Creating an adequately designed e-commerce site can provide convenient shopping options for consumers. It allows you to connect with your target audience and control all aspects of their experience. There were 2.14 billion global online shoppers by the end of 2021 and e-commerce will account for 22.3% of global retail sales by 2023.

If you’re considering creating an e-commerce site with WordPress, the good news is that making your e-commerce site is easier than ever. Today, with the tools available in the market, creating an e-commerce site and selling products online is within reach of anyone with the will to do so. WordPress is a robust and scalable platform and the most popular way to create an e-commerce site.

In this article, we will explain how to create an e-commerce website in eight steps with WordPress, one of the most popular and flexible solutions for e-commerce.

Why Use WordPress to Create an E-Commerce Website?

WordPress is the world’s most popular free, open-source content management system (CMS) because it is relatively easy to use yet powerful and versatile, thanks to its massive library of plugins. About a quarter of all websites on the Internet use WordPress as their content management system.

One of the main reasons to choose WordPress is that it is a flexible platform that gives you complete control over the functionality and appearance of your website. WordPress is beneficial for creating an e-commerce site, as it also offers plugins that add full e-commerce functionality to a site, from product display to shopping cart and checkout.

With WordPress, you can quickly develop other parts of your site, such as a blog, forum, and any other page you need. Here are the steps to find your market, determine what you’ll sell, and create your e-commerce site.

How to Create an E-Commerce Site with WordPress, in Eight Steps?

Before we get started, it’s good to know that creating an e-commerce site is similar to creating other websites, except that you have to do a bit of work upfront to set it up to sell physical or digital products.

Step 1: Choose Your Domain Name and Hosting Provider

Before creating the website, you need to get a domain name and hosting.

Choose a Domain Name for Your e-commerce site

The first step in setting up WordPress e-commerce starts with your domain name. A domain name is what you type into your browser’s address bar to access a website. Your domain name will become the unique address of your e-commerce site on the Internet. It is the part after the “www.” in your URL.

You can purchase a domain name from sites like NameCheap or use a service like Google Domains or Cloudflare Registrar.

Note: .com is the most robust and most popular domain extension (ending). Make sure you choose a .com extension for your e-commerce site because it allows you to sell worldwide. On the other hand, if you choose a country-specific extension, you may limit your potential for future expansion.

Remember to choose a memorable and relevant domain name for your e-commerce site when choosing your domain name.

Subscribe to a web hosting provider

You will also need a web hosting provider, a service that will host your website on the Internet. Every website needs hosting. Web hosting is like a remote computer that stores your website and makes it available to Internet users when they visit it. It’s what makes the WordPress software work and makes your e-commerce site accessible to visitors worldwide.

You can choose between shared and dedicated hosting. With shared hosting, your website is on the same server as several other websites, which is cheaper. Still, it often gives you less control over your website and potentially less storage space and available bandwidth. By using a dedicated hosting provider, you can be assured that your website will load quickly and not suffer from long periods of downtime. However, we advise you to avoid shared hosting.

On the other hand, dedicated hosting is more expensive but gives your website an entire server exclusively for your use and offers you a great degree of control, storage and bandwidth. There are several excellent WordPress hosting providers. For WordPress/WooCommerce hosting, a good choice is Wealthy Affiliate Hosting which is one of the best-managed WordPress hosting solutions.
Wealthy Affiliate Hosting is an all-inclusive hosting platform in the WordPress industry that is 100% designed to work most efficiently for WordPress sites and includes everything you need in one place and at one price. This means that everything, including security, speed, reliability, and support for your WordPress site, is managed for you behind the scenes so you don’t have to worry about it.

Click here for Wealthy Affiliate Hosting

At this point, you now have a domain name and a hosting plan to go with it.

Installing WordPress

There are two main ways to install WordPress:
1. One-click installation via your hosting dashboard.
2. Manually download WordPress, then upload it to your hosting account.

One-Click WordPress Installation
As you might expect, the first option is undoubtedly the easiest, and it’s the one we recommend. When choosing a web host, look for those that offer the advantage of one-click installation – check out the providers on our list of the best WordPress hosts to see a selection of the best. Once you sign up with a host that offers this type of installation, you must go to your hosting dashboard and press a button that says “Install WordPress.”

If you use Wealthy Affiliate even the installation of WordPress is done for you whereas, with other hosting companies, you have to install WordPress yourself!

Step 2: Choose an E-Commerce Plugin

There are no native WordPress e-commerce features, so you’ll need to install an e-commerce plugin to add this functionality to your website. Since WordPress has no native e-commerce functionality, you will need to install an e-commerce plugin to extend this functionality to your website. Plugins are separate pieces of software that you install and activate in WordPress that add functionality to it.

The most popular option is WooCommerce, a free e-commerce plugin developed by the WordPress ownership team. With WooCommerce, you’ll never have to worry about compatibility issues, and you can count on having access to many compatible themes and add-ons.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the most popular plugins for turning a primary WordPress site into a full-fledged e-commerce site. About 30% of all online stores use WooCommerce as their platform. WooCommerce offers a complete e-commerce backend that helps you create and organize product pages, payment gateway implementation, and automatic tax calculation.

WooCommerce offers a setup wizard that guides you through every process step. You can extend its functionality with various paid and free extensions, such as delivering AI-based recommendations to customers on product landing pages, scheduling bundles, and daily deals and plains.

Other e-commerce plugin options:

BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a SaaS e-commerce tool that integrates very well with WordPress to create a “headless e-commerce” approach. It has 24/7 customer support, with priority support available for large accounts. BigCommerce has many built-in features such as multi-layered security to protect local and cross-platform data and payment methods and sell on other platforms like Amazon and eBay and sync all your different sales channels in one place.

The primary reason to consider BigCommerce over WooCommerce is if you engage in cross-platform selling, meaning you also sell via Amazon, eBay, and other platforms. With BigCommerce, you can sync all your different sales channels in one place, which is very convenient.

Shopify
Shopify is another fully hosted SaaS solution with an extensive range of plugins and is known for its speed to handle a high number of transactions per minute and ease of setup.
Magento
Magento is another popular e-commerce CMS that gives you more options to customize and expand the functionality of your e-commerce site but requires more skills and knowledge. Magento is a self-hosted solution, so you have complete creative freedom; however, you need someone with coding knowledge to take full advantage of the platform. There is a wide range of integrations to choose from, and it can handle instant shopping and product suggestions.

WP e-commerce

WP e-commerce is another popular and accessible choice for creating an e-commerce site with WordPress. It has all the essential features, including product pages, shopping cart and checkout functionality, inventory management, data reporting capabilities, and stock management. You can opt for optional paid and free add-ons to add more features like buying premium payment gateways like Stripe and Authorize.net.

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD)
Easy Digital Downloads is another free plugin specifically designed to help you sell digital products rather than physical products.
EDD allows you to create discount codes, impose restrictions on downloads, and provides full tracking and reporting on downloads, sales, and other statistics.

Through extensions, you can also add other features like selling software licenses and subscriptions, payment processors like PayPal, and more. EDD allows you to create discount codes, impose restrictions on downloads, and provides full tracking and reporting on downloads, sales, and other statistics.

Ecwid
Ecwid is another SaaS e-commerce tool that integrates with WordPress through a dedicated plugin.
It can be a good option for beginners with a fundamental e-commerce site because of its simple design approach.

Step 3: Install Your Ecommerce Plugin

With your blank WordPress site ready, it’s time to turn it into a fully functional e-commerce site by installing the WooCommerce plugin.

Installing WooCommerce

To get started with WooCommerce, navigate to your WordPress dashboard and add a new plugin. Search for WooCommerce, and simply install and activate WooCommerce. Once you activate WooCommerce, the WooCommerce installation wizard will then open to guide you through the rest of the installation process.

Store Details
After importing the Starter site, go to the WooCommerce settings and give your custom settings to fill in your business details like Email, payment options, accounts, taxes, shipping, Etc.

Industry Details
Next, you will be asked to enter some details about your store’s industry.
Product Types
Next, choose the types of products you want to sell. If you sell physical products, check the Physical Products box. If you plan to sell digital products, you can select Downloads.

Business Details
Finally, you will enter some additional business details about your e-commerce site:
WooCommerce will also prompt you to add “free business features” to your e-commerce sites, such as payments, shipping, and taxes. If you don’t want to decide now, you can uncheck them all – you can always install them later.

Choose the theme for your e-commerce site.

At this point, the installation wizard will ask you to install a theme. You’ll need to install a WooCommerce theme to make your e-commerce site look like an e-commerce site. To Install the theme, go to Appearance, Themes, then Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Then, search and install the theme.

Once you activate the theme, you will see a prompt to import one of the demo sites. To import a demo site, click the Starter Sites button, which will automatically take you to the Start Sites area. Or, you can go to Appearance, then Startup Sites.

Step 4: Adjust Your E-Commerce Site Settings

This step is about setting up your e-commerce site’s must-have elements, including payment gateways, shipping options, and automatic tax calculation. An excellent place to start is to go into WooCommerce, where you should see a checklist:
Let’s go through the key settings.

Choose payment options

Now you need to choose the payment methods you will accept on your e-commerce sites like Stripe, Razorpay, PayU, or direct bank transfer. You need to be able to process international bank and credit cards, online payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe, and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Amazon Pay.

Stripe (the official WooCommerce Payments service that will allow you to accept credit card payments) and PayPal are two popular options; you can enable both. If you want to use a particular local payment gateway, you can install other third-party payment gateway plugins if needed. Select Continue when you are done.

Configure Shipping Options

Shipping is an essential part of e-commerce. Customers want products quickly, so choose your shipping settings wisely.
Determine your shipping policy

Your shipping policy includes fees and carriers. Post your shipping fees and policies on the homepage and product pages to eliminate unpleasant surprises. You need to determine if you offer free, flat, or variable rates and which company will handle the shipping.
Determine if you will be doing the packaging or dropshipping.
Also, determine if you plan to ship internationally, and if not, make sure this information is readily available so that international customers are not frustrated at checkout. Shipping software that works seamlessly with the rest of your workflow allows you to automate this aspect of your business, freeing you up for other tasks.

Regarding shipping costs, WooCommerce will recognize the region you’re currently in and set it as your primary “shipping zone.”
To add shipping options, select Configure Shipping from the list of options displayed on your WooCommerce dashboard.
You can either set a fixed price for each zone, select shipping as free, or integrate specific carriers to get shipping rates.
To calculate shipping rates in real-time based on the actual dimensions of each order, you can integrate USPS, UPS, FedEx, and others.
In this case, you will need a tabular rate shipping plugin or a real-time rate plugin. You may also consider a full-featured fulfillment service such as ShipStation or TrackShip.

Once you’re done, click Finish Task.

Set up your tax rates

Another important setting to consider is your e-commerce site’s tax rates. In the WooCommerce dashboard, click on ‘Configure’ to set up the tax rates payable by your customers. You then move to the Tax tab, where you can set up your standard tax rates, among other tax options.
Review the entire module and understand the tax rates based on your e-commerce site location. For simplicity, you’ll probably want to use a plugin. The most popular options are WooCommerce Tax and Avalara.

Step 5: Add the Products or Services You Want to Sell

Now that your site looks like an e-commerce site, it’s time to start adding products to WooCommerce.
Product pages are some of the most critical pages on your site, as they show your customers what you have to sell.
Take the time to ensure you’re presenting your new products in the best light by including optimized product descriptions, eye-catching images, and easy-to-navigate categories.

Adding Products with WooCommerce

WooCommerce allows you to add both physical and virtual products to your store.
There are six main product types: Simple, Bundled, External/Affiliate, Variable, Downloadable or Virtual, and how you add products to your e-commerce site depends on the type of product you are adding.
WooCommerce has a great detailed guide explaining each product type and how to upload each type.
To add products, go to your dashboard, select “Products” from the sidebar and choose “Add Product.”

In general, when adding a product, you have to fill in the information about the product, especially in the following fields:
– Product name
You must always name your product in the title bar when you add a product to your e-commerce site.
To determine the best title for your product based on SEO, consider using SEO tools such as Yoast.

– Product price
– Product Image
Use high-quality, attractive images that show the product from all angles to entice customers to browse.
Making sure each image is the same size as different-sized photos can throw your gallery off.

– Product Descriptions
Create short, snappy product descriptions (150-250 words) using specific, long-tail keywords to ensure your product appears in search engine results.
Avoid long sentences and complex wording, and make sure your descriptions address basic product details such as utility, colors, textures, measurements, and value to your customers.

– Product Categories
– Product Tags
Placing your products under categories and tags helps customers search for them more efficiently, and Google will consider them as keywords.
You can also use categories with filters to allow people to sort out specific brands or price ranges to fit their budget.
In addition to the above, you will also find other tabs:
–General (the one you are currently in),
–Inventory (track your list and add SKUs),
–Shipping (product dimensions and shipping costs),
–Related product (upselling complementary products)
–Attributes (size, color).
Once you have determined your product information, click the Publish button to add your products.

Step 6: Installing Plugins Complementary

Once you have a decent number of products ready, it’s time to choose a theme that fits your vision of the e-commerce site.
Themes are ready-made pages that you can customize to fit your brand and help your e-commerce site look great without having any design or coding skills.
You can find a selection of free WordPress themes in the themes directory, which you can access via your dashboard:
1. Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance, then click on Themes.
2 Click the “Add New” button, then browse themes under “Featured,” “Popular” Etc., or use the search bar to look for specific industries.
You can also demo it to test the look of your e-commerce site.
3. Click the Install button for the theme you want. After a few seconds, the “Activate” button appears under the theme. Select it, and the theme is yours.

To install a premium theme on your site:
1. Download the .zip file of the theme you have chosen.
2. Log into your WordPress dashboard, and go to Appearance, then to Themes.
3. Click the Add New option, which will take you to the WordPress theme dashboard.
4. Click the ‘Upload Theme’ button and choose the .zip file on your computer.
You will then see a success message with a link to activate your theme. And that’s it; you are ready to go!
Tip: WooCommerce also has its theme – Storefront – which works perfectly with WooCommerce.

Include plugins to add extra functionality to your e-commerce site

One of the best things about using WooCommerce for WordPress e-commerce is the massive library of official and third-party plugins that you can use to extend the capabilities of your e-commerce site.
The official WooCommerce Extensions Store lists free and premium plugins and includes official extensions as well as those from third-party developers.
Here are some extensions that are worth installing on your site:
A search bar
Adding a search bar allows your visitors to go directly to the page they are looking for and is, therefore, one of the features every e-commerce site should have.
Site Reviews for reviews
Social proof is one of the most critical factors in getting users to buy your products. Including a Site Reviews feature on your website allows your customers to directly express their positive reviews, which will provide you with tips that will help you improve your e-commerce results over time.
A shopping cart
A shopping cart allows visitors to save the items they wish to purchase while browsing your e-commerce site and then go through the purchase process only once for all those items. Additionally, for visitors who add items to their cart but don’t purchase immediately, you can send a reminder email to your customers to encourage them to return to the site to buy.
A wish list feature
Including a wish list feature allows people who prefer to research before purchasing a product the ability to save items they like for a possible future purchase.

Analytics
Many third-party plugins sync with WooCommerce. Google Analytics is the best tool to analyze your e-commerce site’s activities but to take advantage of it, you need to have your site’s analytics tracking set up correctly. For your Google Analytics integration, you can use Google Analytics by MonsterInsights. If you want to go a step further and tag your e-commerce site with a lot of specialized e-commerce tracking (like passing SKUs and item attributes seamlessly into Analytics), install the WooCommerce Google Analytics Integration plugin.

Step 7: Make Your E-Commerce Site Public

Once you’re happy with the look and feel of your site, it’s time to make it public and start selling.
Be sure to test everything before you hit the publish button.
Start by checking the following points:
The checkout
Make a few sample purchases to ensure the checkout process is working correctly, and you’re getting all the confirmation emails you were expecting.
The functions of your e-commerce site
Click on all the buttons and links on your site to ensure they all work correctly. The functions of your e-commerce site on a mobile device. Accessing all facets of your business from mobile devices is one of the keys to success. Check if the dimensions are correct, the buttons are easy to click, and the images are evident on a mobile device.
Test your e-commerce site on different browsers
Ensure your e-commerce site works on all browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

Step 8: Optimize Your E-commerce Site Performance

At this point, you should have a fully functional e-commerce site ready to receive customers.
We’ll now discuss tactics that can help you drive more traffic to your e-commerce site and, in turn, generate more revenue. Here are some of the most common e-commerce marketing methods:

Content Marketing:

Content marketing involves creating quality content that keeps your website fresh and valuable and allows you to target more keywords. Content marketing requires a considerable investment of time and money. Still, it’s an excellent way to boost your website’s SEO authority, attract more relevant traffic to your site, and build trust with your target audience.
Different types of content you can start producing are the following:
 Blog posts
Regularly publishing valuable articles on essential topics to your audience is a great way to raise your profile and demonstrate your trustworthiness.
Video content
You can create tutorials or educational videos on topics that interest your audience.
Audio content
If you can provide value to your audience in an audio format, don’t hesitate to Request Podcasts.
Visual Content
Visual content such as infographics and high-quality graphics allows you to complement your written content or bring more value to your customers. Remember that content marketing doesn’t give immediate results. Still, over time it will boost your visibility in your field and in search engines which will help you build an audience of followers interested in your brand.

Related resources:

10 Steps to Planning a Strong Content Marketing Strategy

75 Powerful Content Marketing Tools to Grow Your Online Business

SEO

Search engine optimization is the set of tactics that increase your website’s authority based on factors valued by search engine algorithms. Use SEO to increase the chance that your pages will rank higher on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo and that buyers will be able to find you.

Related resources:

SEO for Beginners: How to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO

80 Best Free SEO Tools

4 Best Keyword Research Tips to Improve Your Ranking

On-Page SEO:10 Essential Factors for Ranking on the First Page

Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR)

20 Most Important SEO KPIs to Track for Successful Optimization

Social Media Marketing

Social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest are the best channels to grow your audience, promote your products, and increase your brand awareness while driving traffic back to your e-commerce site.

Related resources:

10 Steps to Successfully Promote Your Blog on Instagram

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps?

Email Marketing

Email marketing offers you a great way to drive traffic to your site by promoting new content and building a loyal audience to which you can provide special deals.

Related resources:

Email Marketing: Beginner’s Ultimate Guide

11 Most Important Email Marketing KPIs to Measure the Success of Your Email Campaign

PPC Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising refers to any type of marketing done on platforms that charge for ads based on how often people click on them rather than how many times they are shown.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing often contacts influencers on social media channels and asks them to promote your brand and products to their audience.

Conclusion

I hope this post will help you learn how to create a fully functional WordPress e-commerce site as quickly as possible. Start by choosing your hosting provider and the plugin to use, install the plugin of your choice, add your very first product, and set up a payment gateway for your site.
A marketing strategy for your e-commerce site can give you a head start on successfully creating an experience that strengthens your brand, attracts new customers, and turns casual shoppers into loyal customers. Create your WordPress e-commerce site today!