When I create my blog what will my URL look like?
The blogs are all created as subdomains, so your url will be http://yourblogname.thewahmblogs.com

What payment methods can I use for my cart?
At the moment, the carts are configured to work only with Paypal, but we are working on adding other payment methods in the future.

How much does it cost for a blog cart?
We charge only $5 per month for a blog with shopping cart. There is no setup fee and you may cancel at any time. If you cancel, that will only remove the cart option and your ability to sell directly from your blog. Your blog will remain open unless you decide to delete it.

Do you offer a free version?
Yes, you can get a blog at The WAHM Blogs without the shopping cart option at no cost. You can use it to advertise your business, link to an existing standalone cart, showcase your products, etc. The only thing you will not be able to do is use the shopping cart feature.

Can I put adsense or other advertising on my blog?
Yes, you are free to put adsense ads or any other advertising you choose on your blog, even on the free blogs (those without the cart option). Most of our templates are widget enabled and you can set up your ads in the widgets.

I’m not really familiar with blogging/Wordpress/shopping carts. Can someone walk me through it all?
We are working on a comprehensive support section to guide our customers through all the functions. If you find that you can’t figure something out, you can email me any time and I’ll be glad to help you. If you need assistance with customization beyond the basic functions of your blog or cart (i.e. you’d like to add a particular plugin or want a specific template uploaded and customized for your use) I am available for custom support at a charge of $10 per hour.

I already have a blog. Is there any way that I can move my posts over from that one?
Yes, The WAHM Blogs has built in support for importing posts and comments from many different systems. Currently, you can import from the following services:
Blogger, Blogware, DotClear, GreyMatter, LiveJournal, Movable Type and TypePad, RSS (Import posts from an RSS feed), Textpattern, WordPress

Features:
* Paypal only at this time
* 1 product per post
* Product form will appear on the edit page
* Products can have multiple options
* Upload downloadable products
* Basic Statistics
* Fully searchable
* 3 methods for calculating shipping charges, plus various zone settings via Country or US State
* Admin has access to an Order handling section
* Automatic emails on successful purchase, with option to send one from the admin order handling section.
* User configurable email templates.
* Configurable Out of Stock message.
* Basic Stock Control
* Automatic creation of required pages such as shopping cart and checkout
* and more!

Sign up now!

Upon clicking the sign up link above, you will be brought to the page to create your new blog. After creating the blog, you will receive an account activation email When you click the link in that email, your blog will then be activated and you will then have the option to add the shopping cart to your blog if you choose.

Ok, I created my blog. What do I do next?
If you are familiar with how Wordpress works and just want to know how to get started with your cart, look over this page here - Getting Started with your blog shop
If you’ve never used Wordpress before, have a look around at the Wordpress Codex.

I have a template that I really like. Can I use it here?
If you know of an existing Wordpress theme that you’d like to use, contact me and if it is compatible with this version of Wordpress, then I will upload it to the themes list.

How do I add pictures of my products?
From the “write post” or “manage post” screen, click “add media” on the upper right side of the text editor. That will open a window allowing you to choose to either upload a picture directly into your blog files or link to the URL of a remotely hosted picture. You can also choose to display the image full size within the post or as a thumbnail.

How do I organize my products like a regular store?
Because the cart uses posts for products, it makes use of the built in category organization of Wordpress. You can create your categories according to your product types and then when you add products, place them into their proper categories. You can also go back and move existing products to a different category after they’ve already been created.

You can also create a page in your blog for your shop. Name it “my shop” or whatever else you’d like and in the text editor add either of these tags:

<!–eshop_list_featured–> lists products that you have marked as being featured..
<!–eshop_list_random–> This displays a random list of products.

That will display your products on the page you’ve created.

Do you have anything available for spam management?
We have Akismet available as a plugin. In order to use it, you need to activate it from your plugins and enter your own Wordpress API (if you already have one, otherwise you need to get one from Wordpress.com)

The plugin automatically creates 6 pages for you, all of which are editable.

• Shopping Cart: this will automatically display the shopping cart when someone adds a product to their cart.
• Checkout: for when the customer wants to pay for their purchases.
• Thank you for your order: after a successful payment at paypal the customer, if they follow the link from paypal, will return to this page.
• Cancelled Order: if the customer cancels the order at payapl, and they follow the link from paypal, they will return to this page.
• Downloads: this is the page a user will be directed to after they purchase a downloadable product.
• Shipping rates: because of the different possible shipping rates the plugin allows, this page automatically shows the table of shipping rates for you.

Configuration

There are numerous settings that need to be set up before you can start selling.

Go to the additional menu item added to the Options menu eShop Settings. This page features the main options for the plugin. Defaults have been added for your convienance ,where possible.

eShop Admin

eShop status - is the cart live or in test mode? To test the shop you need to have an account on paypal sandbox. You will need to create and utilise email addresses for the ’seller’ and ‘buyer’ within the sandbox when you test the cart.

Items per page - this value sets how many items(orders, prodcuts etc.) per page are displayed on the various admin pages.

Merchant Gateway

Payment method: only paypal is available at present.

Email address: this is your paypal business acounts email address.

Business Details

Available business email addresses: when sending an email to a customer via their order details you can add in here extra email addresses you wish to make available to ’send from’.

Business Location - which country you are in, or registered as being in when setting up your paypal account.

Product options

Product category sort order - newest, oldest, alphabetically - these are the values available to sort products when they are listed on a parent page.

Options per product - how many different options values can you add to a product.

Out of Stock message - when you run out of stock you may want to temporarily display an out of stock message.

Stock Control - If this is used when a stock level falls to 0 or below then the stock is automatically made not available. However stock levels are not checked during the order process, and stock reduction is only processed after a successful purchase. Therefore it is possible to sell more items than you have in stock.

Show stock available - if using stock control this allows you to display the stock avaialble.

Random products to display - this is the number of random products to display if you utilise the <!--eshop_list_random--> code snippet.

Download attempts - the number of download attempts that you will allow per purchase, per file. If set to 0 you will stop all downloads! The default value is 3.

Currency

Symbol - whether it be $, £, etc.

Code - a 3 letter currency code that matches your country.

Credits

Display eShop credit allows you to hide the ‘Powered by eShop’ credit that appears on various pages in your shop. Disabling this will still add a hidden HTML comment to the page.

Link to extra pages

Here you can add 2 extra links to appear in various places in the cart/checkout procedure that link to a Privacy Policy, or Help page. The page id number should be used.

Other Options

The eShop Shipping Rates menu item also allows you to amend the shipping calculations and set whether you would like to use the zones set up by country, or by US States. The Show Shipping Zones on Shipping Page option allows you to automatically show the correct table for the zones. Be warned that these tables are large.

The eShop Style page allows you to amend the default style, or disable it completely.

For the customer, The WAHM Blogs offers a one stop shopping place for WAHM products. If you love WAHM businesses, then this is the place for you.  As our site grows, you will be able to find many different WAHM offerings.

For the WAHM, The WAHM Blogs offers a standard blogging spot, powered by the popular Wordpress and adds to that the ability for you to sell your products directly from your blog posts. Whether you just want a place to show off a new product and offer your customers a chance to buy it on the spot or if you want a full shopping cart that allows you to manage inventory, view pending and completed orders and more.

The WAHM Blogs is the perfect solution for any WAHM, from those just starting out and wanting to test the waters to the seasoned WAHM looking to branch out their offerings.

If you are a WAHM and would like more information about getting started here at The WAHM Blogs, please Email Us