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Goal of this Lesson:
Install and configure WooCommerce so you can sell your course like a product, accept payments, and manage your orders — all from your WordPress dashboard.

🧠 Why WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is:

  • The most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress
  • 100% free
  • Highly customizable
  • Perfect for selling digital products like your course

With WooCommerce, you’ll be able to:

  • List your course as a purchasable product
  • Accept payments via Stripe, PayPal, and more
  • Automatically deliver course access
  • Send order confirmation emails
  • Track purchases and customer info

🧩 Step 1: Install WooCommerce

If it’s not already installed:

  1. Go to Plugins > Add New
  2. Search for WooCommerce
  3. Click Install, then Activate

WordPress will now walk you through the WooCommerce setup wizard.

⚙️ Step 2: WooCommerce Setup Wizard

Follow the prompts to get the basics configured:

  1. Store Details: Use your name or brand (you can skip physical address if digital-only)
  2. Industry: Choose “Education” or “Other”
  3. Product Types: Choose Downloads or Digital Products
  4. Business Details: You can skip optional features
  5. Theme: Click “Continue with my active theme” (Astra)

✅ Don’t worry if you skip something — you can change everything later in WooCommerce settings.

💸 Step 3: Set Your Currency & Location

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General:

  • Set your currency (e.g., USD)
  • Set base country (usually your own)
  • Disable tax settings for now (unless required)

Click Save changes when done.

📦 Step 4: Enable Digital Products

In WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Downloadable Products:

  • Enable “Force downloads” (prevents direct file linking — useful even if you’re not uploading a file)
  • You won’t use files — but this setting helps clarify that your course is a digital product, not physical.

🧪 Step 5: Test the Basics

Go to Products > Add New and just test creating a sample product:

  • Product Name: “Test Course”
  • Product Type: Simple Product
  • Check the box for Virtual and Downloadable
  • Set a price: $99
  • Add a short description

Click Publish and view the product.

We’ll create your real course product in Lesson 3.2, but now you know how it works.

✅ What You Should Have Now

By the end of this lesson, you should:

  • Have WooCommerce installed and activated
  • Completed the setup wizard
  • Set your store to digital-only
  • Created a test product successfully