Episode 54 is the second of four shows in a series on Starting Your WordPress Online Store,  sponsored by Bluehost. In this show, we talk with Patrick Rauland, eCommerce consultant and educator on Lynda.com. This is Patrick’s second appearance on our podcast. Last week, we talked about choosing your eCommerce plugin, but we all know there is so much more to an online store than just building it. Patrick walks us through some of the key elements you need to consider in the early stages of planning your eCommerce site.

We chatted about:

* The essentials to get in place before you start your online store

* What mistakes store owners often make in the beginning

* The importance of planning how you are going to market your new endeavor

* The questions you should ask yourself about whether to start a blog on your site

* Resources Patrick recommends to help you get started

Thanks to Our Podcast Sponsor: Bluehost

Transcript

You can also download the transcript of this show: WordPress eCommerce Show February 27 2017 

Bob Dunn: Hey everyone and welcome back to the WP eCommerce Show. Bob Dunn here, also known as BobWP on the web. Today’s guest and I share a lot of history. Not only is he my first returning guest—he appeared on show 3 of the first season—but he helped in the months before I started this podcast with some thoughts about the direction that I was thinking about taking with it.  This is the second show of our new series, “Starting your WordPress Online Store.” Last Monday, we talked about choosing your eCommerce plugin. If you are going the route of a plugin versus a platform, it plays an important part in the process. That is, we all know it takes a heck of a lot more than just getting that plugin and building your site. Many store owners approach start their E-commerce site without some of these important pieces in place.

Welcome returning guest, Patrick Rauland

This is where our guest Patrick Rauland is going to take us today. Hey Patrick, welcome back to the show.

Patrick Rauland: Hey Bob, thanks for having me. It’s fun to be back.

Bob Dunn: Yeah, in fact I’m going to even drop in a little something here that Patrick will also be joining us a third time. We’ll be doing a live broadcast at Word Camp Miami in the latter part of March. Patrick will make a third appearance and we’re going to do that show live. You’re actually probably going to see our faces, so that’s going to be fun as well.

Patrick Rauland: I have to put on clothes?

Bob Dunn: Yeah, yeah. If I can’t wear pajamas… Or maybe we’ll do it from the neck up or something. Now, the last time you were here you were the lead product manager for Woo Commerce, and I know that lives, careers, things often take twists and turns along the way. We do know that you’re still immersed heavily into eCommerce, so why don’t you catch us up on what you’re doing these days?

Patrick Rauland: Yeah. I love product management and I wanted to get back into it at some point. I like developing software. I’ve been in the eCommerce world for so long that I’m kind of taking a break from project management, and I’m turning all of my eCommerce knowledge into courses on