Choosing which features to set up first

You do not need to configure every Cedros feature before your site is useful. Start with the action you most want a visitor to complete, then set up the tools needed to support it from beginning to end.

This guide helps you choose an order of work. It assumes you already have a site; use Creating your first Cedros site if you are still at signup.

Choose your first customer journey

Complete this sentence: “A visitor should be able to ___, and we should be able to ___ afterward.”

For example: “A visitor should be able to request a quote, and we should be able to read the request and reply.” That gives you a useful first milestone: an offer page, a working enquiry form, and a reliable follow-up process.

Your first customer action	Start with
Enquire about a service or book a meeting	Services
Buy a product	Shops
Read your work or receive a newsletter	Publishers
Sign in and access member content	Memberships

A business can use several paths. Finish the one that matters most before adding a second. A consultant who also sells a download can start with enquiries and add checkout later; a shop can start with purchases and add a newsletter once ordering works.

Check the foundations once

Before following your path:

• Confirm the business details. Set the name, description, and public contact information customers should see. Follow Setting up your business information.
• Publish the essential page and navigation. Make the offer and next action easy to find. Getting started walks through creating and publishing a page.
• Check visitor access. Review Settings → Site → Access before sharing the site. A holding page or restricted site mode can prevent visitors from reaching the journey you are testing.
• Check the tools available to you. Optional features depend on installed extensions, enabled workflows, connected services, and your permissions. Use Settings → Extensions to review extensions, and ask the site administrator if a tool is missing.

Paths below refer to your own site's admin. Finding your way around Cedros explains the sidebar and search.

Services: start with enquiries or bookings

Choose enquiries first when you need to understand the job before accepting it. Choose bookings first when customers can pick a defined appointment without a preliminary conversation.

1. Explain one service. Use Site → Pages to describe who it is for, what the customer gets, and what happens next. Add an obvious enquiry or booking link.
2. For enquiries, prepare a form. Open Site → Forms, choose the fields you need, and make the form active. Put it on the intended page or link to its public flow page.
3. For appointments, configure scheduling. Open Grow → Calendar, switch to My calendar, and choose Configure. Complete About you, create a Booking type, and set Availability. Check the timezone. Use Integrations if an external calendar should help determine availability or receive synced events.
4. Decide who follows up. Know where submissions or bookings will be reviewed and how you will contact the customer. If you plan to reply from Cedros's inbox, follow Choosing Cedros email or Google Workspace and configure the account before promising replies from it.
5. Test the route you chose. Submit a clearly labelled test enquiry using your own details, or make a controlled test booking. Confirm it appears in the admin and check any expected confirmation.

Ready when: a visitor can submit the request or book a valid time, and the responsible person can find it and follow up. For forms, check View Submissions; for bookings, check My calendar.

Can wait: a large service catalog, automated follow-up sequences, and payments if your first offer does not require payment online. Public business hours are separate from booking availability; entering opening hours alone does not make appointment slots available.

Shops: make one product purchasable

For a Cedros storefront, check that Cedros Pay and Cedros Shop are active. Use Cedros Pay to manage products and checkout, and Cedros Shop to display the storefront on your site. Their presence alone does not confirm that payments work.

1. Configure the payment method you will offer. Open Extension Settings → Pay hub. Review Overview and the relevant payment settings, such as Stripe. Check whether the provider is in test or live mode and resolve any readiness notices.
2. Prepare one product. Open Monetization → Catalog → Products. Check its name, description, images, price, availability, and the payment method it supports.
3. Set up what that product needs. For physical goods, review stock, shipping, and tax configuration before opening sales. Optional workflows are controlled from Pay hub → Overview; only enable the ones you intend to use.
4. Check the storefront. Review Extension Settings → Storefront, then open the public product and follow its purchase link. Confirm the displayed price and the route into checkout.
5. Verify the order journey. Use your configured payment method's supported test environment where available. Confirm that a successful test checkout produces the expected record under Monetization → Transactions, and check the customer confirmation and your fulfilment process.

Ready when: a buyer can find the product, complete the intended checkout, and receive what you promised—and you can identify and process the order. A Checkout is enabled notice confirms configuration, not provider health or successful payment.

Can wait: coupons, a large inventory import, extra payment methods, and subscriptions if the initial product is a one-time purchase. Do not use real card details in a test checkout or assume a payment method is in test mode without checking.

Publishers: publish first, then build the audience

Start with a useful piece of content and a way for readers to find the next one. Add paid access only if it is part of your initial offer.

1. Choose the right content tool. Use Site → Blogs for posts, Site → Docs for guides, or Site → Pages for the main publication pages. Follow Writing and publishing a blog post or Creating a documentation article to publish one complete item, then link to it from your site.
2. Check the reading experience. Open the published item as a visitor. Review its title, formatting, images, links, and how readers return to the rest of the site.
3. Add email signup if you need it. Follow Creating an audience list, then prepare a signup form or other supported subscription flow. Test that a subscriber joins the intended list and reaches the expected confirmation state.
4. Configure delivery before scheduling a newsletter. A campaign needs an email template and an audience. It also needs working email delivery and permission to send. Open Email → Campaigns and follow any delivery-setup notice; managed sites may direct you to managed services. Use Setting up outgoing email delivery for provider and sender checks.
5. Prepare and test a draft. Follow Sending your first email campaign to save a draft and send a test to your own address. Check its delivery, content, and links before scheduling. Test messages do not reproduce every live subscription link; review the campaign's readiness and subscription setup separately.

Ready when: the content is publicly readable and, if you offer a newsletter, a reader can subscribe and receive the intended email.

Can wait: social-post automation, complex email sequences, and a paywall. A published blog post does not automatically send a newsletter. A person appearing in your contacts also does not automatically mean they are a confirmed, sendable newsletter recipient.

Memberships: connect identity, payment, and access

First decide whether you need free signed-in access, paid content, or an invite-only site. These have different setup needs.

For paid content or media, plan the complete chain: the customer signs in, obtains the required purchase or subscription, and receives access to the correct material.

1. Set up customer sign-in. Check Cedros Login and the sign-in experience your members will use. Test with a customer account rather than your administrator account.
2. Define the offer. For recurring paid access, enable subscriptions in Pay hub → Overview, then configure the intended plan in Monetization → Catalog → Subscriptions. Confirm the payment setup before advertising it.
3. Configure the content access rule. Pay hub → Content includes Article paywall and Gated media. Link the protected material to the purchase, subscription, or access entitlement that should unlock it. An entitlement is the customer's right to access that material.
4. Check existing content separately. Article and media defaults govern how new content starts. Review the actual posts and media you intend to protect; changing a default is not proof that existing material is protected.
5. Test both access states. Check that a visitor without access sees the intended locked state or preview. Then check that an eligible customer can sign in and open the content, including after leaving and returning.

Ready when: the intended customer can obtain and use access, while someone without access cannot retrieve the protected material. For paid media, connect access to the customer’s account and qualifying purchase or subscription. Adding a contact tag alone does not grant access.

Can wait: multiple membership tiers and elaborate onboarding sequences. Start with one clearly defined offer and one protected item.

For a free or invite-only site, skip payment setup unless you sell something. Settings → Site → Access → Internal requires a permissioned login for the site; it is not a paid-subscription rule. Check who is allowed in before using it for a private community.

Add automation after the basic journey works

Once you can complete the customer journey manually, identify the repetitive step that costs the most time. That might be drafting a reply, preparing the next article, or summarizing incoming requests.

Check the required AI or other service connection in Settings → Providers. Managed sites can show managed-provider controls instead of credential fields. Review permissions and the actions a routine will perform before enabling a schedule under Assistant → Routines.

Add one routine at a time and inspect its first result. Keep a person responsible for work that fails or needs review.

Decide whether to add the next feature

Move on when you can answer yes to all four questions:

• Can a visitor find and complete the main action?
• Does the result appear in the right admin tool?
• Can you deliver the promised service, product, email, or access?
• Have you checked a relevant failure case, such as an incomplete form, an unavailable appointment, an unsuccessful checkout, or a customer without access?

If something fails, fix that step before adding more features. Read the tool's readiness or access notice first. Follow the notice to complete the missing connection, enable the workflow, or request the permission your task requires.

If you are unsure which path fits, write down the first customer action and what must happen afterward, then contact Cedros with that description and your site address.