Starting your online store or eCommerce site with WordPress is the wisest choice you might have taken in your whole life. Only WordPress has the most powerful, popular, and full-furbished plugins for setting up your eCommerce site which is, WooCommerce. I am 100 percent sure that you heard this name. Yes, the reputation of WooCommerce precedes itself.
In this article, we will discuss some simple steps or procedures to create an eCommerce store using WordPress. To create a website, whether it is a blog or an online store, there are some basic things you need. Which are:
- Domain name
- Hosting
- WordPress installation
- WooCommerce plugin (for setup online/eCommerce store)
And other necessary plugins for the betterment of your website.
Following these steps, anyone can create their website from a scratch in less than an hour.
So, let us begin.
Choosing & purchasing a domain name
First of all, you have to choose a unique and meaningful name regarding the type of your online store. If you’re selling T-shirts, the name would like “TeenTeen.com”!! I’m just saying. Your store, you should name it properly. The related and relevant names should be used to enhance the understandability of our online store to the people. That depends totally on you.
After choosing a domain name, you must search for the availability of your chosen name in the domain registrar. Many domain registrars are available like GoDaddy, HostGator, Bluehost, etc. You choose your domain name, and search for the availability; if available, buy it for a year. There are various types of extension also like .com .net .me .io etc. Choose your extension as you like according to the type of your business.
Hosting
After purchasing the domain name, the next very step is purchasing hosting for your site. Hosting means where your site will host or live. from there it will be served to the people wanting to access your site. On the other hand, this is where you put all of the website’s data, literally the whole website in it. It’s a space for your website to be used.
There are several hosting providers. Generally, the companies that sell domains sell hosting also. It is like a package. Domain and hosting, together. So, you can buy your hosting from where you bought your domain.
NB- as we’re speaking of WordPress, there is a company named ‘Bluehost’, which provides special services for the WordPress user at a special rate. Right now, they are giving –
- Free Domain
- Free SSL
- Free Theme
- 1 online store
- 100 GB SSD Hosting
For only $6.95 per month!!
We are not promoting or referring to ‘Bluehost’, but it’s the best deal from the best service provider. And it is definitely good for you.
WordPress Installation
the great thing about WordPress is, it’s free and super easy. So, after purchasing and connecting your domain and hosting, you need to download WordPress CMS from WordPress.org to your computer. Then upload the whole WordPress to your control panel and install it there.
After installing WordPress on your web server, WordPress will offer you login credentials for you to log in to the admin panel of your site. Here is what the first page would look like-
And if you’re using ‘Bluehost’ for your domain and hosting, things are much easier with a 1-click WordPress installer. They have everything ready for you. Just follow the steps and your website will be ready in no time.
WooCommerce Installation
If you’re using ‘Bluehost’, you will see the welcoming message from WooCommerce right after you finish installing WordPress. As I said before, they come in a package. You just “run the setup wizard” and go for the installation. The installation process requires all the information like ‘page setup’, ‘store locale’, ‘payment’, ‘shipping’ etc to set up your online store. There is also a theme ready for you.
But if you are using another hosting provider, you can download and install your plugin from your newly installed WordPress site. Go to the dashboard>plugins, and click ‘add new. There will be hundreds of plugins suggestion available for you. Search, download and install “WooCommerce”.
It is also free like WordPress. You can easily set up WooCommerce by filling up the settings with information about your stores and by adding products. Also, you can use themes of your choice from the ‘theme’ section of your dashboard. Hundreds and thousands of free themes are available there.
Your website must be ready to use by now. There is something you need to understand, maybe you can start or create a website in less than an hour but the work is just begun. There are several themes and basic plugins that are necessary to run your website perfectly, smoothly, and securely. Stay tuned! We will discuss them in the coming days!
