How to Create eCommerce Website in WordPress

What is Ecommerce Website

Ecommerce is also known as an electronic or internet commerce which refers to the buying and selling of goods or services through the internet and the payment of money also done through internet.

E-Commerce first started in the 1960s when business starts to use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to transfer important documents of their business both backend and forth end. Few years back, e-commerce was done only through emails and phone calls. But Now days with e-commerce website anything can be sold and purchase anywhere in the whole world. The first online purchasing is of a Sting CD which was sold by US retailer, Net Market on 11 August 1994.

Steps to create ecommerce website in WordPress are: -

Step1. – Setting up Your Online Store Platform

There are two most popular platforms of eCommerce are Shopify or WordPress + WooCommerce. Most of the users choose WordPress + WooCommerce because of the flexibility it provides to the user. It only requires some setup that is a domain name, web hosting, and an SSL certificate.

A domain name is your website’s address which users will search in their browsers to reach your website (for example: google.com, Netmaxims.com and WpHum.com etc.)

Web hosting is a service that allows user to run a website or web page on the Internet. Every website needs a web hosting to run smoothly.

SSL certificate adds a special boundary of security on a website by this acceptance of sensitive information like credit card numbers and other personal and important information.

Step2. – Setting up WordPress

There are main two ways to install WordPress: 

1.      Install through your hosting dashboard,

2.      Manually downloading of WordPress and then uploading it to your account.

Almost every webhosting provider has automatically installed WordPress. As you login to your WordPress for the first time you will see a welcome dialog box message. There you will be asked what kind of website you want to set up. Completing the setup wizard will show your WordPress admin dashboard after then there are some important steps you have to take and those are: -s

a)      First step is to visit Settings » General page to setup your WordPress site title and description.

b)     Second step is to change your WordPress Address and Site Address on the Settings » General page there you need to use https instead of http.

c)      After that save all the setting you have changed by clicking save button on bottom of the page

By this your basic WordPress setup is completed and now it is time for setup your online store. For that comes to step 3

Step3. – Setting up a Woo Commerce Store for your Business

There is some important information like currency, payments, and shipping that you need to set up first. For that you have to go head and click on ‘Run setup wizard’ on you WordPress dashboard admin page. By clicking on that the Woo Commerce setup wizard will launched after that some step by step information has to be provided like.

a)      Page Setup,

b)     Store Locate,

c)      Shipping and Taxing,

d)     Payments,

By giving all the details you are ready to go.

Step4. – Adding Products to Your Woo Commerce Store

To add a new product in your store you need to visit Products » Add New page. After that fill-up the information of your product like:

1.      Title of your product,

2.      Detailed description of the product,

3.      Product categories,

4.      Product data box,

5.      In product data box pricing, inventory, shipping information are must,

6.      Add image of the product.

7.      Repeat the steps to add more products.

Step5. – Select and give a Royal Look to WordPress by Themes

A theme is a collection of templates and style sheets used to make the appearance and display of a WordPress website attractive. It can be changed, managed, and added from the WordPress admin Dashboard under Appearance » Themes. There are thousands of themes available some are paid and some are free.

1.      You can open theme customizer from Appearance » Customize where you can change themes and their settings.

2.      If you don’t like the default theme, then you can select another theme by going on Appearance » Themes page.

Step6. – Install Plugins to Extend your Website

As your online store is ready, it is very important to get started with installing other usual elements on your website such as a security plugin, securing website plugin, getting social plugin etc.

Here is some list of most useful plugin that should be installed in your websites

Some important things you need to know about WordPress plugin are: -

1.      Updated Your Plugins regularly

2.      Delete that plugin which you are not using,

3.      Specific purpose plugins should be installed,

4.      Overlapping of plugins should be avoid,

5.      Always use trusted plugins from reputable sources.