WordPress is one of the most popular CMS in the world: the platform attracts with its simplicity, reliability, and abundance of modules. Today, more than 41% of websites on the Internet work on WP, and we are not only talking about new resources in which owners are afraid to invest money. Promoted sites with a current income of over 1 million rubles per month were also developed on WordPress. Further in the article, we will consider step-by-step instructions for creating an online store on WordPress, and also talk about choosing free plugins for your trading platform.
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that is available for download and installation on your own hosting. With the help of free software, you can create a beautiful website, as well as customize it for your own business goals, using special plugins and widgets. Below we will provide step-by-step instructions for creating an online store on WordPress - after reading it, you will see that this system is perfect even for people who are far from programming.
To create an online store on WordPress, you need to purchase a domain and buy a place on the hosting. To ensure correct operation, it is recommended to choose a company that has been on the market for at least 2 years. The domain should be short and memorable, associated with the name of your brand or repeat it. It is more convenient when both the domain and hosting are “stored” on one site.
In order not to complicate your life, you can use the automatic installation of WordPress, which is available on many hostings. If you want to control the situation and at the same time get acquainted with the features of the platform, it is better to install WordPress manually:
Once the installation is complete, your site's start page will appear, meaning you're ready to move on to the next step of creating an online store on WordPress.
Sitemap (sitemap.xml) is a special xml file that contains links to all important pages of your site. Sitemap is the main assistant of search engines, this file is very important for promotion. To create a sitemap, you can use the Google XML Sitemaps plugin, which can be installed and configured for free.
The AIOSP extension plays an important role in developing an online store on WordPress — the plugin is used to automatically optimize the site in search engines. Go to the "Plugins" section, select "Add New" and type "All In One SEO Pack" in the search.
The template determines the appearance, main elements and design settings of your site. There are many free and paid templates for WordPress that you can quickly download to your computer. If you want your online store page to look solid, it is better to buy a paid template: it will have more settings and better technical support. Free options usually have a poor design.
After purchasing the template, you need to download the archive and copy the license key. Next, you will need to log in to your personal account on the site, go to the "Appearance" section, select "Themes" and click "Add". After that, click on the "Download theme" button - you need to select the downloaded archive with the theme on your computer. After installation is complete, activate the theme.
How to set up an online store on WordPress correctly, what do you need to do for this? First of all, you need to tweak the basic parameters for yourself - change the currency, set the terms of payment and delivery, delete / add modules, etc. Separately "play around" with the settings of the purchased template, which will help you see the face of your trading platform.
After completing all the work on creating an online store on WordPress from scratch, you can start filling the site with content. At this stage, you need to upload products, create descriptions and fill in specifications, add a section with news and articles.
Since WordPress itself is not designed to create online trading platforms, it is necessary to install special plugins to expand the basic set of capabilities of the "engine". Before creating an online store on the WordPress platform, you will need to choose any of the presented plugins, which can be installed absolutely free of charge.
After activating the plugin like woocommerce currency switcher on WP, the Products tab will appear, which includes several functions: editing and adding items/categories, adding product names and SEO descriptions, creating discount coupons for customers, etc.
The plugin is installed partly in English. The special tab "Jigoshop" presents various functions: store contents (products/categories), latest orders, sales reports, discount coupons, etc.
WP Shop. The WP Shop plugin. It allows you to create product cards, set a price in the desired currency, add purchases to the cart, and place an order. If you encounter any problems with the extension, you can go to the official website and ask a consultant.
