How To Install The AliDropship Woocommerce Plugin

This article will walk you through the steps on turning a simple WordPress website, into a powerful DropShipping eCommerce store, with the help of the AliDropShip Woo Plugin. I will explain how to install the AlIDropShip WooCommerce plugin, as well as covering the pre-requisites such as getting the plugins, sorting out your WordPress site, and of course, installing and dealing with WooCommerce. 

At the end of this, you should have yourself a WooCommerce DropShipping site set up, and ready to go. 

Pre-Requisites - Purchasing AliDropShip

Before you start, you are going to have to purchase the AliDropShip Woo plugin (if you haven't already), it comes as part of the standard sale of AliDropShip (yes, you get two plugins). 

Head on over to AlIDropship to get your copy for $89, you can also add installation, SSL certificate and WordPress set up to the order for $48, in case you are not feeling adventurous. 

If you are, then you have come to the right place! 

Downloading The AliDropShip WooCommerce Plugin

Once you have made your purchase, you will be sent a confirmation email, this will contain links to the different versions of AliDropShip, either the standalone WordPress, or the WooCommerce version. 

Download the zip files that will be opened once you click the link of your choice, you will always be given the latest version of the plugin, but if not, we will also check how to update this later. 

Note - Your email may be different, as my original email is from 2017, but the gist is the same, as are the links you should see.

Pre-Requisites - Installing WordPress

If you happen to be completely new to this, you may have not got WordPress sorted yet either, so we will get the groundwork sorted as well. 

You will need to choose a host for you to use for your DropShipping site, I would recommend someone reliant and fast. For my sites these days I usually pick SiteGround or WPX. 

Both of these hosts will install both WordPress, and WooCommerce for you as part of the onboarding process, so worth keeping in mind. 

If you happen to have a host from the 18th Century, who doesn't offer this service, then I would look at changing, because it's the 21st century and should be offered as standard, lazy hosts. 

You can go to WordPress.org and you will be given the option to download the CMS (Content Management System) that is WordPress, you will need to load this onto your host (again most hosts should offer you access to load files or even this service). I would speak to your host about the best way to get this installation set up. 

SiteGround offer an easy 1 click installation of both the CMS and the WooCommerce plugin, so if you want to save yourself time, choose that option and it will happen as part of this process. 

You will be required to add some admin details, such as an Admin username, password and email. SiteGround will then give you a step by step walk through of what is required. 

The process should take around 5minutes and a popup should appear asking you to sign into your shiny new WordPress installation.

Pre-Requisites - Installing WooCommerce

If your host let's you, you can get WordPress + Woocommerce installed at the same time, which can be a helpful trick to do. SiteGround will install the plugin for you, as part of the installation, though this is not always the case. 

If you already have a WordPress site up, and you have decided to add WooCommerce, there are two ways to get the plugin. 

Head to WooCommerce.com and connect your newly set up site with WooCommerce, it will then do the download and install of the plugin for you. 

Or, my preferred method, go to the 'Plugins' section within WordPress, and 'Add New'. Type in 'WooCommerce' in the search bar provided.

Install and then activate the 'WooCommerce' plugin that you will see, should be the one with a few million installations!

When you click activate, you will be shown a walk through wizard, or guide. Fill in the details, such as store details, industry etc, or you can skip it for the time being (though I do recommend filling them in). 

I would suggest using one of AliDropShip's Woo Themes as well, though you can use WooCommerce ones as well, if you prefer them (one of the reasons people do use AliDropShip Woo). If you want to learn more about installing WordPress themes, including Woocommerce based themes, check out this article. 

You will also be asked to add Tax, Payment details and contact information, again I highly recommend filling this out, as it makes life easier when it comes to installing the Woo Plugin on top. 

How To Install The AliDropShip Woocommerce Plugin

This step is fairly easy to do, and requires you to get your Zip folder that you would have been given earlier when you purchased AliDropShip. 

Once you have the ZIP folder, you need to go back to your Plugins section, and once again 'add new', but this time, Upload Plugin. 

A simple Choose File button will appear, and you will get the option of finding and uploading your new AlIDropShip Woo Plugin. 

Once again, once it's installed, click activate and we are ready for the next steps.

How To Set Up The AliDropShip Woo Plugin

With the plugin installed and activated, it's time for some setup steps. On activation, it should take you to the following screen;

If you don't see the AlIdropShip menu, then click in the left hand corner where the bright orange bar is, and it should take you to the right screen. 

You will need to add your licence key number into activate the plugin fully. 

Once you have add your licence key, you will want to head on over to Setting and start your set up process. 

You can now start using your AliDropShip Woo Plugin to start finding new products, and automating some of your processes. 

This plugin does use the standard WooCommerce framework, so it's worth reading up on how WooCommerce behaves as well to get the most out of your new DropShipping store. 

Getting The AlIDropship Woo Plugin Installed For You

If, like most people you just want to get on with running your DropShipping site, and you don't want to spend time faffing around with WordPress, WooCommerce or any of the other parts of this process, AlIDropShip do offer an installation service. 

This can be done on their own hosting, a service that they offer as part of the initial purchase, with 1 year of hosting for $48 (which is actually a very good price for 1 year of hosting that has been set up to deal with this kind of store). 

If you don't need hosting, and simply want them to install everything for you, then for $37 AliDropShip will take care of it. Which is a pretty decent deal. 

If you want the full install and website setup then AlIDropShip also offer that as a service, which includes installation, templates loading, email integration (you will need a MailChimp account) and a sign up form adding. I believe this is for WooCommerce as well, but you will want to check. 

Conclusion

And that's it, everything you need to know about installing and setting up the AlIDropShip Woo Plugin. The steps themselves can take a little time, but hopefully nothing too complicated. 

If you have issues, their support team are really helpful, or their services can be purchased at a pretty cheap rate. Let me know below how you found the experience.