One of the most common things we hear from customers contacting us for support is that you really, really hate updating your store.

We get it. It’s not fun. It’s kind of nerve-wracking, right? You don’t always know what things are going to look like on the other side of the update.

But updating WooCommerce, its extensions, and WordPress itself doesn’t have to be a pain in the you-know-where. It might never be a pleasant experience, but if you know how to handle it, you can all but eliminate those “my product pages look weird” and “this plugin isn’t working right” experiences.

Today we’re going to show you four ways to better manage updates to your WooCommerce store, and how handling updates in these ways can save you time, keep your store running smoothly, and completely eliminate the pounding headache you seem to get every time you see the phrase “an update is available” in your WordPress dashboard.

Let’s get started.

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Backups — it’s a daunting word, isn’t it? Just hearing it probably makes you think of your valuable time wasted on a bunch of complicated, manual processes involving databases and FTP directories.

But all of this is a myth we’re happy to bust. The truth is this: thanks to modern plugins, it’s now fast and incredibly easy to make backups for WooCommerce — and restore them if the need arises.

You already know you need to be making backups of your store and its data. But what you might not know is how to create and manage those backups without giving yourself a headache.

Today we’re going to show you how. Read on to find out how you can get your store backed up for any situation, and how to properly use backups in the event of an emergency.

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We’re hosting a conference this October for WooCommerce developers, the one and only WooConf! In fact early bird tickets went on sale just last week.

Our theme for this year is open eCommerce, and in the spirit of the gathering we’re running our golden ticket competition for the third time. One lucky person will win a paid trip to join us at WooConf for two days of talks, workshops, and learning.

In 2014 Sinisa from OVER Clothing won the golden ticket and joined us in San Francisco. Last year Steven Sashen of Xero Shoes and Chris from Advantage Learn were joint winners and made it all the way to Austin.

Perhaps this time it’ll be you who we see in Seattle? Read on to find out how you can enter.

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The last two WooCommerce Conferences were a treat, bringing the WooCommerce community to San Francisco and then Austin for multiple days of talks, workshops, and invaluable impromptu chats between sponsors, developers, and our support team.

We’re excited to announce that we’re bringing WooConf back for a third round in October 2017, this time in Seattle, Washington. And with this iteration we’re narrowing our focus to provide the best experience we can for developers, from agency owners to freelancers.

Keep reading to get more details on this year’s WooConf, plus find out how you can save $200 by buying your ticket now.

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It’s National Small Business Week here in the United States, a seven day period where we celebrate small businesses and all they do. Over half of Americans own or work for a small business, and about two thirds of the country’s new jobs come from them every year.

This week is a reminder for us that there’s more work to be done to support small businesses. Having a free, open-source platform and hundreds of extensions and integrations is definitely a step in the right direction. But we’re always looking for ways to do more for you and your business.

With that in goal mind, today we’re happy to announce PayPal Business in a Box, a brand new program from PayPal that’s designed to help small business owners quickly start or grow an online store.

Read on to learn what Business in a Box is, what’s included in the “box,” and how it can help you get your own small business up and running.

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Who doesn’t like spring? The sun is shining, birds are singing, and the flowers and trees are at their brightest. (Although if you have allergies, that last bit might not make the season seem so nice.)

It’s spring for those of us in the northern hemisphere, and we’re celebrating all it brings by collecting marketing extensions that will put a little bit of the season into your store.

From tools that help you grow your sales to extensions that will spruce up your product pages, here are twelve ways you can bring new life to any WooCommerce store.

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At WooCommerce we’re passionate about the idea of eCommerce being open. By that we mean open to all budgets and an array of development skill levels, open to all locations, and open to everything from the simplest to most customized business ideas you can throw at it.

Today we’re proud to announce Facebook for WooCommerce, a free integration that opens up Facebook’s audience of more than 1 billion people to Woo store owners. It’s a significant step in our quest to democratize commerce on WordPress.

Read on to learn more about the two powerful ways this extension helps grow businesses.

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As manufacturers pack more power into mobile devices — and they become readily available worldwide — our tendency to use them for everything possible has risen dramatically.

Why pick up a laptop or sit in front of a desktop computer if you can accomplish the same task on your cell phone? Larger screen sizes and improved hardware mean they’re just as easy to use for games, research, note taking… and shopping online.

But a consumer viewing your store from their phone is much different than them buying from it. An iAquire and SurveyMonkey study found that 40% of mobile users will leave a website and go back to their search results if the first site they visit isn’t mobile-friendly.

Imagine reducing your bounce rate by 40%. Now imagine what keeping more of those visitors on your store might do for your sales.

If your WooCommerce-powered store isn’t accommodating to mobile visitors, you’re leaving money on the table. Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to improve your store — without undergoing a costly redesign — that will help you keep more shoppers on your store, plus potentially improve the number of purchases they make.

Let’s take a look at how you can unlock WooCommerce’s hidden power for mobile shoppers using built-in design options, ideal payment gateways, and a few amazing extensions.

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Potential customers consider a lot of factors before making a purchase, from the visual appeal of a product to its cost to your store’s shipping speed and fees. And if they’ve never purchased from you before, they probably also read reviews — both about you and the item they’re considering.

According to a customer service survey sponsored by Zendesk, 88% of shoppers in the United States make their purchasing decision based, in part, on reviews:

Both positive and negative reviews can help someone make a decision, with positive feedback making a slightly bigger dent (90% vs 86%).

What does this mean for you? Something big: reviews can make a serious impact on your sales. The more you have, the better a shopper can evaluate a product. And better evaluations mean more purchases and less returns.

Collecting feedback is crucial for your WooCommerce store, and there are some optimal ways to do it. And once you have reviews aplenty, there are some amazing ways to use them, some of which go well beyond the product page.

Let’s take a look at some best practices for collecting and using your reviews with WooCommerce, whether you’re new to selling online or an eCommerce expert.

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There are some huge advantages to selling digital products. There’s no need to package and ship anything, fewer costs associated with stocking and managing products, and you can usually get new items added to your store in way less time.

But these products come with their own set of challenges. Have you ever tried to photograph a digital product? Or write a compelling product description about a downloadable file? It’s not so easy.

Setting up an amazing digital goods store with WooCommerce (or simply selling a few downloadable items) takes some smart choices. Lucky for you, we’ve got a whole bunch of extensions that will help make those choices easier, and maybe even kick your sales up a notch.

Here are four extensions we think are must-haves for digital goods stores, whether you’re a seasoned pro or just getting started.

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It’s hard to believe it’s been so long since our last major WooCommerce release, but sometimes good things are worth waiting for. 😉

Today we’re proud to unveil the WooCommerce 3.0 release, which includes:

• An updated product gallery with new zoom, gallery view and mobile features
• Multiple speed and performance improvements
• The addition of CRUD classes
• A new CLI powered by the REST API

These are some important additions, and there’s even more to explore in the Bionic Butterfly, so let’s get right down to business!

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When you find something online you want to buy, you probably plan on making your purchase with a debit or credit card. Plastic is the preferred method for most of us — it’s convenient, it’s safe, and it’s lightning fast.

But what if the store you’re buying from doesn’t accept credit cards? What do you do then?

Surprisingly, many stores outside of the United States look at taking credit cards as optional, if not something to avoid entirely.

On top of this, plenty of consumers worldwide don’t have credit cards — or even refuse to use them online.

Today we’re going to look at a few ways that your WooCommerce store can accept payments without getting credit cards involved. We’ll also talk about why these alternative payment methods are so important, and how they could boost your sales (or keep shoppers from walking away).

Let’s dive right in!

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Venture to either end of Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, Colorado and you’ll find one half of the same treat: Cured, a shop that has set its focus on “preserving a personal connection to food” through the sale of fine meats, cheeses, wine, and other unique grocery items.

Opened in 2011 by Will and Coral Frischkorn, a former competitive cyclist and graphic designer respectively, Cured has grown from a single store to a multi-channel business. Their team of 24 now operates two physical locations, an online store, and even offers catering plus courier delivery to hungry locals looking for same-day snacks or party supplies.

We sat down for a chat with Will and Coral about how they’ve grown from a single store to a veritable meet-and-cheese empire, and their story is truly inspiring. Have a read to learn about how Cured began, how they successfully began selling online with WooCommerce and Square, and what it’s like to run a business as busy as theirs.

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WooCommerce has an ideas board, perhaps you’ve seen it – and today we’re pleased to announce that one of the most requested ideas to date is here.

Apple Pay is now available for WooCommerce stores accepting payments with Stripe. Once a store activates Apple Pay, customers will have a much faster and easier way to pay that is shown to boost conversions. Now that’s something!

We’re also proud to be the first open source platform to integrate with Apple Pay. Open source is the default for us, but it’s exciting to continue that level of openness with such an important payment solution.

Read on for more about Apple Pay for WooCommerce, how to activate it, and why it exactly as awesome as you may already suspect.

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When we ask for feedback about WooCommerce, one of the things we hear praised most is its default set of features. For a free plugin, it’s quite powerful, enabling you to sell virtually anything, anywhere, to anyone.

And if you need to go beyond what’s baked-in, that’s where our extensions come into play. These free or paid add-ons extend the functionality of WooCommerce, giving you the power to sell new product types, enhance your store’s performance, and much (much!) more.

There are quite a lot of extensions that you might want to try when you start using WooCommerce, but narrowing them down to the ones you’ll find truly useful can be tricky. So we’re here to lend a hand.

Here are ten powerful extensions we recommend for your new WooCommerce store.

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Quitting our day jobs to start our own business is something many people dream of doing. But few of us have the courage, much less the tenacity and staying power to pull it off.

Then there are the ones who refuse to let their dream die. Meet Monique Bernstein and Eli Zauner, the co-owners of Universal Yums. Launched in October 2014, this subscription snack company has gone through a few ups and downs, but has ultimately endured to become a smash hit with foodies — and, surprisingly, redditors!

Have a read to learn how one couple turned a small investment into a unique subscription, why they think the little details set them apart from other monthly food boxes, and their advice for starting your own dream business.

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