qaqaqaqaowh / wp-e-commerce

Setting up a e-commerce site using WordPress & WooCommerce!

Sample site https://www.iwantaverycheapdomainname.xyz/

Getting Ready

1. Visit https://www.dreamhost.com/wordpress/shared-wp-hosting/
2. Select a plan
   • We recommend selecting the one month plan for now from Shared Hosting

3. You will then be asked to choose a domain. You can choose to "link" an existing domain that you have or register one with them.
   • You can also register a domain on sites like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
     • For example, on GoDaddy. You just have to type in the domain name that you're looking for in the search bar provided, then it will show a list of domains that you might be interested in.
     • After adding a domain into your cart, it will bring you to a page where it asks you if you want to include some other features, all of these options are optional. Becareful of what you've sign up for!
   • Once you've registered a domain with one of the registrar, configure your Nameservers to point to

     ns1.dreamhost.com
     ns2.dreamhost.com
     ns3.dreamhost.com
     

   • In the case of GoDaddy, it will be under your GoDaddy dashboard

4. You will then be asked to pay for the hosting plan and other things.
   • If you scroll down to the Additional Options section, you can further customize what you're paying for.
     • DreamShield
       • Sort of like a anti-virus + cleaner. I would recommend keeping this unless you're just creating a test site rather than an actual public website that you're expecting traffic.
     • Professional Email
       • This is to give you another mailbox under your domain. e.g. [email protected]
       • Like DreamShield, I would'nt recommend this unless you're deploying an actual website.

5. After paying for the service, you should have access to DreamHost's dashboard. From there, you should be able to access your WordPress Dashboard
   • If you visit the domain name that you've keyed in during step 3, then you should see a dummy site that you can build on top! Congratulations on getting your first WordPress site!

6. Next is to setup SSL for your WordPress site. SSL is used to protect users that are browsing your site. On DreamHost's Dashboard, on the sidebar, under Domains, there should be a SSL/TLS Certificates section, click on it.

7. Your domain should be listed, make sure that there is a certificate associated to it.
   • If there is no certificate, click on Settings that is beside your domain.
   • Click on Add New Certificate.
   • Choose which certificate to use. Either is fine.

8. After setting up the certificate, you should enforce it by forcing all users to visit your HTTPS site instead of HTTP. Do this by going to your DreamHost Dashboard, at the FileManager section, click on Manage Files, this will open up a file browser on another tab.

9. You should see your domain name as a folder, that folder contains all the files for your WordPress site, inside the folder, there should be two files named .htaccess and wp-config.php respectively.
10. Open wp-config.php and add these at the end of the file.

    define('FORCE_SSL', true);
    define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN',true);
    

11. Open .htaccess and add these at the end of the file.

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301,NE]
    

    • After both step 10 and 11, you should be redirected back to HTTPS whenever you try to visit the site in HTTP.
12. Access your WordPress Dashboard through DreamHost Dashboard.

13. Once you've access your WordPress Dashboard, click on Users at the sidebar, it should show you a pre-generated user. Click on the user and scroll to the Account Management section. From there, click on Generate Password, you can use the random password that is generated, or you can change it to another password, once you're done, scroll down and click on Update Profile.

Themes

1. You can change your site's theme by accessing Customize on the left bar of your WordPress Dashboard, and then clicking on Change Themes

2. There, you can either choose from existing installed themes, or click on Add New to install new themes.

3. Under customize is where you can also further customize how your site looks!

Pages

1. We will start by adding a new page for our site! On the WordPress Dashboard, there should be a Pages section on the left bar, under that there should be an Add Blank section, click on it.

2. The page will then show you an editor where you can customize your page however you like.
   • The + sign on the top-left corner allows you to add more elements to the page!

3. After customizing your page, you can preview it by clicking on the Preview button at the top right corner of the page.
4. When you're ready, just click on Publish... to publish your page!

Plugins

1. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to the Plugins section, then click on Add New.

2. Install WooCommerce and WooCommerce Services

3. Activate Jetpack, WooCommerce and WooCommerce Services from Plugins page.

4. Clicking on Pages section will reveal that WooCommerce has added a few more pages on your WordPress site!
5. Whenever you need to add any functionality to your WordPress site, just go to Add New section and search for it.

WooCommerce

1. We will first start by creating our first product for our store! There should be a Products section at the sidebar, there should be an Add New section under it, click on it.

2. The important options on this page are:
   • Product name
   • Product categories
   • Product tags
   • Product image
   • Product gallery
   • Product data
   • Product short description
3. Fill the informations in, once you're done, click on the Publish button!
4. Remember that WooCommerce actually added a few extra pages for us? Visit the Shop page that is added. If you don't know where to access the page, just click on the Pages section on the left bar, and click View on the Shop page!

5. You should now be able to see the product that you just posted!

WooCommerce Extra

1. There are a few options that you can enable/disable for WooCommerce, under WooCommerce, there should be a Settings section, click on it.

2. The options that you're most likely interested are:

   • Under Shipping tab, there should be an option named WooCommerce Services. There you can add shipping labels and packaging.

   

   • There is also the Payments tab where you can add more payment methods into your e-commerce site. Remember if its not listed here, you can still add more payment methods through Plugins
   • Under Accounts & Privacy, you can configure how your customer can create their account for your site.