eCommerce website development nowadays is as easy as a breeze with popular and easy-to-use website development platforms such as WordPress and elegant plugins such as
WooCommerce.
Together, they help create spectacular e-commerce websites which are not only easy to set up but also convenient to manage and scale.
Many website developers use WordPress for its easy setup, convenience of use, and growing support community, while WooCommerce is the best open-source plugin available for developing e-commerce stores.
You too, can easily build a basic e-commerce website using WooCommerce, without requiring any coding skills.
Below we have listed 7 easy steps to create and roll out you very own e-commerce website using WordPress & WooCommerce.
Let’s start!
Choose a domain name that is easy to remember as well as relevant to the business you are
conducting.
Avoid long and convoluted names that can confuse buyers.
Use popular domain name providers such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Domian.com for a hassle-free experience. Once you select a domain name, choose a hosting provider that will upload your website files on a hosting server and let users access it.
Initially, you may go for a shared hosting as it will cost less since your website will share the hosting server will other websites. Some popular and trusted hosting providers are iPage, Bluehost & HostGator.
All of the hosting companies mentioned above provide a single-click WordPress installation.
So, once you have subscribed for any web hosting package, the next step is to go to the Software Installation section of the Cpanel and install WordPress setup. It’s as quick as 10 minutes.
Now that WordPress is installed, you need to add the e-commerce functionality to it.
In order to do this:
i.) Go to Plugins
ii.) Click on Add New on the WordPress dashboard
iii.) Search for WooCommerce
iv.) Install it by clicking on the Install Now button.
Once the installation is completed, click on Activate to activate the WooCommerce plugin.
Once WooCommerce is activated, the Setup Wizard will be visible, click on this to setup some common functionalities.
For the store setup, choose your country from the dropdown menu and fill in the details for your address, city, and zip code. Also, select the currency in which you want to sell and choose whether you will be selling physical products or digital products or both.
For the Payment setup, choose the payment mode though which you would accept payments. Options include Stripe, PayPal, and several offline payment modes.
For PayPal and Stripe, you need to have existing accounts with these payment systems that can be integrated with WooCommerce.
Offline payment modes include bank transfers, check payments, as well as COD (Cash on Delivery).
USPS shipping will be enabled for US residents using Live Rates, this facility allows displaying live rates on the store and printing labels directly from WooCommerce.
Also, enabling Live Rates will install Jetpack on your site. Next, choose the units for measurements and item dimensions.
On the Extras tab, the Automated Taxes can be enabled, this will auto calculate and display taxes for customers during checkout. Activate Jetpack if needed in the next step and complete the installation.
There are two ways to install a theme for your WordPress e-commerce website.
Option 1
This option requires that you have downloaded a WooCommerce theme zip file on your system.
Follow these steps to upload and install a WooCommerce theme for your website.
i.) Log into the WordPress Admin Panel and select Appearance. Navigate to the Themes section and select Add New tab.
ii.) Click on Upload Theme button, choose the required zip file for the theme, and click on Install Now button.
Option 2
In this option, you can search several free & paid plugins on your WordPress website only. You don’t need to download any zip folder and upload it. You simply need to search a theme, install it and activate it.
Here’s how you can do it:
i.) Log into the WordPress Admin Panel and select Appearance. Navigate to the
Themes section and select Add New tab.
ii.) Enter a keyword “ecommerce” in the search bar as shown below and you will see several themes available to install for your WooCommerce website.
You need to configure some pages for your website for it be fully functional as an ecommerce store.
Configure the Shop Page, Cart Page, Checkout Page, and MyAccount page for a complete e-commerce experience.
i.) Shop Page – Locate and customize your shop page by using the wizard at yoursite.com/shop.
You can use sorting functionality based on popularity, ratings, and prices, have page-based sliders, etc. to customize your shop page. You can go the WooCommerce option and select Settings and click on Products. Here in the Display tab, you can choose if you want to display your
products or categories or both.
ii.) Shopping Cart – Here you can choose what to display when the customer arrives at the shopping page. Choose the layout of the shopping cart as full-width so that customers are not distracted with any other thing. For this, go to Pages and select All Pages and open the shopping cart page. Choose Full Width under the Page Attributes.
iii.) Checkout Page – Make this page open with full-width as well and also personalize
the checkout by adding check boxes to allow customers to avail promotional emails
and newsletters.
iv.) My Account – Configure your Account Page for all features and functionalities
related to customer account where they can set up their accounts for frequent
purchases.