WordPress/WooCommerce in the Azure cloud platform and publishing your first product

WordPress as a CMS and WooCommerce as it most popular e-commerce/e-shop plugin. Create your e-shop in the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and publish your first product. Presented at the Found.ation/Micosoft event http://thefoundation.gr/events/workshop-create-successful-eshop/.

Transcript

1. WordPress/WooCommerce in the Azure cloud platform and publishing your first product Takis Bouyouris Antonis Zachopoulos Web Developers @ Nevma "Workshop: Creating a successfull e-shop" Found.ation, The Hub Events – Sat. 21/02/2015
2. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 2/29 Nice to meet you • Nevma (http://www.nevma.gr) • Web design & web development agency • Based in Athens, since 2010 • Specialises in WordPress development, since 2007 • Also we • (try to) keep the WordPress Greek Community active • organise the WordPress meetup in Athens • Many thanks to Found.ation and Microsoft for the invitation
3. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 3/29 Contents • Introduction • Hosting • Workshop – WooCommerce hands on • Conclusions • Questions
4. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 4/29 Introduction WordPress, WooCommerce.
5. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 5/29 WordPress • A blog engine • A Content Management System • A web application platform • A mobile application platform • WordPress usage • Over 70million total installations • Powers roughly 20% of CMS enabled web sites today • That's popular!
6. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 6/29 WordPress ecommerce plugins • WooCommerce (6,309,850 downloads) • WP Ecommerce (3,005,196 downloads) • Jigoshop (432,620 downloads) • Cart66 Lite (166,809 downloads) • MarketPress (WPMuDev) (148,706 downloads) • iThemes Exchange (60,099 downloads) • Eshop (cart) (601,667 downloads) • Easy Digital Downloads (533,758 downloads)
7. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 7/29 WooCommerce • WooThemes (the company) • The most popular (for sure) • The most complete (most probably) • The most promising (cross your fingers) • WordPress beauty • WordPress data structures
8. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 8/29 WooCommerce features • Product inventory • Product categories • Product attributes • Grouped products, Variable products • Orders, reports • User accounts, user management • Coupons • Product reviews
9. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 9/29 WooCommerce features • Stock management • Guest checkout • Import products • Export products • Payment options • Shipment options • VAT management
10. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 10/29 WooCommerce themes • WooThemesThemeforest http://themeforest.net/ • CSSIgniter http://www.cssigniter.com/ • MojoThemes http://www.mojo-themes.com/ • TemplateMonster http://www.templatemonster.com/
11. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 11/29 WooCommerce popular plugins • Table rate shipping • CSV import suite • WebIT greek payment gateways • WooCommerce multilingual • WooCommerce Product Add-on • WooCommerce Subscribe to Newsletter • WooCommerce Add Charges To Payment Gateway • WooCommerce Facebook Tab • WooCommerce Product Bundles
12. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 12/29 Common issues • Multi-language catalogue, not a solved problem • Big catalogue, big load times • What is big: 4-5K products and up • Lots of categories/taxonomies/filters • CDN/Caching with a cart • ERP communication (especially in Greece) • Wholesale/Retail with different VAT levels
13. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 13/29 Hosting The constant debate!
14. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 14/29 Hosting traditionally • Shared hosting • VPS, VM • Dedicated server • You need a sys admin • You defend yourself against hackers • You take your own backups • So, at best you have a reliable server and a reliable sys admin who does not do much sleeping every day
15. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 15/29 The managed hosting promise • The grid, the cloud • The rise of managed hosting • Mind only about your CMS • The rest is... “managed” • Resources • Scaling, speed • Security • Backups, rollbacks • Maybe it's a holy grail, time will tell
16. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 16/29 Azure, Micrososft's take • Azure is Microsoft's cloud service • A few clicks and you get • Websites • A WordPress • A Joomla! • A Drupal • Virtual machines • Servers • Databases • Backups
17. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 17/29 Workshop let's do it already!
18. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 18/29 The traditional way • Cpanel/Plesk/whatever > • Databases > • Create database & • Create database user & • Connect database to user; • File Manager/FTP/whatever > • Download WordPress & • Upload its files & • Install WordPress & • Install WooCommerce;
19. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 19/29 The managed hosting way • Things can go wrong with the previous process • OK, there are some tools to automate it, like WP-CLI • But they are mostly for power users • Watchout • Your hosting is managed • Your WordPress is not
20. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 20/29 Azure • Azure dashboard • Create website (wizard) • Developer tools • FTP access • Database access • You can manage your own resources (CPU, RAM, disk, scale)
21. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 21/29 Settings • WordPress files and database ready • Complete WordPress installation • WooCommerce installation • WooCommerce theme installation • Important settings • Permalinks • Basic WooCommerce pages (cart, user account, etc) • Taxes • Payments • Shipping • Inventory
22. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 22/29 Inventory • Product categories • Product attributes • Add a product • Simple product • Variable product • Grouped product
23. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 23/29 Conclusions WooCommerce can be your friend.
24. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 24/29 Conclusions (-) • Some plugins are necessary • Updates break things • Need for good support • You will write some code • Or depend on someone you trust to write it for you • Scale with caution
25. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 25/29 Conclusions (+) • It works! • A complete system • Lots of plugins • Vibrant community • WordPress based
26. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 26/29 Questions are we still in the Eurozone?
27. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 27/29 WordPress Greek Community • Join us • Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/WordPressGreekCommunity • Twitter: https://twitter.com/wordpressgrcomm • Website: http://www.wpgc.gr • Meetup coming up shortly
28. 21/02/2015 ­ WordPress/WooCommerce ­ Found.ation ­ Hub Events ­ Takis, Antonis, Nevma 28/29 Thanks for listening Takis bouyouris takis@nevma.gr https://www.facebook.com/takis.bouyouris https://www.linkedin.com/in/takisbouyouris Antonis Zachopoulos antonis@nevma.gr https://www.facebook.com/azachop http://gr.linkedin.com/in/zachop Nevma http://www.nevma.gr
29. WordPress/Woocommerce in the Azure cloud platform and publishing your first product Takis Bouyouris Antonis Zachopoulos Web Developers @ Nevma "Workshop: Creating a successfull e-shop" Found.ation, The Hub Events – Sat. 21/02/2015 •