28 Jun, 2018 26k Views 2.6k FB Shares 1.8k Linkedin Shares
Dear Followers / Fans / Students / Great Leaders
/ Entrepreneurs and Awesome Readers,
/ Entrepreneurs and Awesome Readers,
Do you want to start your own online store? We know that building an online store
can be a terrifying thought especially when you are not a techy. Well, you’re not alone.
After helping hundreds of users start their online store, we have decided to create the
most comprehensive guide on how to build your online store with WordPress
(step by step)
What Do You Need to Start an Online Store?
There had never been a better time to start an online business than today.
Anyone with a computer can get started within a matter of minutes and without
acquiring any special skills.
The three things you need to start an online store are:
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your online store i.e wpbeginner.com)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website lives on the internet)
- Your undivided attention for 30 minutes.
Yep, it is really that simple.
You can setup your own online store with WordPress in less than
30 minutes and we’ll walk you through each step of the process.
In this tutorial, we will cover:
- How to Register a Domain Name for Free
- How to Choose the Best WooCommerce Hosting
- How to Get a SSL Certificate for Free (required for accepting payments)
- How to Install WordPress
- How to Create a WooCommerce store
- How to Add Products in your Online Store
- How to Select and Customize Your Theme
- How to Extend Your Online Store with Plugins
- Learning to Learn WordPress & Grow Your Business
Ready? Let’s get started.
Step 1: Setting up Your Online Store Platform
The biggest mistake most users make is not choosing the right platform
for their online store.
Thankfully you’re here, so you won’t be making that mistake.
There are two popular eCommerce platforms that we recommend: Shopify or
WordPress + WooCommerce.
Shopify is a fully hosted eCommerce solution that starts at $29 / month. It’s a
hassle-free solution where you just login and start selling. The downside to
Shopify is that it gets quite expensive, and your payment options are limited
unless you pay additional fees.
This is why most users choose WordPress + WooCommerce because of the
flexibility it offers. It does require some setup, but it’s worth doing it for the long run.
WooCommerce is the world’s largest eCommerce platform.
In this tutorial, we will walk you through how to setup an online store in
WordPress using WooCommerce.
To setup your store, you need to have a FREE domain name,
if you pay for web hosting, and a SSL certificate.
- FREE Domain
- FREE Site Builders
- 1-Click
Install - 24/7 Support
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. It is what users will type
in their browsers to reach your website (for example: google.com or facebook.com).
Web hosting is where your website lives on the internet. It’s your website’s
house on the internet. Every website on the internet needs web hosting.
SSL certificate adds a special security layer on your website, so you can accept
sensitive information such as credit card numbers and other personal information.
This is required for you to accept credit card payments on your website.
Normally a domain name costs around $14.99 / year, web hosting costs
around $7.99 / month, and SSL certificate costs around $69.99 / year.
That’s a lot of startup cost.
Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress and WooCommerce recommended
hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name, free SSL
certificate, and a discount on web hosting. Basically, you can get started for
$6.95 / month.
Bluehost is one of the oldest web hosting companies, started in 1996
(that’s before Google). They are also the largest brand name when it
comes to WordPress hosting because they host millions of websites
including our own.
NOTE: At WP-Beginner we believe in transparency. If you sign up with
Bluehost using our referral link, we will earn a small commission at no extra
cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain). We would
get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting
company, but we only recommend products that we use personally use and
believe will add value to our readers.
Let’s go ahead and purchase your domain + hosting + SSL.
First thing you need to do is click on the green Get Started Now button
to get started.
On the next screen, select the plan that you need (starter and plus
are the most popular).
After that, you will be asked to enter the domain name for your
website.
Lastly, you will need to add your account information and finalize the
package info to complete the process. On this screen, you will see
optional extras that you can purchase.
It’s entirely up to you whether or not you purchase these, but we
generally don’t recommend purchasing these. You can always add
them later on, if you decide that you need them.
Once completed, you will receive an email with details on how to
login to your web hosting control panel (cPanel). This is where you
manage everything from support, emails, among other things.
Go ahead and login to your cPanel. You will be greeted with a
popup informing you that WordPress with WooCommerce is
pre-installed on your website.
You just need to click on ‘Login to your site’ button, and it will take
you to your WordPress site’s dashboard.
Congrats, you have finished setting up hosting and domain part.
The next step is to setup your WordPress site and then your online store.
Step 2. Setting up WordPress
Bluehost has automatically installed WordPress and WooCommerce on
your website.
When you first login to WordPress, you will see a welcome message.
You will be asked what kind of website you want to set up.
Go ahead and click on ‘I don’t need help’ link. Don’t worry we will walk
you through all the necessary steps.
Closing the setup wizard will show your WordPress admin dashboard
which looks like this:
First, you need to visit Settings » General page to setup your
WordPress site title and description.
Setting up HTTPS to Use SSL
Your WordPress hosting package came with a free SSL Certificate.
This certificate is pre-installed for your domain name. However, your
WordPress site needs to be configured, so it loads as https vs http.
On the Settings » General page, you need to change your WordPress
Address and Site Address to use https instead of http.
Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the
save changes button to store your settings.
Your basic WordPress setup is complete. Now it is time to setup your
online store.
Step 3. Setting up Your WooCommerce Store
Before you can start selling, there are a few things like currency,
payments, and shipping information that you need to set up.
You will be seeing a ‘Welcome to WooCommerce’ notification on
your WordPress admin pages. Go ahead and click on the ‘Run setup
wizard’ button in the notification.
This will launch the WooCommerce setup wizard where you need to
click on the ‘Let’s go’ button to get started.
WooCommerce needs few essential pages for cart, account, shop,
and checkout. You can click on the continue button to automatically
create these pages.
This will bring you to the next step.
Now you will need to tell WooCommerce where your store is
located and which currency and unit measures to use.
After selecting your location and currency, click on the continue
button to move on. Next, you need to enter shipping and tax information.
WooCommerce can be used to sell both digital downloads and physical
goods that need shipping. You need to check the box if you will be shipping
goods, or you can leave it unchecked if you will only be selling digital goods.
Next you need to answer the tax question. WooCommerce can help you
automatically calculate and add taxes to your prices.
If you are not sure, then you can leave it unchecked. You can always add
tax information later from WooCommerce settings. Click on the continue
button to move on. Next, you will be asked to choose a payment method
for your online store.
By default, WooCommerce comes with support for PayPal, PayPal
Standard, and Stripe payment gateways. There are many other
payment methods available for WooCommerce which you can install
later if you need. The easiest way to accept payment is using PayPal
Standard. Simply enter your PayPal email address and click on the
continue button.
A lot of people including us, use both PayPal and Stripe. By using Stripe,
you allow your users to enter their credit card information on the checkout
page without having to leave your site and going to PayPal.
You can setup Stripe by following the instructions on the WooCommerce
screen. Once you’re done, your WooCommerce online store is all setup.
You need to click on the ‘Return to WordPress dashboard’ link to exit the
setup wizard. After finishing the WooCommerce setup, you are now ready
to add products to your online store.
Step 4. Adding Products to Your Online Store
Let’s start with adding the first product to your online store.
You need to visit Products » Add New page to add a new product.
First, provide a title for your product and then some detailed description.
On the right hand column, you will see the ‘Product Categories’ box.
Click on the ‘+Add New Product Category’ to create a category for this
product. This allows you and your customers to sort and browse products easily.
Scroll down a little and you will notice the Product Data box. This is where
you will provide product related information like pricing, inventory, shipping etc.
Below product data box, you will see a box to add product short description.
This short description will be used when users are viewing multiple products
on a page.
Lastly, on your right hand column you will see boxes to add a main product
image and a product gallery.
Once you are satisfied with all the product information you have added,
you can click on the Publish button to make it live on your website.
Repeat the process to add more products as needed.
Step 5. Select and Customize WordPress Theme
Themes control how your WordPress sites look to the users when they visit it.
For a WooCommerce shop, they also control how your products are displayed.
There are thousands of paid and free WordPress themes available.
Your Bluehost hosting account, automatically installs the Storefront theme
for your website. You will need to customize it to meet your needs.
Head over to Appearance » Customize page. This will launch theme
customizer where you can change different theme settings.
If you don’t like the Storefront theme, then you can use another
theme by visiting Appearance » Themes page.
If you need help selecting a theme, then please refer to our guide on
9 things you should consider when selecting a perfect WordPress theme.
Step 6. Extend Your Online Store With Plugins
Now that you have your online store ready, you probably want to get started
with adding other usual elements on your website such as a contact form,
about page, and more. To further customize WordPress and add features like
contact forms, galleries, sliders, etc, you need to use WordPress plugins.
WordPress plugins are apps that allow you to add new features to your website.
There are over 46,000 WordPress plugins available. At WPBeginner, we feature
the best WordPress plugins to help you add the functionality that you need.
We have a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Often readers ask us which plugins do you use on your website.
You can check out our Blueprint to see the list of plugins and tools that we use.
Learning WordPress to Grow Your Online Business
WordPress is incredibly powerful and WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress
resource site for beginners.
At WPBeginner, our main goal is to provide cutting-edge helpful WordPress tutorials
that are easy to understand even for non-techy WordPress website owners
(see more about us).
You can also subscribe to My YouTube Channel where we regularly share video
tutorials to help you learn.
We also have a guide to show users how to make money online.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for
This Small Video (shoulder View) will also help you.
Video: How To Install WordPress:
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