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Choose Your Path

BuddyX Theme overviewFree + ProGet BuddyX Theme →

What kind of site are you building? Pick the description that fits - we’ll route you to a step-by-step setup. You don’t need to know WordPress terminology yet - we’ll introduce each piece as you go.

If none of the options below match what you want, skip ahead to the main docs index or just walk through Quick Start for a 15-minute baseline.

A site where people sign up, post, and chat

Section titled “A site where people sign up, post, and chat”

You’re building a place where visitors can register, create a profile, follow each other, post updates, join groups, and message each other. Think Facebook-lite for your niche - a fan club, alumni network, hobby community, professional society, etc.

What “plugins” you’ll need (a “plugin” in WordPress is an add-on you install - like an app - that adds features. They’re free unless marked otherwise.):

  • BuddyNext - Wbcom’s modern community engine. It adds the “sign up + profile + activity feed” features, plus Spaces (focused areas for topics, projects, or teams). Direct messaging is powered by the free WPMediaVerse companion plugin. BuddyNext is free to start, with a Pro upgrade for deeper moderation and admin tools. Without a community plugin, BuddyX Pro is still a beautiful theme but it doesn’t have community features.
  • (Existing sites) BuddyPress - the classic community plugin. If your site already runs on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss Platform, keep it: BuddyX Pro supports both. A site runs one engine, never BuddyNext and BuddyPress together.

Setup steps:

  1. Install BuddyX Pro - turn on the theme
  2. From your WordPress admin, install and activate BuddyNext (Plugins → Add New → search “BuddyNext” → Install → Activate, or get it here)
  3. Read BuddyNext Integration - what BuddyNext gives you and how it inherits your BuddyX Pro colors and dark mode
  4. Open BuddyNext > Members > Registration & Login to choose who can sign up (open, invite only, or admin approval), then create your first Space (BuddyNext > Spaces) - a sub-community people can join around a topic
  5. Check your sign-in and registration links - BuddyX Pro routes them to the BuddyNext auth hub automatically
  6. Assign a menu to the User Menu location (Appearance → Menus → Manage Locations) to control the links in the BuddyNext header dropdown

Already on BuddyPress? Follow the BuddyPress setup guides instead - settings, member profiles, directory, groups, and activity stream.

Recommended settings for first-time setup:

  • Header layout: Layout 1 (clean, traditional) or Layout 2 (centered logo)
  • Member profile header: Left View (avatar on the left, name + bio on the right)
  • Turn on: online status indicators, in-site notifications, private messaging

A site to sell physical or digital products

Section titled “A site to sell physical or digital products”

You’re building an online store. Products can be physical (t-shirts, books) or digital (downloadable files, ebooks, software).

What “plugins” you’ll need:

  • WooCommerce - the free, industry-standard plugin for selling things on WordPress. It handles cart, checkout, payments, shipping, inventory, taxes.
  • (Alternative for digital-only) FluentCart - a newer, simpler alternative if you only sell digital goods.

Setup steps:

  1. Install BuddyX Pro
  2. Install and activate WooCommerce (Plugins → Add New → search “WooCommerce”)
  3. Run the WooCommerce setup wizard (it asks about your store address, currency, payment method, shipping) - takes about 5 minutes
  4. Configure Shop Settings - how the shop pages should look
  5. Add your first product (Products → Add New)
  6. Connect a payment processor (Stripe and PayPal are the two most common; WooCommerce has buttons to set them up)
  7. Set up shipping rules if you ship physical goods (WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping)

Recommended settings:

  • Turn on the cart icon in the header (so visitors can see what they’ve added)
  • Shop layout: Grid view (most familiar to online shoppers)
  • Turn on “product quick view” so people can peek at a product without leaving the listing page

A site to teach online courses or lessons

Section titled “A site to teach online courses or lessons”

You’re building a place where students sign up, take courses, watch lessons, take quizzes, get certificates. Often called an “LMS” (Learning Management System).

What “plugins” you’ll need:

  • LearnDash - paid, professional-grade course platform. BuddyX Pro has deep integration with LearnDash.
  • (Free alternatives we support) LearnPress, LifterLMS, TutorLMS, Sensei - see Other LMS for setup on each.

Setup steps:

  1. Install BuddyX Pro
  2. Install and activate LearnDash (or your chosen LMS)
  3. Configure LearnDash Settings
  4. Create your first course (Courses → Add New)
  5. Add lessons inside the course (a course is the container; lessons are the content)
  6. Set up course pricing (free / one-time payment / subscription)
  7. Customize Course Pages - how the course list + single course pages look

Recommended settings:

  • Course archive layout: Grid
  • Turn on progress tracking (shows students how far they’ve gotten)
  • Show the course sidebar with lesson list

A site to publish articles or news (blog / magazine)

Section titled “A site to publish articles or news (blog / magazine)”

You’re building a content site - articles, tutorials, news pieces, an opinion column, a niche magazine. Posts shown chronologically; visitors read + share.

What “plugins” you’ll need:

  • Nothing required - WordPress handles blog posts natively
  • (Recommended) Yoast SEO or Rank Math - free plugins that help your articles show up on Google
  • (Optional) Jetpack - adds traffic stats, related-posts suggestions, social sharing

Setup steps:

  1. Install BuddyX Pro
  2. Configure Blog Settings - pick a layout (Grid / Magazine / Editorial / etc.) and how many columns
  3. Set Up Single Post Layout - how individual articles look (header position, featured image size, related posts, etc.)
  4. Create categories + tags (Posts → Categories) so visitors can browse by topic
  5. Configure Sidebar - what shows alongside articles
  6. Add widgets in Appearance → Widgets (e.g. recent posts, popular tags, social links)

Recommended settings:

  • Blog layout: Grid for visual content, Editorial for long-form text, Magazine for news-style
  • Turn on related posts (keeps readers on your site)
  • Show author bio at the end of each post
  • Turn on social sharing buttons

A site where OTHER people sell things (a marketplace)

Section titled “A site where OTHER people sell things (a marketplace)”

You’re building Etsy / Amazon-lite - a site where multiple vendors each have their own store, products, and earnings. Visitors browse across all vendors and check out in one cart.

What “plugins” you’ll need:

  • WooCommerce (free) - same as the e-commerce setup above
  • PLUS one of these marketplace plugins:
    • Dokan (free + paid) - the most popular, beginner-friendly choice
    • MultiVendorX / MVX (free + paid) - strong feature set, slightly more technical
    • WCFM Marketplace (free + paid) - feature-rich, lots of vendor controls
    • WC Vendors (free + paid) - long-established, dependable

Setup steps:

  1. Complete the E-Commerce Store steps above first
  2. Install + activate ONE marketplace plugin (pick from the four above)
  3. Configure the marketplace plugin (each has its own setup wizard)
  4. Follow the BuddyX Pro doc for your chosen plugin:

Recommended settings:

  • Vendor dashboard layout: pick the layout your vendors will spend most time in (most marketplace plugins ship a default)
  • Decide vendor commission upfront (e.g. you keep 10%, vendors keep 90%)
  • Test the full vendor signup → product upload → customer purchase flow before going live

A community + an online store at the same time

Section titled “A community + an online store at the same time”

You’re building a site where people sign up + interact with each other AND can buy things from you (or each other). Examples: a fitness coaching community where you also sell training plans; a hobby group where members can sell handmade items.

Setup steps:

  1. Do the community website setup first (BuddyNext)
  2. Then do the e-commerce store setup (WooCommerce)
  3. Optionally, add a marketplace plugin (Dokan or similar) if your members should sell to each other
  4. On BuddyPress sites, WooCommerce profiles connect to BuddyPress profiles - purchase history shows on member profiles

A community + online courses at the same time

Section titled “A community + online courses at the same time”

You’re building a learning community - students take courses + interact in discussion groups, ask each other questions, form study cohorts.

Setup steps:

  1. Do the community website setup first (BuddyNext)
  2. Then do the online learning setup (LearnDash or alternative)
  3. Use Spaces for study cohorts and course discussion. On BuddyPress sites, most LMS plugins integrate out of the box - a course can have its own group automatically
  4. Optionally add bbPress for course forums so students can ask questions per lesson

A private / members-only site

Section titled “A private / members-only site”

You’re building a site where ONLY logged-in users see content. Could be a paid subscription, an internal company portal, an invite-only community.

What “plugins” you’ll need:

  • MemberPress / Restrict Content Pro / Paid Memberships Pro - paid plugins that gate content behind a login (or behind a paid subscription). Pick whichever fits your budget; BuddyX Pro works with all of them.
  • (Free alternative) WordPress’s built-in “private” pages - but these don’t scale beyond a few pages

Setup steps:

  1. Install + activate your membership plugin
  2. Use the plugin’s setup wizard to create membership tiers (e.g. Free / Pro / Premium)
  3. Mark which pages / posts / categories are gated to which tier
  4. Set up payment if you’re charging
  5. Optionally add the BuddyNext community setup above for member discussion + profiles. See Launch a private community for the full walkthrough

Next steps after picking your path

Section titled “Next steps after picking your path”

After you’ve completed the steps for your chosen site type:

  1. Pick your colors - or use a color preset if you’d rather not pick each color individually
  2. Pick your fonts - or use a typography preset
  3. Set up your header - the bar at the top with your logo + menu
  4. Set up your footer - the bottom of every page
  5. Add menus - what links appear in the navigation
  6. Test the site on a phone (open it on your phone or use Chrome DevTools’ device mode)
  7. Pre-launch checklist - common gotchas to check before going live

Stuck or confused?

Section titled “Stuck or confused?”