One of the best ways to sell products online is to build an online eCommerce store. You can do this on your existing website or use a third-party platform such as Shopify.
Selling products online these days almost seem like a right of passage. During the worst of COVID-19, many people discovered new ways to generate income. And even small businesses that didn’t have a website realized that would be their survival tool.
Since there are several steps involved to build an online store, some people aren’t sure how to get started. Selling products online is a relatively easy process. In fact, there are accessible tools such as WooCommerce and WordPress that are invaluable. WooCommerce lets you sell your products online and access the wide range of potential customers available there.
This article will walk you through the steps to build your online store with WordPress and WooCommerce. Let’s get started!
Steps To Build An Online Store and Sell Products Online
If you don’t yet have products to offer, you should do this tutorial after you have at least one. But whether you do or don’t have products, we can’t help you with that. This has to be your own idea.
Perhaps you’ll manufacture your own products, or have a company do it for you. You may also be considering a combination of the two. After you’re done, you’ll be ready to set up your online store and start selling your merchandise. Moving forward, this is where the steps below can be used.
01. Secure Your Domain Name and Hosting Services
To start a website of any kind, you first need a domain name and a hosting provider. The web hosting company stores your website files, while the domain name provides an address for your store.
If you’re building a WordPress website, you should consider WordPress hosting. These types of plans are specifically geared towards the platform. Therefore, the servers they run on will be optimized.
With this in mind, consider the size of your website. If you plan on having 100 products or more, shared hosting services may not be the right plan for your site. Instead, you may want to upgrade to a VPS server to ensure optimal site load time.
Additionally, we can help you register your domain name. You can easily check the availability of your desired web address. Then, register it once you’ve found the ideal match. Also, .COM domain registrations are usually the least expensive to acquire.
02. Set Up WordPress and WooCommerce
Most hosting plans have a built-in, one-click WordPress installation. However, in some cases, you may need to install WordPress manually.
Next, you’ll need to set up WooCommerce; a premier ecommerce platform for WordPress. The next step is to install and activate the WooCommerce plugin.
03. Create The Product Pages
Now, let’s go back to WooCommerce to start setting building your online store. This is a great guide to help you start setting up your products. It also help you properly configure the types of products you want to sell. Albeit there are a lot of settings to consider, focus on your product page. For instance, use high quality product photos, and write descriptive details about each product.
Showcasing your products in their best light is vital. After all, you want potential customers to be amazed by what you have to offer. Not to mention, encouraging them to make a purchase. Also, it’s a good idea to take photos from different angles. For example, front, side, and back.
While you want vibrant, eye-catching photos, be aware of the file size before uploading. Programs such as Photoshop can help you optimize your photos for the web. After you’ve uploaded them to your site, use additional optimizing tools like the TinyPNG plugin.
In addition to properly setting up each type of product, you also need to configure shipping, taxes, and payment methods.
04. Optimize Your Products For Search Engines
Before you can welcome customers to your store, they first need to be able to find it. The best way to make this happen is via SEO. When you optimize your content for search engines, it’s more likely customers can find your website while searching for products online.
As with many aspects of this content management system, WordPress plugins can help. For example, Yoast SEO is an effective and highly rated plugin for this purpose. Not only can you manage on-page SEO factors, but also permalinks, and readability.
05. Publish and Promote Your eCommerce Website
Although you can continue refining your ecommerce website, now is a good time to publish it. Unless it’s family and friends, some people may not know who you are. To rectify this, promote your site through email marketing campaigns and social media.
WooCommerce extensions coupled with popular services such as MailChimp and Drip can help with your promotions. Even Instagram allows you to promote products to followers.
Ready to start building an online store? Our San Diego website designers and developers build stunning WordPress websites and beautiful WooCommerce stores. Get in touch with our team and let us know your needs.
About the Author
Gregory is the Analyst & Digital Marketing Director at Envisager Studio. His data collection is an important part of each client’s unique website design and social media strategy. In his spare time, he writes about web design analytics, social media, visual marketing, and social influence.
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