An online shop is a business that sells products online. It’s possible to start an online store in less than 1 hour, where customers can purchase the products. In order to get the most out of your website, you’ll need to have a well-designed store.
In this ultimate step-by-step guide, I’ll explain How to build an online store in less than 1 hour using wooCommerce.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Starting an Online Store
Online shopping is a way to shop that is convenient and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Creating an online shop is an easy way to make money. It is a fast way to create a passive income. Online shops are able to sell a variety of products and make money from the sales. There are many different ways to create an online shop.
Starting an online shop is a simple and affordable way to increase your business. It is also a convenient way to make a living, especially if you work from home. There are a number of products and services that you can sell online, and it can be a good idea to find a niche market to work in.
What Does It Take to Build an eCommerce Website?
This question is tough to answer. There are so many factors that go into building an eCommerce website, such as budget, the industry you’re in, your target audience, and so on. In this article, we’ll talk about one of the most efficient, quick, and affordable ways to start an online store.
Starting an online shop can be very challenging. One must have the ability to design a website, market the products, and maintain an online store. There are many ways to start an online shop, but one must be sure to have a business plan in place.
eCommerce websites are one of the most successful online businesses. This is because they offer a product or service to a large audience at a low cost. The customer base is big enough to justify the expense of the website and it can be updated frequently to reflect new products and trends. However, to create an eCommerce website, there are many steps that must be taken.
Everything You Need to Start your First Online Store
As I discussed earlier there are many ways to start your own online store, however, in this guide, we gonna use the best method to build your online store. It doesn’t cost you much at the same time it’s quick and easy to use for any non-technical one.
Here’s what we will use to create an online store within an hour:
- Domain Name and Web Hosting
- WordPress
- WooCommerce
- Astra Theme
How to Build an Online Store in Less Than 1 Hour
Here we start step by step so, we highly recommend implementing the step on your side as we have shown below. Let’s jump in.
1. Get Your Domain Name and Web Hosting
Domain Name: Domain Name is a new and unique concept in the world of technology. It is a virtual place on the internet where you can purchase and register a unique name that you can use for your website. Domain Name can be a name that relates to your business, or just a name that you think is cool.
For example:
- bloggingsky.com
- google.com
- Facebook.com
Web Hosting: Website hosting services allow individuals and businesses to upload their website content and have it hosted on a server that can be accessed by the public. This service allows the owner to maintain control over their website content, unlike a traditional website that is typically hosted on a company’s servers.
Web hosting is the service provided by a web server, which stores, processes, and delivers web content, that allows an individual or a business to have a website. The term typically refers to the hardware and software that allows a website to be hosted on a computer or network of computers.
There are hundreds of web hosting and domain providers available to choose from but of course, not all of them are renowned and the best. That is why in this guide we gonna use Bluehost for our hosting as well as a domain name.
Why Bluehost?
You might be thinking why should I only choose Bluehost for my online store? Well, there are many reasons to go with Bluehost.
- Most popular web hosting among the WordPress community
- WordPress official recommends Bluehost
- Millions of websites already using Bluehost
- Affordable pricing
- Single-click WordPress installation
- Easy control panel
- Amazing customer support
- and many more…
First and foremost, head over to the Bluehost here.
Once you’re on Bluehost WooCommerce hosting page just click on the “Start Your Store” button.
Now, you can see 2 different plans for the new store first plan “ONLINE STORE” is enough, so click on the select button to proceed further.
NOTE: We suggest you select 12 months or 36 months of billing as it will save a hefty amount.
Now, the next step is to select the domain name. Here, if you already have your domain name then you can simply enter your domain name under the “Use a domain you own” option. However, if you don’t have a domain yet simply enter the domain name you want and click on next.
Note: Bluehost offers 1 free domain name when you purchase web hosting, hence you are not being charged for the domain name:)
Here, you need to fill out your details in order to create your account. Once done scroll down and you will see the extra add-ons option just leave them unchecked as it does not require for now and complete your payment to get your domain and hosting.
After completing a payment you will receive an email from Bluehost with the necessary details to manage your site. It includes instructions to login into the web hosting control panel (cPanel).
Follow given instructions given in the email and you will land on the control panel dashboard where it will show a pop-up showing you that WordPress with WooCommerce is pre-installed on your website. So, you don’t need to do it manually. So easy isn’t it?
Click on the “Log in to your site” button given on the popup to jump into the WordPress dashboard.
That’s all! Now your domain and hosting are set up and your WordPress site is also ready to go ahead.
2. Setting Up WordPress
Once you land on the WordPress site dashboard you will see the menu bar on the side. This is where you can go through every setting and manage your online store.
Now, go to Settings > General to change the online store title and tagline.
In the given image, you can also see WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) in this section change HTTP to HTTPS.
Note: HTTPS is a secure way to transfer data to and from your website. It is freely provided by Bluehost. If you have followed the above-given steps your SSL must be pre-installed. And if it’s not installed yet then contact customer support they will do it for you.
3. Installing a WordPress Theme
For a number of years, people have been searching for a WordPress theme that can help them increase their sales and convert more customers. To meet this demand, a number of WordPress themes have been created and marketed to the public. The creators of these themes have made a name for themselves and their products are widely used. These creators are now expanding their business by creating products that help with marketing and search engine optimization.
We highly recommend using the most popular theme for WordPress websites known as “Astra”.
Well, Astra does not need any introduction because it’s widely used in the WordPress community. More than 1.5 million websites are using the Astra theme. That’s huge!
There are many reasons to choose Astra over any other theme:
- Blazing fast performance because very lightweight (Under 50kb)
- Super easy customization without technical huderls
- Pre-build templates to save time
- Supported with almost all popular page builders
- Seamless Integration with WooCommerce
- SEO Friendly Features
- Great documentation and customer support
To install the Astra theme in WordPress you need to go to Appearance > Themes located under the sidebar menu.
Now, simply click on “Add New Theme” to search for a theme.
Now you can see a search bar, just type “Astra” there and click on the Install button to install the Astra theme. Once installation is complete simply click on the “Activate” button to activate it on your site.
That’s it! Now your Astra theme is successfully installed
4. Installing WooCommerce and Necessary Plugins
Till now we have almost everything ready on our site including the theme. Now, it’s time to install WooCommerce and other necessary plugins to make your online store.
There are two ways to get your online store ready with WooCommerce:
- By using “Starter Templates” provided by Astra theme
- By manually creating a store from scratch using WooCommerce and related plugins
1. By using “Starter Templates” provided by the Astra theme
Astra starter templates include both free templates and pro templates. However, we highly recommend going for a pro template for the best design and great features. If you’re really serious about your business.
The best part here is Astra’s new update 3.9. Which introduced tons of new features and design improvements. Honestly, it’s a total game-changer!
Their team worked hard for 6 months to commit this version of Astra users and it’s the best to update for e-commerce or online store owners.
To install starter templates go to Plugins > Add New from the sidebar.
Now, search for “Starter Templates” and click on the “Install Now” button of the first result. Once, install click on “Activate” to activate it.
Now there are many different types of starter templates you gonna see just select “Elementor” from the option.
Elementor is the most popular page builder in WordPress. Hence, you will get tons of features in the elementor option.
As we mentioned earlier, in Astra 3.9 update introduced many advanced and useful features to help store owners to increase sales. Therefore, you will see some great templates some are free, and some are paid.
Here are some amazing online store templates with their demo link:
Visit this demo and find which one is the best suited for your business.
Once you decided click on that template option to load the template on your website.
Here it will ask you for basic customization details such as logo and other options. If you have it ready simply upload it otherwise click on the “Skip & Continue” button.
Furthermore, it will ask for font and color options just select the proper color you want and click on Continue.
On the next page, you need to fill up the form with some personal details and preferences. Finish it and click on Submit & Build My Website.
Now, just chill for a moment because Astra is doing its work for you. Once all things have been done it will show you the congratulations page.
That’s all! now you can see your store is ready with the selected template.
2. Building Store from Scratch
If you want to choose another way to go through creating an online store you can do it manually. However, we highly recommend using the starter template method given above. Still, if you want to proceed from scratch you can follow this guide to set up WooCommerce from scratch.
5. Last Few Steps to Complete Online Store Set Up
After finishing all the above setup it’s time to complete some settings of the WooCommerce store. This includes:
- Shipping
- Taxes
- Payments
- Adding products
- Testing your store
Let’s do it!
1. Shipping
In order to accept orders from customers, you need different shipping details.
In this tab, you can find every possible setting that you need to set up complete shipping for any type of product. This setting includes shipping zones, shipping methods, a shipping calculator, shipping classes, and a lot more.
You can set up it as per your business requirement.
2. Taxes
This is option also very flexible and you can add taxes on products based on your requirement. You can leave it blank if didn’t still figure it out.
3. Payments
Here comes the most important part of setting; Payment.
WooCommerce offers default popular payment methods like PayPal, Stripe, and many more. You can select any as per your choice. Also, you’re free to add more payment options by installing third-party plugins.
4. Adding products
Well, it’s so simple to add new products to the WooCommerce store. All you need to do is just go to Products > Add New.
The interface of adding products is much similar to adding blog posts with some extra options. Anyone can do it just enter the product name and description. Of course, you can set up additional options by scrolling down. Then hit that “Publish” button and your product is live. So simple!
5. Testing your store
Once you completed all the given steps hopefully your online store is ready to rock:)
Now, you just need to check whether the store is properly set up or not. Go through your domain name and visit every page to check the improvements you need to do.
Conclusion
So this was the complete guide on How to build an online store in less than 1 hour with WooCommerce.
We have mentioned almost all the required steps in sequence for you to easily follow and implement to create your own store. If you still didn’t followed do it now. It will just take less than an hour.
We hope you like this ultimate article on how to start an online shop, if so don’t forget to share it with your other mates who want to start their own online business.
If you have any queries regarding how to build ecommerce website you can comment below. We will try to reply as soon as possible.