# Introduction

What Leapa does, and the shortest path from here to a payment you can see in your dashboard.

Leapa takes card and bank payments for your business. You can run the whole thing from the dashboard, or put a payment form on your own site and let Leapa handle the card details.

These docs come in three parts: the dashboard, the payment widget you embed, and the plugin for stores built on WordPress.

## Start with the dashboard

Everything begins with an account. From there the dashboard is where you charge a card, bill a customer, and move your balance out.

<CardGroup>
	<Card title="Create your account" href="/docs/web-application/create-your-account">
		Sign up, verify your business, and get your API keys.
	</Card>
	<Card title="Explore your dashboard" href="/docs/web-application/explore-dashboard">
		Where every number on the home screen comes from.
	</Card>
	<Card title="Capture and authorize payments" href="/docs/web-application/capture-and-authorize-payments">
		Hold funds on a card now and take them later.
	</Card>
	<Card title="Create and manage invoices" href="/docs/web-application/create-and-manage-invoices">
		Bill a customer and get paid against the invoice.
	</Card>
</CardGroup>

## Take payments on your own site

The widget is one HTML element you drop into your page. The payer’s card details go straight to Leapa, so your site never stores or forwards them.

<CardGroup>
	<Card title="Add the payment widget" href="/docs/widgets/integration">
		From an empty page to a working form, in three steps.
	</Card>
	<Card title="WooCommerce plugin" href="/docs/plugins/woo-commerce">
		The same thing for a WordPress store, without touching code.
	</Card>
</CardGroup>

## Before you go live

Card schemes check a few things about your site before payments can be switched on. The checklist says what they look for.

<CardGroup columns={1}>
	<Card title="Website checklist" href="/docs/web-application/website-checklist">
		What your site needs before Leapa can take it live.
	</Card>
</CardGroup>

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_Generated from the Leapa documentation at leapa.co/docs._