WooCommerce is the most popular and powerful e-commerce plugin that provides the functionality of converting your WordPress site to an online shop. The platform is fully customizable and has a very large user base.
You can use WooCommerce to run any type of online store and popular brands such a Singer, Air Stream, and All Blacks fully rely on the technology to run their beautiful web stores. If you are a developer, the platform is fully extendable and adaptable according to your client’s needs.
In this guide, we will focus on how to install WooCommerce plugin on your WordPress site.
Prerequisites
- A domain name
- A hosting space
- WordPress content management system
- WordPress login credentials.
Special note: E-commerce websites have different needs, among other reasons – because reliability and security become greater concerns when dealing with payments. You can read about the best ecommerce hosting services on Hostadvice, and consult with expert and user reviews before making your choice.
Step 1: Login to your WordPress Site
Make sure your WordPress domain and hosting are working. Then, log in to your admin control panel. Assuming your domain name is www.example.com, you will have to type www.example.com/wp-admin on your web browser.
You will need to enter your WordPress username (or email) and password to log in as shown below:
Step 2: Install the Woocommerce plugin
Once you are logged in, navigate to ‘Plugins’ on the left pane and click on ‘Add new’ at the top of the page as shown below:
Then, search for ‘WooCommerce’ on the text box and click on the ‘Install Now’ button as shown on the image below:
Woocommerce plugin will be successfully installed on your WordPress site unless there is a problem with your server settings.
Step 3: Activate the WooCommerce plugin
You can now click the ‘Plugins’ menu on the left pane to view the list of plugins on your WordPress site. Then, locate WooCommerce and click on the ‘activate’ button as shown below:
Step 4: WooCommerce Setup
You will now get a welcome message to run the setup wizard for the WooCommerce plugin. Click ‘Run the Setup Wizard’ because you are opening WooCommerce for the first time.
On the next screen, you will be required to fill some information about your store including; store location, address, city, zip (postcode), currency and the type of products you want to sell.
Once you have confirmed the information, click on the ‘Let’s go’ button.
The next step is about payment settings in most cases, you will be taking PayPal payments on your website. You will need to enter the email address associated with your PayPal account as shown below:
Customize your shipping methods and units of measure on the next screen and click continue
On the next screen, you will get some recommended settings from Woocommerce. You can disable them as required or skip the step at the bottom, then click continue to proceed.
The next screen prompts you to connect your store with Jetpack, you may skip the step.
Finally, your store is now ready and you can start listing new products. To start, you will just need to enter a product name, image, price, and some description. Then you will have to publish the products once you are through with data entry.
Once you have entered a product, it will be available for sale on your website. Customers can order the product by clicking on the Add to Cart button
Conclusion
Setting up WooCommerce is not a complicated process. This is why most developers and online store owners prefer the platform because it is easy to set up. Listing and selling products are very easy even without additional third-party tools. You now have the control to sell products on your websites with WooCommerce integration which is fully compatible with any WordPress Site. We hope you enjoyed reading the guide.
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