Setting up a WooCommerce shop

Somebody asked how to set up a WordPress / WooCommerce shop with the Flatsome theme.

Understand that this is a web site operations project, not a development project, at least until you get it basically working.

For now, ignore any advice to use Bricks, Elementor, Divi or some other site builder. You’ve chosen Flatsome.

Get your client to give you the descriptions of ten of their products, including graphics or images. These can be fake, but it’s better if they are real.

Choose a hosting provider. A modest account will suffice unless you know for sure you will have many customers early on. You can always upgrade.

Follow the directions to install WordPress.org software, then use the plugin installer to pick up WooCommerce and the Stripe integration plugin.

Figure out what you will do about backups. Your hosting service may provide them. Or you can use a backup plugin. Get backups working.

Get your client to rig their Stripe account and give you the necessary credentials. (Be careful: Stripe.com is intolerant of businesses they consider “risky”. They’ve been known to close accounts and hang on to accumulated payments. Read their terms of service carefully.) Consider supporting PayPal or some other payment service in addition.

Configure Stripe to make it as hard as possible for customers to use. Seriously. Make sure you gather CVVs, postcodes, payment-card names, all possible payment card data, to have a sale go through. Because cybercreeps WILL jump into your site to test heaps of stolen card information. You want those transactions rejected immediately, rather than having to go through chargebacks. This sucks, but it is reality on the internet.

Install Flatsome according to their instructions.

Install the Modern Image Formats plugin.

Add the ten products to the shop, as completely as you can. Make sure you get the product images uploaded as well as product descriptions. Set the prices low, because you’re going to test everything end-to-end by ordering these products.

Order some products through the site. Real, live orders. Use your own credit card or ones provided by your client. Get your client to order some products. Go through all the steps, including order fulfillment. You’ll probably get a list of changes you want to make to the presentation of your products. This is an area you’ll get back-and-forth with the client. (Your client can reimburse you for charges on your card.)

Install the FluentSMTP plugin (or some other SMTP — email-sending — plugin. Get a free-tier account on SendGrid or some other email-sending service provider. Follow their directions on entries — SPF, DKIM, DMARC — to put into your client’s DNS. This is for the transactional emails (“thanks for your order”) your site will send. Don’t try to use a gmail or outlook account to send these messages; those services severely restrict the number of messages you can send that way.

Upload ten more products. As you do so, figure out the product-uploading workflow. You’ll need to train your client’s merchandise people to do that. (Or do it yourself, but if you do make sure you get paid for the work, it’s a lot of fiddly work and clients get annoyed if you make mistakes.)

Work out shipping.