It’s live. And it’s alive and kicking.
#CustomizeWoo, my flagship Advanced WooCommerce Online Course for designers and DIY store owners, is now live.
In this post, I’m about to show you why I invested 151hrs 39mins 1secs of my time to build #CustomizeWoo and another 50+ hours to publish the updated version in June 2019, who I’m willing to help, and what the course looks like from the “inside”.
So, here’s the story. Here’s why #CustomizeWoo was born.
What our WooCommerce Knowledge Looks Like
I’m sure you agree with me; our WooCommerce knowledge is like a 10,000 pieces puzzle that you’re just about to start playing with.
As WooCommerce designers, we have a fair idea of what makes the difference between a “WooCommerce Designer” and a “WooCommerce Expert” – but putting all those different pieces together, sorting them, organizing them by color (topic) and then completing the puzzle is quite a complex operation.
So, what is it that actually makes the difference between a WooCommerce Fan and a WooCommerce Expert?
In my opinion:
- WooCommerce Experts know where to look. They have full control over the instructions manual (documentation), the WooCommerce files (they’ve opened and studied how PHP template files are coded) and are aware of all the available support options.
- WooCommerce Experts know if “this_functionality_my_client_asked_for” is possible in WooCommerce. Or – at least – they know how to research, ask for, request or compare different solutions.
- WooCommerce Experts are able to estimate their working time & costs quite reliably (once, I spent over 16 weekend hours on a task I quoted 1 hour for. Needless to say, I also had to hire someone else to complete the job).
- WooCommerce Experts know when it’s time to ask for support and where to find it. It’s impossible to know everything, but it’s absolutely possible to have full control.
#CustomizeWoo: Take Control of WooCommerce
So, I’ve been working with the WooCommerce plugin since 2011. A little secret: I started using it by pure chance!
My first web design client happened to be a new dropshipping online retailer and I had no idea whatsoever on how to build an ecommerce website.
4 years later, I was a published author, the top WooCommerce seller on Fiverr (I’ve left that now to concentrate on client work), served 700+ WooCommerce clients worldwide, managed a 15,000 visitors/month WooCommerce blog, organized local WooCommerce Meetups and grew my private email community to almost 9,000 WooCommerce fans.
I spend quite a lot of time on the WooCommerce Help&Share FaceBook Group to support people like “myself when I knew nothing about WooCommerce“, for free. I love WooCommerce and love WooPeople!
So, given my experience, and based on the questions and blog comments I get on a daily basis, I organized the course in 5 modules:
- WooCommerce Foundation: understand Project Management, know where to look.
- WooCommerce Reverse-Engineering: from child theme creation to WooCommerce actions & filters. Customize WooCommerce pages, and learn about Endpoints and Conditional Logic.
- WooCommerce Customization: no matter if you’ve done this before or not, coding is fun and you can learn a lot by looking at the various examples! Some of these lessons feature beginner and advanced exercises that will help you master WooCommerce customization.
- WooCommerce Integration & Enhancements: understand that WooCommerce can’t go live without knowing SEO, payment processors, performance and tracking.
- WooCommerce Troubleshooting: a WooCommerce expert knows how to find the error. No matter whether this is in the settings, it’s a plugin conflict or a major bug, troubleshooting needs to be a top priority.
How #CustomizeWoo Works: From Purchase to Learning… in 5 Minutes
I’ve – of course – used the Sensei LMS plugin from WooCommerce to build the online course. Otherwise I wouldn’t be preaching what I practice 🙂
On the course sales page, you will find all the information, lessons, modules, what you will get, FAQ and the “Enroll Now” buttons: https://businessbloomer.com/customizewoo-master-woocommerce-online-course
If you wish to preview some of the video lessons, you can do so by subscribing to the FREE version, available on the same sales page.
And here’s a quick video to show you how:
What #CustomizeWoo Lessons Look Like
Getting back to #CustomizeWoo, and once checkout via PayPal or Stripe is completed, students can immediately access the lessons.
Here’s what a lesson page looks like:
I’ve spent a lot of time creating and crafting each video lesson. Videos are usually 10 minutes on average. Each lesson page has:
- One video that you can watch and rewatch how many times you like (course purchase gives you lifetime access)
- Relevant Links, resources, downloads
- Easy navigation menu @ right sidebar to jump to other modules/lessons
- Comment/Support box @ bottom
I believe the Comment area is the most important feature of the course.
I hate online courses where no support is given, hence I give students the chance to contact me directly in relation to each lesson for questions, reviews, code snippets. Like a tutor.
This is the best way to hold students accountable.
#CustomizeWoo – What’s Next?
I want to make #CustomizeWoo the best possible learning platform for WooCommerce designers and the only way to achieve this is by getting feedback and adjust the direction.
Needless to say, I will continue to write blog content, publish snippets on a regular basis, write private newsletters to my Business Bloomer community and spend time helping people on Facebook and those who post comments on Business Bloomer.
If you missed my 18 WooCommerce snippets challenge for example, you will know I don’t only chase paid work and premium students. I want to help as many as possible. Well, here’s a quick recap of my challenge, feel free to use any of these snippets on any website you like:
- WooCommerce: Display Sales to Admin @ FrontEnd
- WooCommerce: Add Conversion Tracking Code to Thank You Page
- WooCommerce: Disable Free Shipping if Cart has Shipping Class
- WooCommerce: Add Shipping Fee for Non-Continental States
- WooCommerce: Disallow Shipping to PO BOX
- WooCommerce: Define a Minimum Order Amount
- WooCommerce: Edit “Add to Cart” Text by Product Category
- WooCommerce: Remove Product Tabs & Echo Long Description
- WooCommerce: Show Product Published Date
- WooCommerce: Show Unique Category @ Shop Page
- WooCommerce: Disable Link to Product @ Loop
- WooCommerce: Disable Payment Method for Specific Category
- WooCommerce: Add Billing First_name to Email Receipt
- WooCommerce: Disable Payment Gateway For Specific Shipping Method
- WooCommerce: Move Product Gallery Thumbnails
- WooCommerce: Exclude Category from Products Shortcode
- WooCommerce: Additional Acceptance Checkbox @ Checkout
- WooCommerce: Add Stock Quantity on Shop Page
…OK that took ages – next time I’ll just link you to https://businessbloomer.com/category/woocommerce-tips/ 🙂
As usual, blog comments are much appreciated so pick a snippet, try it out, and reach out if you need support.
For now, I leave you to your busy day.
And don’t forget – no matter how busy you are, #CustomizeWoo allows you to access the course for the rest of your life. No annoying recurring fees.
So, what’s holding you back to becoming a WooCommerce Expert?
What are your biggest WooCommerce issues?
Leave a comment below and let’s start the conversation 🙂