Do you want your offline store to expand on digital platforms? You need to create a website for this. This might seem challenging for you to get your E-commerce website ready.

Well, this is the most useful way to create money through digital means. The outcome seems so beneficial, but before you need to know the insights.

You must not be aware of technical skills, that’s why you are here. Don’t ever think you are alone here, as many people like you don’t know how to code. But, we have a fast solution for you.

WordPress themes has got the right platform for you with the widely used CMS. It is the most popular way to build E-commerce and other business websites. It is user-friendly and even beginners can use it.
Therefore, this article will teach you how to Create an E-commerce Store using WordPress.

Getting started with Creating an E-commerce Store using WordPress

Here’s an overview of this useful guide for creating an E-commerce store:

• Step 1: Get a Hosting Provider and a Domain Name
• Step 2: Install WordPress
• Step 3: Install Woocommerce and set up
• Step 4: Choose an E-commerce Theme
• Step 5: Building Vital Web Pages
• Step 6: Add Products and Services for sales
• Step 7: Configure Woocommerce Settings
• Step 8: Add plugins to extend the functionality
• Step 9: Optimize your store for performance

Step 1: Get a Hosting Provider and a Domain Name – Create an E-commerce Store using WordPress

Getting a domain name and a hosting provider is the first step to applying for any website to launch. Without this, your website will lack personal identity on the digital platform.

A domain name is your store’s unique address that defines your brand on the web. It looks like this: example.com. Here, an example might be your company name which ends with a “.com”, “.co” or “.in”.

The hosting provider is the service that stores your website and runs when end users request to use it.

All hosting providers are one of a kind but you have to choose the best for your site.

For this guide, we are using one of the best Bluehost hosting providers. This one is meant for its faster speed which is what every website urges to have. Also, it offers a free domain name with its cheaper plans which is again a benefit for web design.

Getting the decision done, here’s what you need to perform next:

• Reach the Bluehost page and tap the Get Started button.
• Clicking the button will take you to the page where you need to choose the hosting plans for your website.
• The plans will range from cheaper to expensive ones. As a beginner, you must opt for the basic plan costing $2.75 per month having a free domain name.
• After deciding on the plan, now it’s time to pick a unique domain name for your website.
• Tap the Create a Domain and Bluehost will present some unique suggestions with a list of domains. It is recommended that the “.com” is easier to remember and looks more professional.
• Once, you have decided on the domain name, now you can finalize your account.
• Further, you will have to add the account details and decide whether to get the extensive plans or not.
• Once done with the account details, you will then receive a mail having the login credentials for your account.

Step 2: Install WordPress

• The next step that comes into the queue is to install WordPress on your hosting account. Well, that’s free of cost and you don’t have to spend any installation charges for it.
• Thankfully, you don’t even have to install it manually as Bluehost will do this for you. After receiving the login details, use the login details to enter your Bluehost account.
• Tap the My Sites option under the Bluehost dashboard to get WordPress installed and then on the Create Site button. This will start the installation process.
• Next, enter the name of your website followed by entering your username and password. A blank website is ready to get filled with useful content.

Step 3: Install Woocommerce and Setup

Moving with the flow, you need an E-commerce tool that will help you trade your products directly from the website. Well, this is one’s the most attractive quality of WordPress letting you sell the products directly from the website.

You will not find any native features to create an E-commerce store in WordPress. You will need an E-commerce plugin to start your online store.

On the contrary, you will find several options to select but the most popular is Woocommerce. And the below directions will help you install the plugin.

• On your WordPress dashboard, tap the Plugins section and click the Add New button.
• On the plugins page, search for the Woocommerce plugin in the plugin directory.
• Click to install and once done, tap the Activate button.
• This will install the plugin on your site and now you can configure the settings for your online store.
• Once done installing and activating, you must quickly launch its setup wizard like this. Make sure you click on the Continue tab after selecting every category:
• The first step is to add some basic details including the store’s location.
• Now, you will be asked about the industry details of your store.
• Then, there will be a category to select the type of products you will trade. And again, some options including physical, downloads, memberships and more will be there. Mostly, store owners select the physical products, you can select downloads for digital products.
• Next, you will have to enter the business details. You will find another accordion on the same page called the Free Features. Tap on it and you will see there is a checkbox having to Add recommended business features to my site. You have to remain it unchecked as this will add unnecessary plugins and features to your site. You may not need some of them, or if in case you can add them on your own.
• Lastly, you will confront to install a theme for your E-commerce store.

Step 4: Choose an E-commerce Theme

You need your store looks impressive among the end users to attract. A theme can help you set up an E-commerce store that easily catches more customers.

Themes are the deciding element of your website in terms of appearance. And even the product display if you have an E-commerce site.

While you will find endless themes including free and premium for almost every type of product you sell. You will easily find them on the WordPress page by searching the keyword.

Make sure you choose the right theme that makes your store rise in all terms. And here are some vital factors to look at while going for a perfect E-commerce theme:

• Websites that offer clean and minimal designs are recognized easily. And therefore, the first thing to look for in a theme is to go for a simple but attractive design.
• The next factor to look at is the theme should be easy to customize. You want your store to appear with unique features and designs.
• The next thing is the theme should be fully responsive and look great on all devices. As mobile devices are the greatest factor to generate organic traffic.
• It should be ready with the latest updates and trendy features to include. An outdated theme can severely affect the speed and performance of your website.
• It should be compatible with all plugins ensuring extensive features.
• Documentation and good-quality codes must be used to ensure clutter-free usage.
• You must go with the reviews and ratings for the theme you are choosing.
• Seamless customer support is the prime factor you must check before going for any theme.
• It should be fully optimized for search engines to get good ranks.
• Multiple-language support should be offered as this will increase the sales for your store.
• Once, you have decided on which theme to choose, get it installed and activated on your website.
• After activation, you can now customize the theme as per your requirements. Hover over the WordPress dashboard and tap the Appearance tab.
• Then, select the Customize option. This will launch the theme customizer for you.

Step 5: Building Vital Store Pages

After getting a perfect theme for your site, get back to the Woocommerce wizard to set up vital web pages for your online store.

A whole store functions well when it is properly organized. And building pages come under this category to make your website function well.

The Woocommerce wizard will create pages which are required for your E-commerce store.

You can easily view them by visiting the Woocommerce plugin section under the WordPress dashboard. If not created, you just need to tap the Create Pages button beside the Create default Woocommerce Pages under the tools section.

Then, you can view the Woocommerce pages on the same page by scrolling down. And here’s a list of showing vital Woocommerce pages for your online store:

• The Shop page will showcase all the store products for the users.
• The Cart page will let customers edit the order before making any purchase.
• The Checkout page will let customers choose a shipping address and proceed to the final payment.
• The account page depicts the user activity including orders, contact details, and more.

Step 6: Add Products and Services for Sales

• Now, it’s time to get the products added to your online store. And to add products, go to the Products section under the Woocommerce tab on your dashboard.
• Then, click the Add New section to add products to your store.
• Give a suitable title for your product and then add a description for it.
• Then on the right-hand side, you will see the product category option. Tap the Add New Category option to add a new category. Adding a category will let customers easily sort the products.
• Coming a little down, you will find the Product Data box. Here, you will need to provide product information including pricing, shipping and more.
• Below this option, there is a product description box to add. These product descriptions will be displayed while browsing multiple products.
• Lastly, you will need to add the product image and gallery images to your website. To add this, there is a Product image and Product gallery option on the sidebar. Simply click to add images and you can tap the Publish button once done with all stuff.

Step 7: Configure Woocommerce Settings

So now you are on that part of the guide where you need to configure the essential settings of Woocommerce.

Unfortunately, you cannot ignore this part as it decides the whole functionality of the website.

However, this is not a short process and needs to be covered in variations. And here are some of the vital aspects you will meet while configuring the Woocommerce settings.

To do this first, tap the Woocommerce plugin option under the dashboard. Just under the Woocommerce name, tap the Home button. After this, you will be taken to the Settings page.

On the settings page, you will find different tabs place on the top of the page having different sections. They are the general, products, shipping, payments and so on.

And we will elaborate on the vital settings for your E-commerce store:

General. This tab will ask you to fill up the physical address of your store. This will include the address, city, country, postal zip and so on. Also, there will be currency options as well for selling products along with the representation. Note that once you are done with each detail, tap the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Shipping. This setting helps those who wish to integrate their store with shipping partners. Thus, they do not need to use extra efforts to ship the products every time from different shipment companies.

By clicking on the Shipping tab, you will see a huge button named “ Add Shipping Zone”. This will take you to the other page having the Zone name and Zone regions. Simply fill those text boxes to add a shipping zone. Also, the tab lets you add multiple shipping zones as well.

Payments. Woocommerce has also made it possible to add multiple payment options to your online store. Here, you will find the most popular payment methods to apply on your website. It includes Woocommerce payments, direct bank transfer, COD, checks and PayPal methods.

You can also download more payment options to set the standard payment options for your store. Of these, Stripe can be used and it is free to download.

After this, tap on the Finish setup button on the right side of the payment option. You can even set the API keys for the payment options. And this can be obtained on the account page.

Once done, tap the Save Changes button.

Email. This tab will help you manage the type of emails to send the customers. By default, you will see some already-checked options. This means Woocommerce will send emails on new orders, cancellations, refunds, failed orders and so on. You can manage every option along with enable and disable modes.

Step 8: Add Plugins to add Functionality

Now that we have reached the finish line of the store building, it’s time to add extensive functionality. To do so, WordPress has a great collection of finely designed plugins to offer. You will find a plugin for almost every type of functionality to desire to have.

Not just WordPress, but Woocommerce also offers extensions and plugins to get your website more functional.

Well, plugins are nothing but tiny apps that help in raising functionality when added. You will find both free and premium versions of plugins. WordPress alone counts above 60000+ plugins to be added.

However, you can be confused with so many plugins. Therefore, we will list out some vital plugins you can use for an E-commerce website:

OptinMonster

OptinMonster is one of the widely used plugins for marketing and building popups. Now, lead generation has become easier when you have this plugin.

Create appealing popups that help in increasing sales as well as conversion rates better. For this, it comes with lightbox popups sticky header and footer banners and spin and win.

This powerful plugin helps in turning visitors into subscribers and customers easily.

wpForms

Get this highly intuitive form builder plugin supporting functional forms for your store. It allows the creation of interactive forms including survey polls, contact forms, login forms and much more.

It uses the best drag-and-drop feature to build fast-responding forms within minutes. Also, it requires no coding skills to design forms with this plugin. It further helps in boosting user experience as it holds a user-friendly interface to create forms.

Advanced Coupons

Applying attractive coupons on your E-commerce website is now possible when you have an Advanced Coupons plugin. It allows the creation of highly effective coupons to grow your business to bigger levels.

It comes with a completely free version allowing you to add coupons like BOGO, store credit, cart conditions and more.

SeedProd

Create custom landing pages without any codes with this outstanding page builder plugin SeedProd. It works best for E-commerce stores dealing with Woocommerce and WordPress.

It comes with the latest and trendy templates for building creative landing pages. You just need to use the drag-and-drop feature for building every type of page for your store. Also, it allows connecting to email marketing services for expanding the email list.

All-in-One-SEO

Get this most popular SEO plugin for fully optimizing your E-commerce store. It allows optimizing your store without any search engine optimization skills.

With this plugin, you don’t need to hire any SEO expert to qualify your website on search engines.

The plugin comes with full E-commerce support, schema markup, breadcrumbs and more. It applies the best SEO practices that enhance your website giving more traffic to your website.

MonsterInsights

If you want to conduct Google Analytics on your site, then you must use the MonsterInsights plugin. It professionally lets you know the business insights of your site along with customer behaviour.

It fully analyzes your website giving a full report of where your customers are coming from and what they like on your site.

For E-commerce stores, it works the best in tracking conversion and sales data on the site. This gives you ways to improve your website and grow your business well.

Step 9: Optimize your Store for Good Performance

• This is the time when your E-commerce website is ready to shoot live and welcome customers.
• However, you must quickly optimize your website to get good performance. A poor-loading website will affect the vital parts of the website including conversions, SEO, user experience and more.
• Well, there are so many ways to speed up your website. And that is not crucial for beginners as well.
• One of the best ways to apply performance strategies is using the WP Rocket plugin. This is the simplest way to speed up your website.

Conclusion

Kudos! You have finally learned how to Create an E-commerce store using WordPress. I hope the above guide was enough knowledge and understanding for you. As we have made it easier so that even beginners can easily grasp how to create an online store without coding skills. So if you want to expand your business, then start creating your E-commerce store now.