The online shopping trend has catapulted to immense heights since its inception. There are many industry giants and e-commerce companies like Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Flipkart and many more, but there is no reason for you to be overwhelmed by their presence. You can build your own presence and e-commerce by launching your online store with WooCommerce and WordPress..
There is still a lot to discover in this eCommerce market and your startup can become the next big name in this industry. You can either have a big online store where you can sell anything or you can specialize in a limited number of products like electronics, books or furniture to make a good name for yourself in this field and then move on to bigger stakes.
The decision of how you want to run your business is up to you. I’m just here to guide you and make the technical know-how easy for you.
You can find a demo of an online web store using Woocommerce and WordPress on these pages at https://neu-protec.de/webshop/
ECOMMERCE FACTS:
You’ve decided to get into the exciting business of eCommerce, then here are some basic facts just to put things in perspective for you.
- In 2017, about 55% of purchases worldwide were made online through a website or mobile app.
- 70% of these orders were made via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
- 90% of online shoppers are influenced by social media posts and advertising.
These facts give you a clear picture of where the eCommerce industry currently stands and what the future holds. According to Global, these numbers are already high and are on a colossal rise.
What will you find in this article?
- Develop your online store with WooCommerce and WordPress:
- Steps to building your eCommerce website:
- WooCommerce Online Store Extensions:
- Conclusion:
DEVELOP YOUR ONLINE SHOP WITH WOOCOMMERCE AND WORDPRESS:
Building websites with self-hosted platforms like WordPress is really advisable for new startups. It’s an affordable option to create your first website, as it can handle all the features of your fully functional online store without breaking a sweat. Plus, it offers many customizable options in terms of design and features that you can choose from.
WooCommerce is a plugin that is used to integrate features related to eCommerce into an online store website. It is an open source platform that is used to design your website features and pages that are necessary for your eCommerce website to function. It is by far the best free solution to enhance the features of your eCommerce website. This plugin is designed to be easily embedded into your existing website codes without causing any issues or errors. They are exclusively designed to increase the functionality of your online store website.
ADVANTAGES OF BUILDING AN ONLINESHOP WITH WOOCOMMERCE:
- It’s free, so you don’t have to pay anything for these plugins.
- WooCommerce development is the most versatile and feature-rich option among plugins.
- It is open source, which makes it very customizable for individual needs.
- The setup is quick and easy to use, so you don’t need a developer to install it.
- You don’t need to make any changes to your existing website design or features. The WooCommerce plugin is compatible with all the latest themes from WordPress.
ETTING AN ONLINE SHOP WITH WOOCOMMERCE, BUT WHICH WAY?
If you decide to develop WooCommerce, you can have an online store that can sell anything, whether it’s physical products like shoes, clothes, electronics, etc. or digital products like software, eBooks, operating systems, etc.
Besides products, you can also sell services, subscriptions, bookings, and anything else you can practically do. Anything that can be sold physically in a store can also be sold in an online store with WooCommerce.
HOW TO SET UP YOUR ONLINE SHOP WITH WOOCOMMERCE AND WORDPRESS?
I will help you systematically understand how to create your own online store using WordPress and WooCommerce development plugin. There are many detailed steps to consider that cannot be explained in a single blog. Therefore, here you will be guided in a basic way that will not create confusion in your mind and will show you the easiest way to create your own eCommerce website.
STEPS TO BUILD YOUR E-COMMERCE WEBSITE:
1. DOMAIN NAME AND WEBHOSTING AT WOOCOMMERCE
The domain name is the name you buy before the domain and that makes it a web address. It is the unique address of your website on the web that gives customers an accurate idea of what to look for to get to your website. The name of your store is followed by .co or .com or some other domain.
There are two basic ways to get a domain name and web hosting. Either you opt for dedicated hosting or shared hosting. Both options have their own merits and the choice should be made according to your preferences and which one supports your business model.
Dedicated hosting is a costly but very rewarding decision. If you choose WPEngine, it will cost you $29/month, but you will get a fully managed server dedicated only to your website, with 24/7 ticket support, daily backup of your website and many other features. Since with dedicated hosting you have a complete server at your disposal, you have to buy your own domain name from registrars like GoDaddy, RedServerHost, SiteGround, etc.
If your budget is low, you can opt for shared hosting. In shared hosting, a server is shared with different websites. So, your online store is not the user of the server, but you have to share resources and space with other websites. This is a viable option for you if you are just starting out and the network traffic is low in the beginning, but as your user base grows, you should switch to dedicated hosting.
Since shared hosting uses a single server for multiple websites, the domain name doesn’t have to be purchased for you, but is provided to you by the hosting server..
2. INSTALL WORDPRESS
It is not as difficult as it may seem. You need to enter your hoster’s user panel, where you will have to confirm for the hosting service for the first time by clicking on the confirmation link that was sent to your registered email address.
Once you enter the user panel, scroll down until you see the “Install WordPress” button. Click on this button and follow the instructions that will be given to you after that. The whole process is quite simple and is explained in detailed steps.
Now you will get a blank website. You can view the website by simply going to your domain name. Log in to the website as an admin by going to the login screen.
3. INSTALL THE WOOCOMMERCE PLUGIN
You have already done half of the work to open your online store with WooCommerce. Now, to install the plugin for the e-commerce platform, just go to the WordPress dashboard, select “Plugins” and then “Add New”. Type “woocommerce” in the search box at the top right of the window. The first result would be the WooCommerce plugin.
There would be an Install button next to the plugin result. Click on the “Install Now” button. After a few seconds, the text on the button will change to “Activate”; Click the “Activate” button.
From here on, everything is a breeze. A small pop-up window will ask you if you want to continue; press the “Let’s Go!” button to continue.
There are some really important pages that need to be created in order for your site to work properly. All of these things are taken care of by the WooCommerce Wizard, you just need to hit “Next” to create each of these pages.
The pages that need to be created are:
- Shop, where your products will be displayed.
- Shopping Cart, where customers will add all the products they want to buy.
- To the checkout, where customers choose the delivery and payment method.
- My Account, this is a personalized page for each registered user where they can monitor their activity and shop faster by entering basic information once. This way they don’t have to fill in all the information for each order.
This concludes the installation part of the WooCommerce plugin. Next, you need to decide on a personalized theme for your website.
4. CHOOSE A FIT THEME FOR YOUR ONLINE SHOP
Choosing a unique theme according to your taste and the design that symbolizes your company morals and principle is very important to create a unique identity. For startups that can’t spend so much money on a custom theme, WordPress offers customized variations in design and color combination for your website.
You can also choose a theme built with the WooCommerce plugin in mind to make it work seamlessly. Chances are, you already have a theme before you add the WooCommerce plugin. You don’t have to worry because WooCommerce plugins are generally compatible with all themes, but still, you can easily customize the look of your website in accordance with this plugin.
5. ADD PRODUCTS TO YOUR ONLINE SHOP
We have reached the final step to officially launch your online store with WooCommerce. The most basic thing an online store must have is the products it sells. So now let’s add products to your website.
Go to your dashboard and select “Products.” Keep pressing on the “Add product” option. The next window you’ll see is the content editing screen. This is where you fill in all the details about the product you are adding to your website.
WOOCOMMERCE ONLINE STORE EXTENSIONS:
There are many extensions that you can add with the WooCommerce plugin. All of these extensions are very useful as they increase the functionality of your website and they are very easy to install. The most popular extensions are the ones that have either been created or approved by the WooCommerce team. Some of these officially approved extensions are payment gateways, shipping extensions, booking extensions, accounting extensions, etc.
It is not necessary to have all these extensions and your website will work more than fine without them, but if you still want to have these extensions without paying extra money, there are many extensions that you can download in the free category.
CONCLUSION:
The development of WooCommerce has brought a lot to the plate for WordPress users. You can easily launch your online store with WooCommerce plugin and WordPress with less resources and make your startup dream come true.
