We bring episode 39 to you live from WordCamp Seattle 2016. Our guest Michael Tieso, Developer Advocate for WooCommerce/Automattic,  has also spent a good part of his career there focused on WooCommerce, including working with support. Michael and I also run the local WooCommerce Seattle meetup. He understands the challenges facing anyone who is starting out with WooCommerce. In this episode, we go over some tips and insights for those who WooCommerce beginners who are just starting up their online stores.

We chatted about:

* What to consider when starting your WooCommerce

* Things you should have in place before you start building your site

* Specific challenges users have when starting with WooCommerce

* The answer Michael gives someone when they say, “I am setting up my online store for the first time. I am selling one item that will need to be shipped. Not sure what the future holds. Should I start with WooCommerce?”

* The most unique product Michael has seen someone selling with WooCommerce

Thanks To Our Podcast Sponsor: WP101.com

Transcript

You can download the transcript of this show at: the-wp-ecommerce-show-transcript-november-2-2016

Bob Dunn: Hey everyone, welcome to episode 39. Bob Dunn here, also known as BobWP on the web. Today is a special day as we are recording our show live at WordCamp Seattle 2016. So, that little bit of chatter you here in the background … well, we’re live. So, you’ll be listening to the next two shows live from WordCamp and we are on day two here so far. Been a blast. But it’s also special because I am talking with Michael Tieso from WooCommerce/Automattic about starting your eCommerce site with WooCommerce. So, hey Michael, welcome to the show.

Michael Tieso: Hey Bob, thank you for having me.

Bob Dunn: Before I dive in, we have a sponsor, of course, as we always do. They’re actually sponsoring both our shows here at WordCamp Seattle. That is my friends at WP101. If you are new to WordPress or are just starting to wrap your brain around it, they have a collection of exceptional and professional video tutorials that not only guide you through the WordPress basics, but also help you with some very popular plugins. They are the go-to site where I send a lot of people who are struggling through the murky waters of WordPress in the beginning. That is WP101.com and I’ll be chatting a bit more about them later in the show. So, Michael, tell us what you do over at … and I always go WooCommerce/Automattic, just because I never know if I should say one or the other.

Meet Michael Tieso, developer advocate

Michael Tieso: I usually say the same thing, actually, I work at WooCommerce/Automattic. Yeah, so, I’m in the business development team. I’m a developer advocate, so that often means that I work very closely with developers and agencies that are developing things for WooCommerce. So, I love seeing what people are making with WooCommerce and partnerships with those folks.

Start-up questions to ask yourself

Bob Dunn: Okay. Very cool. So, what we’re going to do here, as I mentioned, is if you are just thinking of starting with WooCommerce or if you’re been kind of dabbling in it and you’re just lost, “What do I do here? What are some ideas and what’s some guide that can help me?” I have a few questions here, I’m going to have Michael help you with that. First, we’re going to look at what are the top five questions someone should ask themselves. If you don’t have five, that’s fine … if it’s four, three. When they’re considering starting a site...