I’ve launched 14 WordPress stores in the last three years. Some for clients, some for myself. The first one took three weeks. The last one took a day and a half. The difference isn’t skill — it’s having a fixed plugin stack and knowing the two or three settings that break everything if you miss them.
Most plugin lists online are bloated. They recommend 20+ plugins, many of which overlap or conflict. You don’t need that. You need a core set that handles products, payments, taxes, and email. Everything else is optional. Here’s the stack I install on every store before I touch a single product.
**1. WooCommerce** — Obviously. But here’s the setting you’ll forget: under WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced, set the cart page and checkout page to use the block editor. The old shortcode system still works, but the block version is faster and less likely to break with theme updates. Also, disable the WooCommerce marketing hub if you’re not using it. It adds a dashboard widget that slows down the admin.
**2. Stripe for WooCommerce** — The official plugin, not a third-party one. In the settings, enable ‘Payment Request Buttons’ so Apple Pay and Google Pay show up automatically. That alone can increase mobile conversions by 15-20% because it skips the checkout form. The setting is under Stripe settings > Payment Request Buttons. Check it.
**3. PayPal for WooCommerce** — Even if you hate PayPal, some customers only use it. The official plugin is fine. The setting you’ll forget: enable ‘PayPal Smart Buttons’ and disable the old standard checkout. Smart Buttons handle credit cards too, so you don’t need a separate gateway.
**4. WPForms Lite** — For a contact form. Why not Contact Form 7? Because WPForms is drag-and-drop and less likely to break with PHP updates. The Lite version is enough for a simple contact form. Just make sure to set the email notifications to go to an address you actually check.
**5. WP Mail SMTP** — This is the one that saves you. WordPress by default sends emails using your server, which often lands in spam. WP Mail SMTP connects to a real email service (Gmail, SendGrid, etc.) so order confirmations actually arrive. The setting you’ll forget: after installing, run the email test. If it fails, your host might be blocking SMTP. Contact them.
**6. UpdraftPlus** — Backups. Set it to back up daily to Google Drive or Dropbox. The setting you’ll forget: exclude the cache folder if you use a caching plugin, otherwise your backups will be huge. Under UpdraftPlus > Settings, add ‘wp-content/cache’ to the exclusion list.
**7. Wordfence Security** — Basic firewall and malware scan. The free version is enough. The setting you’ll forget: enable ‘Live Traffic’ view to see if bots are hitting your login page. If they are, enable two-factor authentication for your admin account.
That’s it. Seven plugins. No page builder, no fancy slider, no related posts plugin. You can add those later once you have sales. The goal is to get to checkout fast, not to build a perfect site.
One more thing: after installing, go to WooCommerce > Status > Tools and click ‘Clear transients’ and ‘Verify database’. This fixes most weird issues before they start. Then run a test order with a real credit card (use a 1-cent product) to make sure everything works. I’ve seen too many stores launch with broken checkout because they never tested.
If you want the exact settings file, it’s in our kit. But even without it, this stack will get you live by Sunday.