How to Easily Host an Ecommerce Website on WordPress

There’s no question that e-commerce has taken the world by storm. Online marketplaces like Shopify and Bigcartel alone are estimated to be worth a combined total of over $20 billion.

And, while the massive popularity of online marketplaces is unquestionable, the truth is, they can be quite the challenge to set up and maintain. Especially if you’re looking to do it on a shoestring budget.

Fortunately, there’s a solution. One that not only provides a robust and affordable e-commerce solution but also allows you to build a fully-functional and customizable website that suits your needs.

Why WordPress?

WordPress is a content management platform (CMS) that can easily be used to build websites. With over 71 million downloads and an ever-growing user base, it would be a shame to not try out this incredible tool. If you’re looking to get your e-commerce site up and running on a shoestring budget, or just looking to build a simple content-driven website, then WordPress is a perfect solution.

Speaking of which, let’s dive into the tutorial. You’ll learn how to easily set up an e-commerce store using WordPress.

The Importance of Scalability

The fact is that no matter what kind of business you have, your website’s capacity to handle more traffic will ultimately determine its success. In simple terms, the more people that visit your site, the more money you’ll make. Naturally, this brings us to an important point:

If you’re looking to build a massive audience for your site, you’ll need to consider the scalability of your platform. Essentially, you’ll need to ask yourself, “Can my site grow with my audience’s growing needs?”

To answer this question, you’ll first need to consider the type of content that you’re going to publish on your site. Are you going to focus largely on offering products for sale, or are you going to publish articles that are more like traditional websites?

For instance, if your product offerings are going to be centered around fashion, you might want to look into publishing an e-commerce store on Shopify. With Shopify, once you reach a certain threshold of sales, you’ll be able to expand your audience and take advantage of their unique scaling platform. As a result, your site’s sales will grow with their audience’s growing needs.

How To Build An E-commerce Store On A Shoestring

Now, let’s get to the good stuff… Once you have your WordPress site up and running, the first thing you’ll want to do is configure your online marketplace through Customizer.

To do this, click on the Settings icon in the left-hand column of the WordPress dashboard. From here, you’ll want to click on the “Shop” option in the left-hand column. Next, you’ll want to enter your marketplace’s name in the “Shop Name” field. Naturally, you’ll want to keep this same across all of your store’s pages so that it’s easily recognizable as the home of your e-commerce store. Finally, you’ll want to choose a theme for your website that’s suitable for e-commerce stores. If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for all your website needs, consider the Elegant Themes free website template.

Once you have your site’s configuration set up in Customizer, you can move on to the next step: publishing your products.

Products And Promotions

First off, you’ll want to create a product for sale. To do this, click on the “Products” icon in the left-hand column of the WordPress dashboard. From here, you can add a new product by clicking on the “Add New” button at the top of the page. Give your product a suitable name and a short description. Naturally, you’ll want to add images of the product as well. Once your product is ready to go, click on the “Publish” button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

While you’re here, you may also want to consider adding more products to your site. To do this, click on the plus-sign (+) icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, you can add more products or promos. Essentially, a promotion is a type of product that you’ll want to offer at a discounted price for a limited time. To add a promotion, navigate to the product you want to promote, then click on the “Products” icon in the left-hand column of the WordPress dashboard. From here, you can select “Settings” and then “Promotions.”

On the promotions tab, you can choose to perform a cost-per-action (CPA) campaign or a cost-per-click (CPC) campaign. In a nutshell, a cost-per-action (CPA) campaign involves paying users for each purchase that they make. A cost-per-click (CPC) campaign involves paying users for each click that they generate (e.g., for each product that they visit on your site).

Shipping And Returns

Next, you’ll want to add the shipping and returns tab to your product’s page. To do this, navigate to the product’s page and then click on the “Products” icon in the left-hand column. From here, you can click on the “Shopping Bag” icon in the upper-left corner of the screen to open up your shipping and returns options. To add shipping and returns to your product’s page, click on the “+” icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, you can choose to have your product delivered with no hassle, or you can choose to have it delivered to your customers’ doors with free shipping.

Payments And Tax

One of the most essential functions of an e-commerce store is making and receiving payments. This involves processing credit cards as well as setting up direct deposits into your account.

To set up direct deposits, navigate to the “Accounts” section of your settings and then click on the “Payroll” icon. Alternatively, you can click on the “+” icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen to open up your payment options. To set up credit cards, navigate to the “Payments” section of your settings and then click on the “Credit Cards” icon. To verify that your PCI compliance is up to date, you can visit the PCI security website anytime.

Customer Support

Last but not least, we have customer support. Naturally, you’ll want to provide your customers with excellent and consistent customer support whether they’re purchasing products from you or becoming a customer altogether. To do this, you may want to look into the following resources: