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:
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for WooCommerce
- 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:
- Store Details: Use your name or brand (you can skip physical address if digital-only)
- Industry: Choose “Education” or “Other”
- Product Types: Choose Downloads or Digital Products
- Business Details: You can skip optional features
- 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