Establish a store online
Do you want to build your online store? Sometimes establishing an online store feels frightening for some people, especially when you don’t literate technology. But you are not alone. Here is the most comprehensive guide to building an online store with WordPress.
What you need to start an online store
There is no more appropriate time to start your online business other than today. Anyone who has a computer can start in minutes and without the need for special skills.
There are 3 things you need to build an online store:
- The idea for a domain name (this will be the name of your online store, for example, wpbeginner.com)
- Web Hosting Account (This is the location of your website on the Internet)
- Your time for 30 minutes.
Simple enough right? You can start setting up your online store with WordPress in less than 30 minutes and we will guide you for each step.
Step 1 Set your online store platform
The biggest mistake that most users do is not choose the right platform for their online store. You can use the popular WooCommerce platform on WordPress.
Most users use WordPress + WooCommerce because this platform offers flexibility. Indeed you need to make arrangements, but this is comparable for long-term operations. WooCommerce is the largest eCommerce platform in the world. And in this tutorial, we will learn how to organize online stores on WordPress using WooCommerce.
To build an online store, you need to have a domain name, web hosting, and SSL Certificate. The domain name is the website address on the internet. The domain name that the user type in the browser to find your website, for example, wpbeginner.com. Web hosting is a place where your website lives on the internet. Web Hosting is home to your website on the Internet. Every website on the internet requires web hosting. While the SSL Certificate adds special security to your website, so you can receive sensitive information such as credit card numbers and other personal information. This is needed if you receive a credit card payment on the website.
Step 2 WordPress settings
When you first enter WordPress, you will see a welcome message. You will also be asked about the type of website you want to build. Next select Settings »General to set the site title and description.
Next HTTPS settings to use SSL. Your WordPress hosting package includes Certificate SSL. This certificate is previously installed for your domain name. But your WordPress site needs to be configured. On the Settings page »General, you need to change the WordPress address and the site address using HTTPS, not HTTP. Don’t forget to roll down to the base of the page and click the “Save Change” button to save your settings.
Your WordPress-based setting has been completed. Now it’s time to set up your online store.
Step 3 Set your WooCommerce store
Before you can start selling, there are several things like the type of currency, payment, and shipping information that you need to set. You will see a notification “Welcome to WooCommerce” on the WordPress admin page. Click on the “Run Setup Wizard” button in the notification. This will launch the Woocommerce wizard setup where you need to click the “Let’s Go” button to start.
WooCommerce requires several basic pages for shopping trains, accounts, and payments. You can click the “Continue” button to automatically create this page. This will take you to the next step.
Now you need to tell WooCommerce where your store is located and what currency is used. After selecting the location and currency, click the “Continue” button. Next, you need to enter tax information and shipping.
WooCommerce can be used to sell digitally downloaded items and physical goods that require shipping. You need to check the box if you deliver the item or you leave without a checkmark if you only sell digital items.
Next, you need to answer questions related to tax. WooCommerce can help you automatically calculate and add taxes to product prices.
If you are not sure, then let the box without a checkmark. You can always add tax information later from WooCommerce settings. Then click the “Continue.” Button. Next, you will be asked to choose the payment method for your online store.
With default settings, WooCommerce supports Paypal payments. There are many other payment methods available for WooCommerce that you can install later if you need them.
The easiest way to receive payments is to use PayPal Standard. Just enter your PayPal email address and click the “Continue” button.
When finished, your Woocommerce online store is ready. You need to click “Return to WordPress Dashboard” to get out of the Setup Wizard. After setting up WooCommerce, now you are ready to add products to your online store.
Step 4 Add products to your online store
Let’s start by adding the first product to your online store. You need to choose Products »Add New to add new products. First, prepare the title for your product and give some detailed explanations. In the right column, you will see the “Product Category” click to add a new product category. That way you and customers can sort and see products easier.
Roll a little down and you will see the product data box. In this section, you will provide information related to products such as prices, shipping, and so on.
Under the product data box, you will see the box to add a brief description of the product. This short description will be used when users see various products on one page.
Finally, in the right column, you will see the box to add the main product image and product gallery.
After feeling satisfied with all the product information you add, you can click the “Publish” button to make it live on your website. Repeat the same process to add the desired product.
Step 5 Select and Adjust the WordPress theme
The theme controls how your WordPress site looks to the user when they visit it. For WooCommerce stores, the theme also controls how your product is displayed.
There are many free and paid WordPress themes. You can adjust to meet your needs. Select Appearance »Customize to launch themes. You can also change different theme settings.
Most beginners are excessive when choosing themes for their WordPress site. Indeed there are thousands of theme choices and each theme looks better than others, but there are some things you need to consider when choosing a theme for your site.
WordPress is used to create all types of websites. That’s why each theme captures a different market. Your WordPress theme must complete your website content. For example, if you start a political blog or social problems, then you need a theme that can increase readability.
Many WordPress themes have adjustment options. If it is not properly coded, this option can be difficult for you to change the theme or use another WordPress plugin. You will be locked on the theme or must pay the developer to help you replace it.
Instead, some WordPress themes that look very good can make your website slow. No one likes the website is slow, especially Google, which prefers to rank high on a faster website. Your theme becomes the face of your WordPress site and has an important role in how users and search engines find it.
Google raises a mobile-friendly website on the search results. Without seeing your site and demographics topics, all websites need responsiveness and mobile-friendly.
Most WordPress themes are responsive. But there are still online stores that are not mobile-friendly at all. Make sure the theme you choose for the website is mobile-friendly.
The easiest way to test whether the theme is responsive or not is to adjust the screen size of your browser. When doing this you will see the theme layout by itself adjusting to the screen area.
Next is related to browser compatibility. Users will use different browsers. Your theme can look good on the browser you are using, but it will break in another browser. This is where browser compatibility is needed. Most WordPress theme developers test themes by using browser compatibility testing tools.
These developers may mention this on their website. But if not, you can always do basic testing to ensure the theme functions both on different browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and so on. Also, don’t forget to test the theme in a different browser on a mobile device.
One disadvantage of the use of the free WordPress theme is no support warranty. Although some developers provide good support for their free themes, many free themes do not have support options. If you experience problems with the WordPress theme, you must look for the solution yourself. You can also pay third-party developers to solve any small problem.
Make sure you choose a WordPress theme that has good documentation and support options. Most WordPress Premium themes offer detailed documentation with e-mail support for 1 year.
Step 6 Add plugins
Now your online store is ready, you might want to add another element to the website like a contact form, page “About” and more. To further adjust WordPress and add features such as contact forms or galleries, you need to use the WordPress plugin.
WordPress plugins are an application that lets you add new features to your website. There are more than 46,000 WordPress plugins available to help you add the functionality you need.
The important thing when establishing an online store
In addition, here are some things you need to consider when starting your online store.
Optimization
Loading time The slow page means you lose customers. If you submit a solution to the hosting company, there is not much you can do and maybe it’s not necessary, but when you set the store using WordPress or a self-hosted system, optimizing the page loading speed is very important.
Become unique
Unless you produce your product, it’s likely to use the description and photos provided by the factory. This is not the right thing. Because so you will be like hundreds of other online stores that buy from the same supplier. It would be better if you rewrite all product descriptions and take your picture.
Pay attention to the competition
This does not only apply to online stores but any website. Find keywords you want to build, then compare the results. If the pages in the search results do not have a good design or seem outdated, meaning you have a golden opportunity to sell the product on the niche. But you also need to think about how you can be better if someone else decides to enter the same niche. Can you compete with them? What can you offer that they don’t have?
Don’t just sell it
Very many choices were shopping online so consumers benefit because they can choose shopping from any site. Unless you compete at the price, which is again very difficult because anyone can make a virtual store without charge and compete, your site needs more than just a shop. Build your brand.
As a new seller you don’t have a brand or ability to cut prices so use the unique knowledge and ability of your products to offer something more than just a shop. Write high-quality blog posts, link to your product, and wake up as an expert. Share your knowledge, don’t just try to sell goods.
Pay attention to SEO
Bloggers can develop persona or write hundreds of words a day for unique content. But eCommerce is vulnerable to SEO problems, and many online stores try to survive after a change in Google’s algorithm in recent years. Why?
- Product descriptions tend to be short, trigger a small amount of content on-page, which can be considered poor quality by search engines.
- Product variants such as size and color can produce unique URLs with duplicate content.
- Products with many categories produce duplicate URLs.
- Product categories containing thousands of products usually spend many pages, make sure all items are indexed correctly.
Expand content page with customer input
Only use product images and brief paragraph descriptions are no longer enough. But you have a strong source, the customer. Don’t underestimate the desire of people to share opinions about your product, especially if you offer the best prices.
Implement structured data and videos
Structured data is a special code added to the page to describe the type of content, this includes a video or review of customers. Include this on your page and Google can use it when the page appears on the search engine.
Social presence
A little cliche maybe, but anyone has a Facebook account, and your shop needs to have it. This is a direct marketing tool that you can and need to use, interact with customers, answer questions by open, offering product features that will soon be sold, and provide discounts.
Also consider including the best items on Pinterest, which is increasing its use to direct sales. It can be understood that some share buttons on each page are important in this matter.
No doubt, starting a successful online store is heavy work, but the tips above will help you reach successful sales. For your business to grow and increase the number of customers you don’t forget to advertise through the Froggy Ads service, you can start by advertising your product, so that later you can improve visitors in your online business portal. FROGGY ADS is an online advertising service that can help you control all your product campaigns. Helps you target the targeting target you want and give you many choices to market your product.
