How to start a Web Shop with WooCommerce

by | Development, WordPress Tutorials

If you want to create a webshop, there are many options that you can choose as the platform on which to build your new store. Of course, you will use some of the CMS systems, but the most important question is: Which system has the best support?

The answer is WordPress!

WordPress has the most active and most useful community on the Internet. You can get instant answers from experts worldwide, for free. It has become a powerful platform for building any kind of site.

WooCommerce is, for now, the best plugin for building a webshop with over a million downloads and great support.

This short tutorial will guide you on how to register a domain, select a server, and set up a simple webshop on WordPress using the WooCommerce plugin.
Here are six simple steps to create a webshop using this tutorial:

  • Consider the domain name and register it
  • Choose stable hosting that will support the traffic to your store
  • Install WooCommerce plugin
  • Set WooCommerce plugin
  • Find and install the Woocommerce theme
  • Add pages and products

Step 1: Consider the domain name and register it

Finding the right name for your domain can be difficult, so we have provided a couple of tips on domain registration. To make it easy for you, a simple list will help you decide on the name of your webshop. We’ll include a general list of things to keep in mind.

1. First, find out against which you compete on the local and international market. The last thing you want is to fly into brand wars.

2. Second, think of a unique and short (but infectious) domain name that will be easier for people to remember.

3. Also, you must decide whether your store will be known as special in a particular product category or you want to build a brand. A special store will have a domain name, for example, “https://barstools.rs/”, which is also considered as rich domain keyword and can attract targeted traffic from the search engine (if you perform SEO properly).

4. Meet your target audience! Know whether you will sell your products in your country, the continent, or whether you want to go to global domination in the market.

If you want to sell in one country, let’s say in Serbia, then the best option will be that the domain ends with ” .rs ” because it will be more favored in the ranking of search engines for Serbian markets.

If you want to sell in more countries, then you can invest in other countries’ domains, such as “barstools.co.uk” for the UK and “tabourets-de-bar.fr” for France and so on.

You can also use general domains like .com, but finding .com domains is more difficult.

5.  If all the names of the domains you can remember are busy, you can think about synonyms and combine them, and then you will get a unique domain name.

After you have considered the domain name, the next thing you need is to register a domain.

Step 2: Purchasing a Web Hosting

Once you have completed domain registration, you must look for a reliable web hosting service that will take care of your store’s data. You should look for hosting providers that have service scaling because your webshop will grow. Scaling will help you take care of the sudden “jumps” in your online store. We suggest you look at AdriaHost hosting packages.

Step 3: Install WordPress with WooCommerce

When you purchase a hosting package, you can install WordPress in one of two ways:

  • Independently, using AdriaHost instruction
  • AdriaHost can install WordPress for you free of charge, it will be enough to indicate that you want WordPress installation

When WordPress is installed, you need to add a Woocommerce plugin, through the Plugin – Add New option. In the search field, type “WooCommerce” and click Install Now, and then Activate.

woocommerce install

Step 4: Set your WooCommerce

Now that you have WooCommerce installed, you’ll need to customize it by adding products, paying details, and customizing.

WooCommerce automatically creates the following pages:

1. Shop Page: This is the product record page. It is usually taken as the home page of an e-commerce store.

2. Cart Page: The page showing the selected products by the buyer.

3. My account Page: A page for customers who manage their accounts.

4. Checkout Page: The page on which the sale was completed.

If you are already using an existing WordPress theme, you can check whether it is compatible with WooCommerce. If you start from scratch, you can choose one of the free themes for WooCommerce.

Search for WooCommerce themes
If you want to change the theme of your webshop, then you can change and search for a new theme by clicking on the WP Admin -> Appearance -> Themes -> Add New -> Search themes. The easiest way to find a WooCommerce theme is to type in the keyword ”woocommerce ”. We suggest you choose StoreFront theme, it is easy to manage.

Step 5: General settings for WooCommerce

WooCommerce is rich. It really turns a regular WordPress site into a full webshop. However, we need to set up specifications to give the best experience to the customer. To do this, go to WP Admin -> WooCommerce -> Settings.

9.WooCommerce-Settings

General options
On the Home screen, you will see the General Options section. Here you can set which location is the base of your store (where the product tax is based on your chosen location) and the country in which you are selling. By default, “Sell in all countries” is already set, but you can specifically choose countries for your sales activities. The desired currency should also be set here.

10.Currency-Options

Product Options
In the next tab called ‘Products‘, there are various options for how many products will be displayed on your site. The default settings are shown in the picture. You can always change these settings as you like.

11.Product-Listings

Tax Options

In this settings tab, you can set whether you enter the prices that include or exclude the tax and disable tax calculations.

12.Tax-Settings

Checkout Process
In this setting, you can define how the payment process will take place in your e-commerce store.

Generally, you will have to set the “Cart Page” as “Cart” and “Checkout Page” as “Checkout“. Also, on this page you can choose the payment options that will be available to your customers.

13.Checkout-Options

Shipping options
On this tab, you can control all preferences for transportation from your store. If you sell physical products, then you will have to deliver them to your customers.

14.Shipping-Options

Account Pages
Here you need to set up a page where users can check their orders. My account page is set to My profile. Also, you should allow new users to register. For this, you should check that your registration options are configured as shown in the picture below.

15.Account-settings

Email Options
This is the place to set up the email address from which the notifications will be sent.

Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 11.41.45 AM

 

Step 6: Theme customizing

Now that your WooCommerce plugin is ready, you’ll need to work out how your site will look. You can set this to the theme in the following way: WP Admin -> Appearance -> Customize. In these settings, you can set different options for your site. If you want the main page of the store to appear on the front page, select the “Front page” option, and then click on “Shop“.

18.WooCommerce-Preview-900x437

Step 7: Add new products

When WooCommerce is activated once, the new option appears in the WP Admin named “Products“.

This is used to add new products, categories, tags, attributes, and more. Go to WP Admin -> Products -> Add Product.

When adding a new product, you will have access to all options, such as product name, description, pricing, transportation, etc.

20.New-Product-Details

Your store is ready

This article covers all the basic requirements for creating a WordPress web shop with WooCommerce.

However, if you think you have missed something in this guide, leave a comment in the comments section below.

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2 Comments

  1. Morten Andersen

    “Choose stable hosting that will support the traffic to your store” … and a host that provide a stable backup and staging solution.
    very important because of the many updates 🙂

    Reply
    • Ivan Blagojević

      Thank you! We can freely say that this is at the first place. 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Morten AndersenCancel reply