store’s database.
3. Download a previous version of WooCommerce under the Advanced View.
4. Upload the previous version under Plugins > Add New.
5. Activate the previous version of WooCommerce.

One warning — as mentioned in step two, you need to check and see if the version of the WooCommerce database has been updated or not. More often than not, it is updated with each version of WooCommerce, so you would need to restore your database from the previous version of WooCommerce to make sure everything works as it should.

This is why we highly recommend having backups in place alongside a staging environment to test new releases of mission-critical software like WooCommerce. See Updating WooCommerce for more information.

Uninstalling WooCommerce

There are two things to understand when uninstalling or removing WooCommerce.

• If you deactivate and delete the plugin from WordPress, you only remove the plugin and its files. Your settings, orders, products, pages, etc… will still exist in the database.
• If you need to remove ALL WooCommerce data, including products, order data, etc., you need to be able to modify the site’s wp-config.php file before deactivating and deleting the plugin.

To fully remove all WooCommerce data from your WordPress site, open your site’s wp-config.php file. Scroll towards the bottom, add define( 'WC_REMOVE_ALL_DATA', true ); on its own line above the /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */ line, this will be around line 76 of the file. Save the file to the server.
Then when you deactivate and delete WooCommerce it will remove all of its data from your WordPress site database.

The post Installing and Uninstalling WooCommerce first appeared on CODIBU.

Backups

Any store powered by WordPress and WooCommerce has two places where data and content are stored.

• One is your wp-content folder, where your themes, plugins, and any uploaded content is located.
• Another is the database that organizes and stores your products, orders, posts, pages, etc.

With this precious data and content stored in different places, how do you safeguard it all and keep it backed up?

Automatic backups

The most efficient and reliable approach is to use an automated site backup service, which we, of course, recommend Jetpack. Besides not having to do anything manually, you benefit from:

• Unlimited storage space.
• Automated, regular backups of your entire site including your database, all content, plugins & themes, settings, and more.
• Instant restores so you can revert to a previous version with one click.
• Direct access to 24/7 expert support.

Manual backups

To do things manually, there are two parts to backing up your store:

1. Backup your database! There are multiple ways to do this, see the Codex for your options to back up your content. Both manual and plugin options exist.
2. Using SFTP head to your wp-content  folder to backup your theme and plugin files. We strongly recommend making a backup of your theme files if you made any customizations.

Testing Updates

Let’s now talk about keeping your site updated and making you money with the latest and greatest features. Just fair warning, this can sound technical and complex but don’t let it get to you! Working with a developer who is trained to handle these tasks for you is also an option. We highly recommend seeking assistance from Codeable, or a Certified Certified WooExpert.

Terms To Know

First, let’s review a few terms we’ll be using. Some may use other terms like a dev environment, testing environment, and live environments, but we’ll stick to the basic three:

• Local – is on a personal computer, generally not accessible from the web.
• Staging – is where you test updates. Should replicate the same server setup as the live site.
• Production – is the live site. Where customers and users are visiting and purchasing.

Keep in mind this is a simplistic overview, and there are many tools and ways to do this. There aren’t absolutes in how you test updates, just as long as you do not test them on a live site. If you have a developer working on your site, ask them about their process for testing updates.

Local

Most developers will start with a local install. Meaning WordPress is set up on their computer and it acts as a server. Using a preferred code editor, one can then build, update, and test updates on their own computer. While working on a local install we highly recommend you start using version control if you aren’t. Whether that is Git, SVN, or something else it comes in handy in case you need to revert back to something that works, and can even make it easier to deploy a site to staging and production.

Staging

To test an update beyond a local site, it’s best to create a second WordPress install with your host and restore a backup of your live site to it. VaultPress can do this for you, and WordPress hosts often offer tools to set up a staging environment. This is a replica of your production site and a safe place to test updates. A staging site can also be shared with others for their help testing. Makes sure to test on different devices, load time, and so on.

Production

Should all go well during staging tests, then you are ready to update your live (production) site. You can do this however you prefer or arrange with your developer(s). One note: Put your site in maintenance mode to prevent people from checking out or making payments. If a transaction occurs during the update, orders may be lost. To update, some have Git set up to deploy from a master branch, or you yourself can click the Update button knowing you tested these updates and it’s safe for your site. Of course, your backups are on standby to restore in an instant if anything unexpected occurs. That way there’s no downtime or revenue lost. From here, figure out what tools and strategies work best for you and your team or developer(s), and put a good testing process in place. If you put the time upfront into testing updates, you save yourself both headaches and money in the end. Guaranteed!

Embedded Feature Plugins

In addition to the core plugin, every WooCommerce release includes an embedded version of our feature plugins:

• WooCommerce Blocks
• WooCommerce Admin

The embedded versions are updated with the Core plugin and undergo the same rigorous testing process as part of the release. We use feature plugins to develop new functionality that isn’t yet ready for public release in WooCommerce and none of the experimental functionality is part of the embedded release. Developing new features this way allows these plugins to release on their own while still including the completed functionality in WooCommerce.

Version Reconciliation

One interesting consideration of this is what happens when you have installed a feature plugin that is a different version than the one embedded in WooCommerce. We handle version reconciliation using the Jetpack Autoloader package, which will load the newest version. By installing and activating the feature plugin you have opted-in to the experimental functionality regardless of whether the embedded version or feature plugin is loaded.

WooCommerce 4.0.0 embeds the 3.1.0 version of WooCommerce Blocks. If you install and activate a newer version of the WooCommerce Blocks plugin, such as 3.2.0, it will be used instead of the embedded one. If you install and activate an older version however, such as 3.0.0, then it will use the embedded version but activate any experimental functionality.

You can review which version of a feature plugin is being used in the WooCommerce System Status Report.

Updating Extensions and Payment Gateways

From WooCommerce.com

To get updates on anything purchased from WooCommerce.com, go to WooCommerce > Extensions > WooCommerce.com Subscriptions and ensure that your store is connected to your WooCommerce.com account. More at: Managing WooCommerce.com subscriptions. Connecting your WooCommerce.com account to your WooCommerce site/store allows you to:

• View status of WooCommerce, plus your extensions and payment gateways
• Filter by Installed, Activated, Download, and Update Available
• Determine which extensions and payment gateways have compatibility with what version/release of WooCommerce

For example: In the Plugin and Tested up to WooCommerce version columns, respectively, it shows that WooCommerce Give Products is known to be compatible up to WooCommerce 2.6. If you have WooCommerce 3.0+ installed, take caution and test on a Staging (not live) site as instructed above in Testing Updates.

From third-party developers

Plugins, extensions, payment gateways and themes not developed and maintained by our in-house WooCommerce team are from third-party developers. Third-party developers looking to add version check to their product can see: Adding Version Check Support to Your Plugin. Store/site owners must contact the third-party developer directly for support on updates and compatibility.

WooCommerce data update notice

A WooCommerce Database Update notice will display when you have upgraded/updated to a new version of WooCommerce and a database update is needed:

• Update WooCommerce Database starts the process of updating your database to match the plugin version you installed or updated to. The database organizes, contains, and stores your products, orders, posts, and pages. It is an essential process.
• Learn more about updates will take you to this page to explain best practices pertaining to updating WooCommerce, extensions, and payment gateways, plus info on what is updated and in what order.

Ensure you have a backup in place and click the “Update WooCommerce Database” button. The update process will start:

• View progress will take you to the Scheduled Actions section and show the Pending actions for the update

Once it is completed, the next time you view an admin page you will see the dismissable update complete banner:  I can’t see the database update button and the WooCommerce System Status Report shows the WooCommerce database is behind the plugin version. If you have the WooCommerce Admin plugin installed, you can find the update notice by clicking the Notices button on any WooCommerce admin page or by navigating to the main WordPress Dashboard page

Questions

Do you still have questions and need assistance? Get in touch with a Happiness Engineer via our Help Desk. We provide expert priority support for WooCommerce.com and Jetpack customers but not other third-party plugins.

Learn more

• WordPress backups from the WordPress Codex.
• Jetpack’s backup and security services.
• Managing plugins from the WordPress Codex.

The post How To Update WooCommerce first appeared on CODIBU.

Tables can be removed when uninstalling WooCommerce, not during deactivation. This doesn’t happen automatically. To delete the WooCommerce tables from the database entirely, follow the instructions at Uninstalling WooCommerce.

The post Installed Database Tables first appeared on CODIBU.

Two major building blocks in the WordPress environment are taxonomies and post types.

• Taxonomy. A grouping of post types, such as categories and tags.
• Post types. With post types, WordPress creates a distinction in different content types. For example, by default WordPress has different post types for “posts”, “pages”, “media”, etc.

WooCommerce Taxonomies and Post Types

WooCommerce creates a few different posts types and a couple of taxonomies to group those post types.

WooCommerce installs the following post types and taxonomies — the first levels are post types, and the second levels are taxonomies for their top-level post type.

• Product: product
  • Product categories: product_cat
  • Product tags: product_tag
  • Product variation: product_variation (these are hidden from the UI)
  • Product visibility: product_visibility
• Shop order: shop_order
  • Order statuses: shop_order_status
  • Order refunds: shop_order_refund
• Shop coupon: shop_coupon
• Shop webhook: shop_webhook

The post Installed Taxonomies and Post Types first appeared on CODIBU.

Aesthetic

Don’t just search for a theme which ‘looks good’. It needs to be appropriate. A Ferrari looks great but isn’t the best choice of car for running to the shops and back.

Consider your audience, your brand and most importantly your products. Try to choose a theme you feel resonates with these three things in some way. Selling minimalist furniture? Look for a theme with whitespace and clean typography. Selling kids toys? Look for a playful theme with lots of bright colours… you get the idea.

If the theme you’re considering claims to be WooCommerce integrated then be sure to check all WooCommerce pages to be sure. Don’t forget pages like the ‘My Account’ section, the cart, and the checkout.

Release Frequency

Both WooCommerce and WordPress release updates with some regularity including several ‘big’ releases per year. These updates can sometimes cause errors in themes if they have not been tested thoroughly with the latest betas. It’s always worth checking a themes changelog to see that the developer is still regularly maintaining it. Also be sure to ask that the theme is compatible with the latest version of WordPress and WooCommerce before installing it.

To be sure a ‘WooCommerce compatible’ theme is truly compatible with the latest version of WooCommerce you can perform this quick check. Take a look at the demo and view the source. In the source code you will see a generator meta tag which declares which WooCommerce version is active. It should look something like this:

<!-- WooCommerce Version -->
<meta name="generator" content="WooCommerce 2.0.13" />

Check that the demo is running a current version of WooCommerce. If it’s a couple of versions out of date ask why and if it is very out-of-date, beware!

Support

Almost all WordPress themes and large plugins will contain bugs from time to time. If you find a bug you need to know that it will be patched quickly, or that you will at least be guided on how to fix it should it be a bug you’ve introduced yourself.

If you’re buying a premium theme check the theme shops support policy. If you’re using a theme from WordPress.org check how active the support forum is.

Custom Functionality

Another thing you might want to check is how much custom functionality is introduced by the theme. Some theme authors (ThemeForest authors are famous for this) bundle huge amounts of functionality in to their themes.

Things like custom sliders, shortcodes, widgets, layout managers and content builders are frequent inclusions. Be careful when choosing a theme like this. If you decide to switch themes at a later date you will lose all of the custom functionality that you may have come to rely upon. This can be extremely problematic if the functionality is interwoven throughout your entire web site. Imagine you’re using a shortcode on all of your product pages. When you switch themes you would need to go through all of your products to remove instances of that shortcode – not fun at all!

Our advice would be to always look for lightweight, lean themes and then add extra functionality via Plugins & extensions. That way when you switch themes the functionality remains.

Responsive

One last thing to consider when choosing a theme is the check whether it is ‘responsive’. Responsive Design simply means that it has been optimized for all devices, from handheld smart phones up to desktop computers / TVs.

This will once again come down to your audience, but it’s worth noting that the Web is swiftly diversifying and that people are using a plethora devices (smart phones, TVs, microwaves, you name it) to surf. You want to offer a great experience to all your customers!

The post Choosing the Right Theme first appeared on CODIBU.

• Shop – No content required.
• Cart – Contains
  Your cart is currently empty.

  Return to shop

  shortcode and shows the cart contents
• Checkout – Contains
  shortcode and shows information such as shipping and payment options
• My Account – Contains
  Login

  Username or email address *

  Password *

  Remember me Log in

  Lost your password?

  Register

  Email address *

  A link to set a new password will be sent to your email address.

  Your personal data will be used to support your experience throughout this website, to manage access to your account, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.

  Register

  shortcode and shows each customer information related to their account, orders, etc.

Install pages again

If you skipped the Setup Wizard or want to install missing WooCommerce pages, go to WooCommerce > Status > Tools and use the page installer tool.

Tell WooCommerce what pages to use

If you set up new pages yourself, or want to change what pages are used for things like cart and checkout, you need to tell WooCommerce which pages to use.

To tell WooCommerce what pages to use for Cart, Checkout, My Account, and Terms and Conditions, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced.

To tell WooCommerce what pages to use for the Shop page go to WooCommerce > Settings > Products.

What is the Shop page?

The Shop page is a placeholder for a post type archive for products. It may render differently than other pages in your install.

If you’re using SEO plugins, they may include settings specific to custom post type archives, and these settings are what you should be using to control the shop page.

This page should be compatible with all WordPress themes, even ones not made specifically for WooCommerce, as of version 3.3x. Should you be using a custom/child theme or a version of WooCommerce prior to 3.3x, or experiencing a compatibility issue, go to: Third-party/custom theme compatibility.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it incorrect to set the Cart, Checkout and My Account pages to the same page?

It results in incorrect redirects and broken payment gateway functionality. WooCommerce 3.7 prevents this from happening.

The post WooCommerce Pages first appeared on CODIBU.

For example: You may have a ‘my account’ page shown at URL yoursite.com/my-account. When the endpoint ‘edit-account’ is appended to this URL, making it ‘yoursite.com/my-account/edit-account‘ then the Edit account page is shown instead of the My account page.

This allows us to show different content without the need for multiple pages and shortcodes, and reduces the amount of content that needs to be installed.

Endpoints are located at WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced.

Checkout endpoints

The following endpoints are used for checkout-related functionality and are appended to the URL of the /checkout page:

• Pay page – /order-pay/{ORDER_ID}
• Order received (thanks) – /order-received/
• Add payment method – /add-payment-method/
• Delete payment method – /delete-payment-method/
• Set default payment method – /set-default-payment-method/

Account endpoints

The following endpoints are used for account-related functionality and are appended to the URL of the /my-account page:

• Orders – /orders/
• View order – /view-order/{ORDER_ID}
• Downloads – /downloads/
• Edit account (and change password) – /edit-account/
• Addresses – /edit-address/
• Payment methods – /payment-methods/
• Lost password – /lost-password/
• Logout – /customer-logout/

Customizing endpoint URLs

The URL for each endpoint can be customized inWooCommerce > Settings > Advanced in the Page setup section.

Ensure that they are unique to avoid conflicts. If you encounter issues with 404s, go to Settings > Permalinks and save to flush the rewrite rules.

Using endpoints in menus

If you want to include an endpoint in your menus, you need to use the Links section:

Enter the full URL to the endpoint and then insert that into your menu.

Remember that some endpoints, such as view-order, require an order ID to work. In general, we don’t recommend adding these endpoints to your menus. These pages can instead be accessed via the my-account page.

Using endpoints in Payment Gateway Plugins

WooCommerce provides helper functions in the order class for getting these URLs. They are:

$order->get_checkout_payment_url( $on_checkout = false );

and:

$order->get_checkout_order_received_url();

Gateways need to use these methods for full 2.1+ compatibility.

Troubleshooting

Endpoints showing 404

• If you see a 404 error, go to WordPress Admin > Settings > Permalinks and Save. This ensures that rewrite rules for endpoints exist and are ready to be used.
• If using an endpoint such as view-order, ensure that it specifies an order number. /view-order/ is invalid. /view-order/10/ is valid. These types of endpoints should not be in your navigation menus.

Endpoints are not working

On Windows servers, the web.config file may not be set correctly to allow for the endpoints to work correctly. In this case, clicking on endpoint links (e.g. /edit-account/ or /customer-logout/) may appear to do nothing except refresh the page. In order to resolve this, try simplifying the web.config file on your Windows server. Here’s a sample file configuration:

Pages direct to wrong place

Landing on the wrong page when clicking an endpoint URL is typically caused by incorrect settings. For example, clicking ‘Edit address’ on your account page takes you to the Shop page instead of the edit address form means you selected the wrong page in settings. Confirm that your pages are correctly configured and that a different page is used for each section.

The post WooCommerce Endpoints first appeared on CODIBU.

Immediately after activating the plugin, you are taken to the Store Profiler. The store profiler will allow you to provide the most important details about your store: where is it based, what industry, which products, etc.

Once you’ve gone through that, we’re providing a checklist to make sure that all aspects of your online store are ready to start selling.

Store Profiler

Where is your store based?

In this step you provide the location of your store and if you’re setting up a store for a client.

Build a Better WooCommerce

A pop-up will ask if you’d like to participate in improving WooCommerce. You need to click in the “Yes, count me in!” checkbox to participate.

In which industry does the store operate?

Here, you can select in which industry or industries your store operates. If you select “Other” you’re able to identify a different industry.

What type of products will be listed?

You’re able to identify which product types you plan to sell in your store and learn more about some types of products, such as Memberships or Subscriptions. If you choose a paid product you can easily purchase it later in the wizard.

Tell us about your business

In this section, you can provide more information about your business, which will help us tailor the WooCommerce experience according to your needs.

You can also easily install useful marketing tools that will help you grow your business. 

• Mailchimp for WooCommerce allows you to automate emails, send promos, and build mailing lists.
• Facebook for WooCommerce brings your products to social media.
• Google Ads for WooCommerce allows you to show your products on any Google platform, such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, and more.

All extensions and services can be deactivated and uninstalled if you later decide to not use them.

Choose a theme

Choose how your store appears to customers.

• You can proceed with your current theme, if you have one.
• Choose a new theme among our free and paid options.
• Upload a theme as well, which is the last option in the list.

You can always switch themes and edit them later.

Enhance your store with Jetpack and WooCommerce Shipping & Tax

If you want to collect automated taxes, print shipping labels we suggest you install Jetpack and WooCommerce Shipping & Tax as it will make the rest of the store setup easier for you. All extensions can also be deactivated and uninstalled, if you later decide to not use them. There is no obligation.

Store Setup Checklist

After you finish or skip the Store Profiler stage you’ll have access to a list of the most important tasks that you need to complete to get your store up and running. Those tasks aim to guide you through these steps and finish the store setup as quickly and efficiently as possible.

If you prefer, you can skip the checklist whenever you want.

Store details

You can easily go back to the Store Profiler flow, in case you want to change any information or complete the information if you skipped this step.

Purchase & install extensions

If you selected any paid extension or theme during the store profiler you can finish your purchase by clicking on this task. If you select “Purchase & install now” it will take you to the checkout page on woocommerce.com to finish your purchase.

Add your first product

In this step we’ll guide through adding products manually, importing from a sheet or migrating from another platform.

• Add manually. See the documentation on Adding and Managing Products in order to know what to expect during the steps of creating a product. 
• Import. See the documentation on Product CSV Importer and Exporter in order to know what to expect when importing products. You can use this sample CSV file for products import testing.
• Migrate. See the documentation about the Cart2Cart extension to know more about using a product migration service.
• Import Sample Data. Not ready to commit to a product, but want to test out the store? Add in fake data to see what a full store would comprise of. See the documentation on the Importing WooCommerce Sample Data for instructions.

Personalize your store

Here, we will help you get started with customizing your store’s look and feel.

If you still don’t have any products we can automatically import some demo products, so you can see how they look both in the store and in our product management interface. You won’t see this step if you already have products.

Then we can automatically create a homepage for your store and you can always edit it later.

You can also upload your store’s logo right away in a simple step.

Finally, you can easily display a prominent notice across all pages of your store. Note that the visibility of this notice and its place on your store will be affected by the choice of theme.

Set up shipping

You can confirm your store location or add it if you haven’t done it before.

You can also set the shipping costs for your country and for the rest of the world as well. Adding shipping cost for the rest of the world can be disabled in this step.

Set up tax

You can confirm your store location or add it if you haven’t done it before.

If you have Jetpack and WooCommerce Shipping & Tax installed you can start automatically calculating taxes by connecting your store to WordPress.com. Visit this page if you want to learn more automated taxes and the countries where it’s available. 

If you click to connect your store you’ll be redirected to the WordPress.com flow, so you can create an account or login to an existing account. 

After you finish that process, you’ll be redirected to the tax tasks where you can enable the automated taxes calculation by selecting “Yes please.”

If you choose to set up tax rates manually you will be redirected to the WooCommerce Settings. See the documentation on setting up taxes in WooCommerce to learn more about how to set them up manually.

Set up payments

In this step, you can select and activate one or more options to accept online payments and offline payments as well. All payment gateways offered are free extensions that are automatically installed and activated if selected. Some payment gateways require Jetpack and can be deactivated and uninstalled if you later decide to not use them.

In some payment gateways, such as WooCommerce Payments, Stripe and PayPal, we help you create an account in the payment provider, go through the authentication flow and complete the process within this step, so you can start accepting payments right away.

There are a few possible scenarios, depending on where your store is located and the information you provided during the store profiler.

If your store is located in the United States and you have Jetpack connected you’ll have access to the WooCommerce Payments option alongside Stripe and Paypal. The WooCommerce Payments option will also become available in this task for stores without a Jetpack connection in the upcoming weeks.

If you live in another country than the United States you’ll have Stripe and PayPal at your disposal if these providers are available in your country.

If you selected that you plan to sell products in person in the Business Details step, we’ll also display Square as an option.

If you are located in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, or the UK, you are also shown Klarna as a payment option.

If you are located in South Africa, you are also shown PayFast as a payment option.

If you’re located in the United States and want to sell CBD products, you need to select “CBD and other hemp-derived products” as Industry in the Store Profiler and you’ll be able to use Square as the payment gateway.

You can also easily set up offline payments such as Cash on Delivery and Direct Bank Transfer.

Store Management

Once you complete the Store Setup Checklist (or choose to hide it), it will be replaced by the Store management widget, which contains useful links to most of the most used WooCommerce pages for managing your store.

Reusing the setup wizard

If you would like to run the Profile Setup Wizard again, or enable/disable the Task List, you can do it through the Help panel that’s available in some WooCommerce pages.

• Go to any of the WooCommerce pages in the WordPress Admin.
• Select “Help” at the top-right corner.
• Choose the “Setup Wizard” tab.

Questions

Do you still have questions and need assistance? 

• Get in touch with a Happiness Engineer via our Help Desk. We provide expert priority support for WooCommerce.com and Jetpack customers but not other third-party plugins.
• If you are not a customer at WooCommerce.com, we recommend finding help on the WooCommerce Support Forum or hiring a recommended expert on our customizations page.

The post WooCommerce Setup Wizard first appeared on CODIBU.

Choose Hosting

You need to be running WordPress on a self-hosted site.

We have partnered with a few hosting companies that offer pre-installs of WordPress, WooCommerce, our Storefront theme and ecommerce-specific features, such as a dedicated IP and SSL certificate to keep your store protected and secure.

• Single sites: Bluehost, SiteGround, and WordPress.com
• Multiple sites (5-site deal): Pressable

Install WordPress

Now you have a space to start building your website. To lay a foundation, use the free WordPress software platform.

Many hosting companies have one-click WordPress installation available, so be sure to look for this option or ask if it’s available. Otherwise, you can download from WordPress.org and then install by following instructions at: How to install WordPress

Activate WooCommerce

With your website up and running, it’s time to install e-commerce functionality with WooCommerce. There are three ways to do this.

• Create a free account on WooCommerce.com
  • Sign-up for an account on WordPress.com and WooCommerce.com
  • Select from:
    • A pre-installed solution with a trusted host
    • Auto-installing WooCommerce if you have a WordPress site already
    • Download the zip file and do it yourself
• Download the WooCommerce plugin
  • Download the plugin
  • Go to your website
  • Go to: Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Upload
  • Select the downloaded plugin
  • Install
  • Activate
• Search for the WooCommerce plugin from within your website
  • Go to your website
  • Go to: Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Search Plugins
  • Search for “WooCommerce”
  • Install
  • Activate

Upon activating the plugin, you are prompted with a Setup Wizard. We strongly advise following these steps, as it takes you through initial setup.

Pick a Theme

In the Setup Wizard mentioned above, you will be asked to pick a theme. The theme you choose will determine the starting look and layout of your store/site (though you can customize it from there!). You can use a free theme included with WordPress or purchase a premium theme.

We recommend Storefront and its child themes because they are built and optimized for WooCommerce. Storefront is free. If you wish to add functionality, you can purchase Storefront extensions.

If Storefront isn’t for you, there are lots of other themes that work great with WooCommerce.

Extend WooCommerce

Grow your store by adding functionality with extensions. We sell extensions for nearly everything: Subscriptions, Bookings, Memberships, payment gateways, shipping and much more.

You can start a store/website for free and scale up as your customer base and revenue grow. Each extension is purchased on a subscription that gives you access to support and product updates. A subscription is billed annually.

The post Start with WooCommerce in 5 Steps first appeared on CODIBU.