How to Build an Online Store in Less Than 1 Hour
If you’re looking to learn how to start your own e-commerce store, then this guide is for you!
As the covid-19 pandemic alongside the current global recession forced every business to a lockdown, almost all retail stores have been forced to either embrace e-commerce or lose out on revenue. This massive shift into e-commerce has accounted for the best revenue years recorded by smart businesses who adopted the e-commerce model.
Unfortunately, most business owners who also want to grab their share of this new innovation do not know how to go about it.
In fact, many of my readers have been flooding my inbox with questions like “Is it possible to build an online store quickly?” “How do I build an eCommerce store?”, “What tools do I need to build a store?”, “Can anyone build a store?”, “How can I convert my current WordPress website into an eCommerce store?”
So I decided to write this detailed guide on how to go about it.
If you fall into any of these categories, then this guide is for you:
- A new entrepreneur
- An existing business wanting to expand to online stores
- A blogger who wants to start making sales from their existing website
- Freelancers and agencies offering web services
- Anyone wanting some extra income from eCommerce
Read on, if you want to…
- Learn how to build an online store
- Learn how to build an eCommerce website
- Find out what tools are required to build an online store
- See if it’s possible for them to convert your current WordPress website to an online store
What you’ll need to build an online store
To build an online store, you need the following:
-
- Domain: A domain name is simply the address/URL of your website e.g. www.ideasdeck.com
- Hosting: This refers to the storage space where all your website files and configurations are kept (Click here to get a FREE Domain name when you register a hosting account)
- WordPress: WordPress is one of the most-popular Content Management Systems (CMS) that you can use to setup your website within the shortest possible time. In fact, even a 7-year old can setup a professional-looking website using WordPress.
- WordPress theme: This is a pre-built template that you install on your WordPress website to give it a layout or structure of your choice.
- WooCommerce plugin: Plugins are compressed pieces of code that you install on your WordPress website to enable it carryout an extended function. So to add an online store onto your website, you need to install the WooCommerce plugin.
How to Install the WordPress CMS
Installing the WordPress CMS is very much easy as you follow the steps below:
- Simply log into your hosting account
- Navigate to the control panel
- Scroll to the section named “Software > Softaculous Apps Installer”
- On the next screen, Click “WordPress > Install”
- Fill in your desired details on the Installation screen and click “Install“
- Once the progress bar reaches 100%, that signifies your installation is successfully completed
- Whenever you want to log into your WordPress CMS, simply visit your website URL + “/wp-admin” in this format: www.YourWebsite.com/wp-admin (e.g. www.google.com/wp-admin)
Installing a WordPress theme (Astra)
There are several WordPress themes out there, but to build a professional-looking eCommerce store, I highly recommend using Astra because of its flexibility and extended functionalities that boost your sales and provide better conversions.
To get started with the Astra theme:
- Visit www.ideasdeck.com/go/astra and grab yourself a copy
- Unzip the file you will be granted access to after you sign up
- In order to install the Astra theme or any WordPress theme, you first need to log into your WordPress Admin Panel
- Then manually upload the extracted version into your themes folder from within your WordPress website by navigating to: “Dashboard > Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload”
- After successfully uploading the theme, click to Activate it.
Necessary plugin you should install to convert your website into an online store
Within your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Plugins > Add New”, search for the following, then Install and Activate it:
- WooCommerce
The two main methods of creating a WooCommerce store in your content
- By using any of the Starter Templates provided within your dashboard you may use the Plant Shop (free template) if you’re on a budget, otherwise there are other premium templates you may choose from.
- You can also build it from the scratch by using this guide.
Setting up your online store
After creating your WooCommerce store, make sure you set the following accordingly:
- Shipping: If you’re offering physical products, input the information about your shipping options
- Taxes: Ensure you fill in the corresponding tax documents appropriately
- Adding products: Add your products information and corresponding images that describe the product
- Payment Plans & Methods: Indicate the price of each product as well as set the available payment methods that your customers can pay with
- Testing your store: Finally, make sure you test the entire checkout process to see what your customers will experience as they navigate through your store.
Promoting your online store
Some of the common ways you can promote your online store include:
-
- SEO: You can optimize your ecommerce website with low-competition keywords and value-adding posts such that search engines can reward you with better rankings.
- Content marketing: The blog section of your website plays a huge role in educating your readers about your issues of interest. So why not use it to write detailed reviews about your latest products?
- Email marketing: Another way to promote your online store, is by sending out emails to your subscribers to inform them about your latest products and services.
- PPC advertising: Depending on your budget, you may decide to pay search engines like Google, Youtube, Bing, etc. to promote your products and services through their PPC advertising.
- Social media marketing: As you share posts about your online store across all your social media handles, it will automatically attract more traffic to your store, which will ultimately result to more sales, as well as better search engine rankings.
Conclusion
Simply follow the steps listed above if you want to how to build an online store with WordPress, build an ecommerce website, convert your existing blog into an ecommerce website or simply create a website to sell products online.
Resources Mentioned In the Article
- Hosting & Free Domain Name Offer
- Best WooCommerce Theme
- How to Build an Online Store From the Scratch: A FREE Guide
Tags Cloud: How to Start Your Own E-Commerce Store in Just 1 Hour, How to Build an Online Store in Less than 1 Hour, WooCommerce Guide: How to Start an Online Store in 1 Hour, How to Start an Online Store in 6 Simple Steps, How to Convert Your WordPress Website to an eCommerce Website.