Online shopping has made our lives simpler and more secure as we can browse, compare, select, and shop for the right products on a single from the comfort of our homes. With the rising e-commerce stores, the online e-commerce platform WooCommerce has also become popular.
Today, 28% of online stores are set up and run through WooCommerce, a platform that has made business owners set up digital stores and sell their products online. So, if you are ready to start your online store and want to know all about WooCommerce hosting and setup, this article will help you.
Here is a step-by-step guide to starting your WooCommerce store.
- Choose a domain and hosting
Just like a brick and mortar store, your online store also needs an address to help your target audience to find you in the digital market. A domain name works as a digital address of your store, directing your target audience to your store when they are searching for it.
A domain name comprises two parts the store name and the extension. For example, if you go for a store name Furry Paws and choose the .com extension, then the domain for your store will be furrypaws.com.
Along with the domain you also need WooCommerce-supported WordPress website hosting. Web hosting works as a storage space for your website on the internet. A domain name and WooCommerce hosting are the prerequisites to starting a WooCommerce store online.
- Install WordPress
Once you have decided on the domain and WordPress hosting in India, the next step is to start the real adventure with WordPress by installing WordPress on your hosting account.
Depending on the web hosting provider you choose, installing WordPress will be a matter of a few clicks.
Next, the installation wizard will take you through the step-by-step process of installing WordPress.
- Install WooCommerce
After installing WordPress, the next important thing you will need to do is set up your e-commerce store is to install and set up WooCommerce. Like with all WordPress plugins, you will have to navigate to your WordPress Dashboard -> Plugins -> Add New. Once there, type “woocommerce” in the search bar.
Once you have found the plugin, click on the “Install” button. In a couple of seconds, the plugin will be installed, and you will have to activate the plugin by clicking on the “activate” button.
After the plugin is activated, you will see the WooCommerce plugin added in the left sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. Click on it and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the WooCommerce setup. Fill in information about the store, industry, product types, and more as the WooCommerce wizard requests to complete the setup.
- Select payment gateways, taxes, and shipping
Payment gateway
Online payments are at the core of every e-commerce business. And to allow your customers to securely make online payments, you will need to set up a payment gateway. In the WooCommerce setting, you can easily do so by navigating to WooCommerce -> Settings -> Payments.
WooCommerce allows you to integrate several payment options, two of which are the most popular options – PayPal and Stripe.
However, if you wish to go for different gateways, you can select other payment methods available in your WooCommerce settings panel, including WooCommerce Payments, developed by WooCommerce itself.
Tax options
Tax is another important yet least exciting part of any e-commerce business. As per the tax laws and regulations, every e-commerce business owner has to set tax applicable on the payments.
You can easily set tax by navigating to WooCommerce -> Settings – > General. Then tick the “Enable tax rates and calculations” box.
Once done, you have to configure the taxes by going to WooCommerce Settings -> Tax.
You will find several configuration options in the Tax tab to choose from that fit your needs.
Shipping
You will only need to set this configuration if you sell physical products. To set up shipping options in your e-commerce store, go to WooCommerce -> Settings -> Shipping.
In the Shipping tab, you can set shipping zones and classes, set fixed shipping prices, offer free delivery, and more.
Moreover, you can define options for shipping destinations and enable the shipping calculator for customers on the cart page. If you want, you can migrate live and updated shipping rates from common shipping carriers like UPS and FedEx.
- Set up your store
After setting up the technical and taxation aspects, now comes the real work of setting up your e-commerce store.
The first step would be to create web pages. The web pages might differ for every store depending on what kind of products or services you provide. However, you should include certain web pages common for every website, such as the Home page, About page, Contact, FAQ, Purchase policy, and privacy policy.
To make your store operational, you need some products (or services, downloads, or any other items you wish to sell) to display in your e-commerce store.
The easiest way to add products is to go to WooCommerce -> Add Products -> Start with a template. You can also add products by navigating to Products -> Add New.
Wrapping Up
While running an e-commerce store is not a piece of cake. Setting up a WooCommerce store with WordPress, however, makes it easier. Moreover, you can always seek assistance from the Customer Support team over a live chat or WordPress WooCommerce forums.
If you are well versed with WordPress settings, your WooCommerce store will be a matter of an afternoon or two.
