Over the last decade, online shopping has grown in leaps and bounds, with more than a quarter of global retail shopping is done online in 2020. If you have a small or medium-sized business and are still on the fence about moving online, read more on the reasons why you should choose to set up a digital store.

For those of you who are venturing into setting up a digital store for the first time, paying a monthly fee for using an e-commerce platform (such as Shopify) isn’t feasible. This is where WordPress comes in.

WordPress is one of the most preferred open source platforms by most business owners for setting up your fully functional e-store. When it is combined with the robust WooCommerce plugin (that powers more than 28% of e-commerce websites), you can rest assured that you are getting value for money. Moreover, it is suitable for small businesses since both WordPress and WooCommerce are free (although you’ll have to shell out some bucks for premium functionalities). 

Step by Step Guide to Building an e-commerce website using WooCommerce Plugin

1. Choose your domain name

A domain name is your website’s exclusive address, and choosing it is the first step to setting up a digital store. You will need to look around and buy your domain name from a reputed domain name registrar. Your URL will appear as www.businessname.com. Do remember that you will have to renew your domain name annually.

Note:- ‘.com’ is by far one of the most widely known domain extensions that provide businesses with an option to cater to a worldwide audience. A country-specific extension (such as .us, .uk, or .au) will help companies that want to focus on the local market.

1.  Choose a hosting provider and SSL certification

Web hosting is a fundamental feature of every website. In simple terms, web hosting is comparable to renting a space on the world wide web. Choose a web hosting provider that is suited to your online store requirements, be it shared or individual plans. 

There are certain web hosting service providers that include an SSL certificate as an add-on to the hosting plan. SSL certificates are what makes your website secure, and it will be reflected in the URL (it will appear as https:// instead of the standard http://.

1. WordPress installation

There are two methods of installing WordPress:

1. “One-click” installation via the hosting dashboard

This is by far one of the simplest options available to a website owner. Certain hosting providers offer the option of one-click install. 

Once you have signed up with the hosting provider that offers this feature, go to the hosting dashboard and press the “Install WordPress” button. It’s as simple as that!

1. Manual installation

This method isn’t difficult but is also not as straightforward as the option mentioned above. All you have to do is download WordPress onto your computer and then uploading it onto the hosting dashboard.

1. WooCommerce installation and configuration

WooCommerce is one of the most powerful (and free) e-commerce plugins on the internet. Even though you may need to pay for certain extensions, WooCommerce still offers a lot of free extensions. That includes – 

• Customised product pages
• Show verified reviews
• Book accommodations

• Shopping cart and checkout
• Numerous secure payment methods
• Different shipping options and printing of labels
• Automated tax calculations
• Easily integrated with Google Analytics, Facebook, email marketing platforms, etc

Check out the WooCommerce extensions page here.