Starting an online business has never been easier. Anyone can start their business online as an entrepreneur in minutes. There are plenty of platforms focusing on online store building like Shopify and BigCommerce. While these platforms are good, you are relying on a third-party service provider to run your online store. This means they have control of your business, what you can and cannot do to your online store and functionality. What about starting your online store on the WordPress WooCommerce platform?
Let’s find out.
Those are a good start if you want to start quickly as a beginner and start selling. However, if you are going for a long-term business that might be scaling big in future. And the platform can shut down or even suspend your account if they think you’re violating their terms of service.
Fortunately, there is another online store builder option out there – WordPress WooCoomerce.
WordPress is the best and largest CMS platform powering millions of websites. And WooCommerce is the eCommerce plugin to enable the online store function for a WordPress site.
WooCommerce is powering millions of eCommerce sites worldwide and is the most preferred online store solution for a WordPress site. Not only that, as WooCommerce is the official and mostly used WordPress eCommerce plugin, there are many custom plans and offers that you can use to build your WooCommerce store. And then, with the huge community, you will get the support you need in no time.
Today, we will be sharing how to use WooCommerce to start selling your products or services online. Follow us to get your WooCommerce WordPress online store set up in no time.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce platform on WordPress. It allows you to create an online store to sell physical or digital products, manage your inventory, process payments, and handle shipping all on your WordPress website.
WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin as it is flexible, customizable, and free. It eliminates the fees and third-party control over significant aspects of an online store.
It works as a plugin on WordPress. A plugin is a small piece of code that you install on your WordPress website to add features to it. As WordPress works as a universal website builder, it only carries some basic features by default. All other features can be added via plugin installation.
Therefore, you need to first get your WordPress website set up. And then, install and activate the WooCommerce plugin in your WordPress admin dashboard to start. Without the WooCommerce plugin, your WordPress website will just be a website without online store capability.
Once you have the WooCommerce plugin installed and activated, you will see the WooCommerce setting on your WordPress dashboard. And with that, there are some features like adding and managing your products, order handling, payment acceptance and statistic handling tools that you can access.
However, installing your WooCommerce plugin is just the first step. Getting an optimized and high-conversion eCommerce store is the goal. There are many themes, both free and premium, that included WooCommerce in their design. You can use them directly with WooCommerce.
Not only that, there are thousands of WooCommerce extensions available for WooCommerce to add different features to your online store. This includes integration to other third-party eCommerce tools, payment gateway integration or email marketing tool integration for promotional newsletters and abandoned cart recovery.
A complete eCommerce solution for WordPress sites
Other than being the official eCommerce plugin for WordPress, there are more that WooCommerce can provide.
The basic WooCommerce plugin includes all essential eCommerce platform features for you to customize your storefront and the sales page for each product.
You can manage your products easily with the product management function. You can input your product title and description, add images and change the selling price.
WooCommerce also supports a full range of shopping cart and checkout options with various payment gateway integrations for worldwide sales.
Easy to Set Up and Use
One of the key benefits is that it is easy to set up and use, even if you don’t have any technical expertise. Anyone can install and activate the WooCommerce plugin on the WordPress website. And with quick startup configuration, you just need to follow the steps and get your website configured.
The platform provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to create and manage your online store without any coding. This means that you can have your store up and running in no time.
And even if you are starting from scratch without a WordPress website, it is very simple to deploy one and install WooCommerce on it.
Highly Customizable
Another great benefit of using WooCommerce is that it is highly customizable. With a range of WordPress themes and plugins available, you can tailor your store to your brand and business needs. You can add features like customer reviews, social media integration, email marketing and more to it via simple integration. This allows you to create a unique shopping experience for your customers and stand out from the competition.
Search Engine Optimization
Organic traffic is a good long-term traffic strategy for your online business. WooCommerce is designed to be SEO-friendly, with features like clean URLs, meta descriptions, and more. This can help you improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your store.
By optimizing your store for search engines, you can get more organic traffic attract more potential customers and increase your sales.
Mobile Responsive
With more and more customers using their mobile devices to shop online, having a mobile-responsive e-commerce platform is essential. Your online store needs to be able to adapt and display properly on different devices including mobile and tablet so that your customers can buy from you.
WooCommerce is mobile responsive, meaning that your store will look great on any device. This ensures that your customers can shop comfortably and conveniently, regardless of the device they are using increasing the customer experience.
Cost-effective
WooCommerce is a cost-effective solution for creating an online store. It is free to use, and the bare minimum cost will be the web hosting and domain name cost for you to get started. Other cost includes the premium themes and plugins of your choice.
This means that you can create an online store without breaking the bank, allowing you to invest your resources in other areas of your business such as marketing.
Top features of WooCommerce
1. Easy Installation and Setup Process
One of the top features of WooCommerce is its easy installation and setup process. This platform can be installed with just a few clicks, and you can start selling your products and services online within minutes.
Additionally, it offers a user-friendly setup wizard that guides users through the process of setting up their online store, making it easy for even non-technical users to get started.
2. Customizable Themes and Templates
Another great feature of WooCommerce is its customizable themes and templates. This platform offers a wide range of themes and templates that businesses can use to customize the look and feel of their online store.
These themes and templates are designed to be responsive, meaning that they will look great on any device, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
3. Extensive Payment and Shipping Options
WooCommerce offers a wide range of payment and shipping options, making it easy for businesses to sell products and services to customers all around the world. This platform supports various payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. Besides, it also offers customizable shipping options, allowing you to set up shipping rates based on your specific needs.
4. Powerful Product Management Tools
WooCommerce offers powerful product management tools that make it easy for you to create and manage your products and services online. It allows you to create and manage product listings, set up product variations, and manage inventory levels.
In addition, it offers customizable product fields, making it easy for businesses to add product attributes, such as size, colour, and weight.
5. Robust Reporting and Analytics Capabilities
WooCommerce offers robust reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing you to track your online sales and customer behaviour effectively. This platform offers built-in analytics tools that provide you with real-time insights into your sales, traffic, and customer behaviour.
Additionally, it
integrates seamlessly with various third-party analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, allowing businesses to track their online sales and customer behaviour in even greater detail.
6. Highly Scalable Platform
Finally, WooCommerce is a highly scalable platform that can accommodate businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. This platform is designed to be flexible, allowing businesses to add new features and functionality as they grow.
In addition, it offers various plugins and extensions that can be used to enhance the functionality of an online store, making it easy for businesses to scale their operations as they grow.
How to install WooCommerce on your WordPress website
Now we are finally reaching the real work. I will be showing you step-by-step how to install WooCommerce on your WordPress website. So, the pre-requisite here will be you have a WordPress website ready. If you are not, don’t worry, follow our guide here to get one ready.
It’s fast and simple to get one within a few minutes of time.
And if you are ready, let’s start.
1. Prepare Your WordPress Site for the WooCommerce Plugin
First of all, make sure you have your WordPress site updated to the latest version. This is to ensure that your WordPress website is compatible with the latest WooCommerce plugin.
The next thing you should do is install a theme that supports WooCommerce. These themes come with additional templates that support key WooCommerce features, such as WooCommerce products and checkout pages. Besides, these themes are usually responsive to different devices, including desktops, tablets and mobile.
To install the WooCommerce plugin to your site, firstly log in to your WordPress admin dashboard. Then on the left sidebar, click on the Plugins and “Add New” plugin. Here you can search for WooCommerce and then install it. After the installation is completed, click Activate.
2. Set Up WooCommerce WordPress Configuration
As your WooCommerce plugin is activated, you will be directed to the WooCommerce setup wizard.
This setup wizard helps you to start and configure your WooCommerce online store. Firstly, you will be asked about your business address, the type of products you want to sell, your store currency and the shipping methods.
3. Add Products to Your Store
Now that your online store is configured, it’s time to add new products and start selling. You can sell almost anything with Woocommerce. This includes physical products, digital products and services.
To add the product to WooCommerce, simply click Products > Add New. Then, add your product title, product description, and featured image. In addition, you can set categories and product tags for your product so it can be grouped into different product categories.
Once you complete all the details for your product, click Publish and your product will appear in your shop where your visitors can start buying it.
4. Add Extensions for More Features
There are other extensions that you can add to your WordPress WooCommerce online store to add more features to it.
There are some extensions by WooCommerce, and there are also some third-party providers. And some are free while others are premium extensions.
You can install a few popular ones like Google Analytics, Payment Gateway, Social Media, SEO and others. These extensions will expand the features of your store.
However, be very careful when installing the extensions as you don’t want to slow down your online store with the extra extensions.
5. Payments Gateway For WooCommerce
WooCommerce supports different payment gateway and shipping methods. You can choose the payment gateway that you are using and integrate it to start collecting payments. This includes Paypal, Stripe, Credit cards and other digital payments.
Not only that, if you are selling worldwide, WooCommerce can support multiple currencies, calculate taxes for each country and also calculate the shipping rates for each place.
6. Fulfilling Orders Through WooCommerce
When you are fulfilling your order, WooCommerce provides extensions that can include your shipment tracking, label printing and invoice printing so you can fulfil your order easily.
You can create the shipping label and update the shipping status to your customers directly from WooCommerce. And if you are selling digital products, you can set it up for the customer to download the product instantly after they complete the payment. And then, if you are doing affiliate marketing, WooCommerce allows users to include affiliate products sold on external websites in the store.
Final thoughts – What is WooCommerce and How Can You Install it on WordPress?
WooCommerce WordPress is one of the best combinations if you want to build your own online store. WooCommerce is free and easy to use whether you are a beginner or an expert.
Although you need to take a few steps initially to set up your WordPress website hosting and domain name, once you have got your WordPress website live, it is very easy to add a WooCommerce plugin to it.
However, if you are just starting out and looking for an easy and all-in-one solution, then an eCommerce store builder like Shopify will be more suitable for you.
If you decided to start now and have not got your web hosting yet, then you can check out the WordPress hosting plan and pick the one that fits your business. Start and build your empire today.