WooCommerce Tutorial: Overview and Installation
WooCommerce is a free, open-source e-commerce plugin 
for self-hosted WordPress websites that…
- was launched in 2011 – (see Wikipedia article)
- runs on 30% of e-commerce sites and has millions of active installs
- is owned and operated by Automattic, Inc., the owners of WordPress
- comes “out of the box†with product variations, virtual, downloadable & affiliate products, inventory management, coupons & reporting
- has premium add-ons which come with a 30-day money back guarantee
- has support via a free member account (ticketed), online technical documentation and/or video tutorials
WooCommerce is constantly evolving and needs to be kept up-to-date, just like all WordPress plugins, themes and core software.
Make sure you backup before you update! I use BackupBuddy.
WooCommerce integrates with most WordPress themes. Check with your theme developer to make sure!
You can use Storefront made by the Woo team which also offers child themes for variations in style and extensions for added functionality.
I use iThemes Builder which integrates with WooCommerce.
Make sure your hosting plan is adequate to support your e-commerce traffic needs and you have an SSL certificate installed on your domain.
Let’s Encrypt is a free SSL service that comes with most hosting accounts.
I use SiteGround for hosting all my sites.
This video takes you through the process of installing WooCommerce, a free and robust e-commerce plugin for your self-hosted WordPress website. With just a few simple steps, you can have your shopping cart up and running in a matter of minutes.
For a complete series of free video tutorials on using WooCommerce, visit:
https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-101-video-series/
Also, visit my slideshare presentation from my talk at WordCamp Sacramento for the latest WooCommerce features released in version 2.6, the Zipping Zebra:
This tutorial is part of a series of e-courses created by Cat Scholz to empower you with using the self-hosted version of WordPress to achieve your internet marketing goals. Get more information and/or sign up:
Checkout Level 1 (free)
Checkout Level 2 (on sale)
Checkout Level 3 (on sale)