WordPress and WooCommerce: delivering a turnkey website

When WordPress is the right tool

WordPress runs a large share of the web for a simple reason: someone who is not a developer can edit their pages. It is the right tool when:

• the site presents a business, services, past work;
• the client wants to publish and correct on their own;
• budget and deadline are tight;
• a simple store is added to the site, with WooCommerce.

It is not the right tool for an application with accounts, business rules and sensitive data. In that case, see our guide Building a web app.

The sites we have delivered on WordPress show the range: the WooCommerce store of Vous Toulouse, organised by aisle; the member directory of Connexion Club, sorted by business sector; the Clean Services 31 site, carried by photos of the vehicles treated.

Start from the content, not the theme

Too often a theme is chosen first, then people wonder what to put in it. We do the opposite.

1. 1The structureThe pages, their order, what each one should get the visitor to do.
2. 2The copy and photosThe real ones, not placeholder text. They decide the layout.
3. 3The mockupFor the key pages: home, service, contact.
4. 4The themeThe one that serves this mockup with the least overhead.

Theme, page builder, or blocks

Three ways to build pages:

• The native block editor. Light, durable, enough for many sites.
• A page builder such as Elementor. More visual freedom for the client, at the cost of heavier pages.
• A custom theme. When the design fits no existing frame.

The criterion is simple: who will edit the site in two years, and with what technical level?

WooCommerce: the store inside WordPress

WooCommerce adds the catalogue, the cart, payment and orders. It suits a store that extends an existing site. The points to handle with care:

• aisles and attributes, designed before importing products;
• product personalisation, when the customer chooses a text or a pattern;
• payment and shipping, tested with a real order;
• order emails, in your name and in your tone.

For a business where online sales are central, compare with our guide Launching a Shopify store.

Speed

A slow WordPress site is rarely slow because of WordPress. The usual causes:

• images uploaded at full size, uncompressed;
• too many plugins, each loading its scripts on every page;
• no page cache;
• undersized hosting.

We deal with those four before looking further. Images alone are often half the gain.

Security and maintenance

Most hacks come through a plugin that was not updated. The discipline is well known:

• updates of core, theme and plugins, at least monthly;
• automatic off-server backups, with a tested restore;
• named admin accounts, strong passwords, two-factor authentication;
• removal of unused plugins and themes;
• HTTPS everywhere.

Delivering “turnkey”

A turnkey site is a site the client knows how to drive. Delivery includes:

• a one-hour training session on their real pages;
• a short guide: edit a text, add a piece of work, process an order;
• access details stored in the right place: domain, hosting, WordPress;
• Search Console connected, and the sitemap submitted;
• the rules for what comes next: who updates, who backs up, who to call.