Do you want to start your own online store? We know that building an online store can be a terrifying thought especially when you are not a techy. Well, you’re not alone. After helping hundreds of users start their online store, we have decided to create the most comprehensive guide on how to build your online store with WordPress (step by step)
What Do You Need to Start an Online Store?
There had never been a better time to start an online business than today.
Anyone with a computer can get started within a matter of minutes and without acquiring any special skills.
The three things you need to start an online store are:
- A domain name idea (this will be the name of your online store i.e wpbeginner.com)
- A web hosting account (this is where your website lives on the internet)
- Your undivided attention for 30 minutes.
Yep, it is really that simple.
You can setup your own online store with WordPress in less than 30 minutes and we’ll walk you through each step of the process.
In this tutorial, we will cover:
- How to Register a Domain Name for Free
- How to Choose the Best WooCommerce Hosting
- How to Get a SSL Certificate for Free (required for accepting payments)
- How to Install WordPress
- How to Create a WooCommerce store
- How to Add Products in your Online Store
- How to Select and Customize Your Theme
- How to Extend Your Online Store with Plugins
- Learning to Learn WordPress & Grow Your Business
Ready? Let’s get started.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
Step 1: Setting up Your Online Store Platform
The biggest mistake most users make is not choosing the right platform for their online store.
Thankfully you’re here, so you won’t be making that mistake.
There are two popular eCommerce platforms that we recommend: Shopify or WordPress + WooCommerce.
Shopify is a fully hosted eCommerce solution that starts at $29 / month. It’s a hassle-free solution where you just login and start selling. The downside to Shopify is that it gets quite expensive, and your payment options are limited unless you pay additional fees.
This is why most users choose WordPress + WooCommerce because of the flexibility it offers. It does require some setup, but it’s worth doing it for the long run. WooCommerce is the world’s largest eCommerce platform (see: Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison).
In this tutorial, we will walk you through how to setup an online store in WordPress using WooCommerce.
To setup your store, you need to have a domain name, web hosting, and a SSL certificate.
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. It is what users will type in their browsers to reach your website (for example: google.com or wpbeginner.com).
Web hosting is where your website lives on the internet. It’s your website’s house on the internet. Every website on the internet needs web hosting.
SSL certificate adds a special security layer on your website, so you can accept sensitive information such as credit card numbers and other personal information. This is required for you to accept credit card payments on your website.
Normally a domain name costs around $14.99 / year, web hosting costs around $7.99 / month, and SSL certificate costs around $69.99 / year.
That’s a lot of startup cost.
Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress and WooCommerce recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a discount on web hosting.
Basically, you can get started for $3.95 / month.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←
Bluehost is one of the oldest web hosting companies, started in 1996 (that’s before Google). They are also the largest brand name when it comes to WordPress hosting because they host millions of websites including our own.
NOTE: At WPBeginner we believe in transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost using our referral link, we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain). We would get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we use personally use and believe will add value to our readers.
Let’s go ahead and purchase your domain + hosting + SSL.
Open up Bluehost in a new window using this link and follow along.
First thing you need to do is click on the green Get Started Now button to get started.
On the next screen, select the plan that you need (starter and plus are the most popular).
After that, you will be asked to enter the domain name for your website.
Lastly, you will need to add your account information and finalize the package info to complete the process. On this screen, you will see optional extras that you can purchase.
It’s entirely up to you whether or not you purchase these, but we generally don’t recommend purchasing these. You can always add them later on, if you decide that you need them.
Once completed, you will receive an email with details on how to login to your web hosting control panel (cPanel). This is where you manage everything from support, emails, among other things.
Go ahead and login to your cPanel. You will be greeted with a popup informing you that WordPress with WooCommerce is pre-installed on your website.
You just need to click on ‘Login to your site’ button, and it will take you to your WordPress site’s dashboard.
Congrats, you have finished setting up hosting and domain part.
The next step is to setup your WordPress site and then your online store.
Step 2. Setting up WordPress
Bluehost has automatically installed WordPress and WooCommerce on your website.
When you first login to WordPress, you will see a welcome message. You will be asked what kind of website you want to set up.
Go ahead and click on ‘I don’t need help’ link. Don’t worry we will walk you through all the necessary steps.
Closing the setup wizard will show your WordPress admin dashboard which looks like this:
First, you need to visit Settings » General page to setup your WordPress site title and description.
Setting up HTTPS to Use SSL
Your WordPress hosting package came with a free SSL Certificate. This certificate is pre-installed for your domain name. However, your WordPress site needs to be configured, so it loads as https vs http.
On the Settings » General page, you need to change your WordPress Address and Site Address to use https instead of http.
Don’t forget to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the save changes button to store your settings.
Your basic WordPress setup is complete. Now it is time to setup your online store.
Step 3. Setting up Your WooCommerce Store
Before you can start selling, there are a few things like currency, payments, and shipping information that you need to set up.
You will be seeing a ‘Welcome to WooCommerce’ notification on your WordPress admin pages. Go ahead and click on the ‘Run setup wizard’ button in the notification.
This will launch the WooCommerce setup wizard where you need to click on the ‘Let’s go’ button to get started.
WooCommerce needs few essential pages for cart, account, shop, and checkout. You can click on the continue button to automatically create these pages.
This will bring you to the next step.
Now you will need to tell WooCommerce where your store is located and which currency and unit measures to use.
After selecting your location and currency, click on the continue button to move on.
Next, you need to enter shipping and tax information.
WooCommerce can be used to sell both digital downloads and physical goods that need shipping.
You need to check the box if you will be shipping goods, or you can leave it unchecked if you will only be selling digital goods.
Next you need to answer the tax question. WooCommerce can help you automatically calculate and add taxes to your prices.
If you are not sure, then you can leave it unchecked. You can always add tax information later from WooCommerce settings.
Click on the continue button to move on.
Next, you will be asked to choose a payment method for your online store.
By default, WooCommerce comes with support for PayPal, PayPal Standard, and Stripe payment gateways. There are many other payment methods available for WooCommerce which you can install later if you need.
The easiest way to accept payment is using PayPal Standard.
Simply enter your PayPal email address and click on the continue button.
A lot of people including us, use both PayPal and Stripe. By using Stripe, you allow your users to enter their credit card information on the checkout page without having to leave your site and going to PayPal.
You can setup Stripe by following the instructions on the WooCommerce screen.
Once you’re done, your WooCommerce online store is all setup.
You need to click on the ‘Return to WordPress dashboard’ link to exit the setup wizard.
After finishing the WooCommerce setup, you are now ready to add products to your online store.
Step 4. Adding Products to Your Online Store
Let’s start with adding the first product to your online store.
You need to visit Products » Add New page to add a new product.
First, provide a title for your product and then some detailed description.
On the right hand column, you will see the ‘Product Categories’ box. Click on the ‘+Add New Product Category’ to create a category for this product. This allows you and your customers to sort and browse products easily.
Scroll down a little and you will notice the Product Data box. This is where you will provide product related information like pricing, inventory, shipping etc.
Below product data box, you will see a box to add product short description. This short description will be used when users are viewing multiple products on a page.
Lastly, on your right hand column you will see boxes to add a main product image and a product gallery.
Once you are satisfied with all the product information you have added, you can click on the Publish button to make it live on your website.
Repeat the process to add more products as needed.
Step 5. Select and Customize WordPress Theme
Themes control how your WordPress sites look to the users when they visit it. For a WooCommerce shop, they also control how your products are displayed.
There are thousands of paid and free WordPress themes available.
Your Bluehost hosting account, automatically installs the Storefront theme for your website. You will need to customize it to meet your needs.
Head over to Appearance » Customize page. This will launch theme customizer where you can change different theme settings.
If you don’t like the Storefront theme, then you can use another theme by visiting Appearance » Themes page.
If you need help selecting a theme, then please refer to our guide on 9 things you should consider when selecting a perfect WordPress theme.
Step 6. Extend Your Online Store With Plugins
Now that you have your online store ready, you probably want to get started with adding other usual elements on your website such as a contact form, about page, and more.
To further customize WordPress and add features like contact forms, galleries, sliders, etc, you need to use WordPress plugins.
WordPress plugins are apps that allow you to add new features to your website.
There are over 46,000 WordPress plugins available. At WPBeginner, we feature the best WordPress plugins to help you add the functionality that you need.
We have a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Here’s a list of 24 must have WordPress plugins for business websites and another one with 20+ best free WooCommerce plugins.
Often readers ask us which plugins do you use on your website. You can check out our Blueprint to see the list of plugins and tools that we use.
Learning WordPress to Grow Your Online Business
WordPress is incredibly powerful and WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners.
At WPBeginner, our main goal is to provide cutting-edge helpful WordPress tutorials that are easy to understand even for non-techy WordPress website owners (see more about us).
- WPBeginner Dictionary – Your one stop to learn the commonly used WordPress terms and lingo.
- WPBeginner Videos – New to WordPress? Watch these 23 videos to master WordPress.
- WPBeginner Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials.
You can also subscribe to WPBeginner’s YouTube Channel where we regularly share video tutorials to help you learn WordPress.
We also have a guide to show users how to make the most out of WPBeginner’s free resources.
Many of our users type their question in Google and just add wpbeginner at the end of it. This shows them related article from WPBeginner.
We hope that this tutorial helped you learn how to build an online store. You may also want to see these 19 actionable tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress site.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Hi there,
Thanks for a really informative site that I turn to to solve my WP issues. I have one now about this topic. I’ve read through the other questions that I can add a store to an existing WP site. Can I add the store link as a new menu item? I’m not a Macy’s as I’m just starting out?
Yes, you can and probably should use a menu item to link to the store on your site
Hi ,
Can i have the word press for blogging and store separately and give different names to both .as the purpose i want to use both is different
If you mean a different domain, while it is possible, it would normally be simpler to have two different sites for that.
Hi, I have set up my domain name, web hosting and SSl certificate with Bluehost but when I login into WP it I can’t find the woocommerce to set up my WP website
You may need to add the plugin under Plugins>Add New if it is not included.
Thanks for the good job. It’s been very helpful. Can a site hold more than one store?
It would depend on your goal as the store can hold as much content as you like. If you want multiple users selling on your site then you would want to take a look at our guide below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-an-online-marketplace-using-wordpress/
wish i found this before i tried to set it up on my own!!!
Great tips, thanks for sharing.
Glad you found our guide helpful
Hello,
Is this promotion still active? When I follow the link you provided, it just goes to bluehost. There is no option for 3.95.
BlueHost may have updated their pricing since the last update to this article.
Hi, I am at that step where I’m supposed t change HTTP to HTTPS, but it shows a temporary address for my WordPress address.
what do i do ?
should i change this to HTTPS ?
You would want to change your domain to the correct domain before activating HTTPS, if you reach out to your host they can help with updating your domain
I want to start an online store , I have a wordpress site. I do not want to bring the products to my place and send them to the customer, your article does not have suppliers. Once I find a supplier could I send it to the customer from the supplier ?
For what it sounds like you’re wanting, you would want to take a look at dropshipping which we cover in the article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/ultimate-dropshipping-guide-for-wordpress/
My dilemma is that we already have a domain. Do we need to create a separate domain (website address) to do this? We have some items that we want to offer those who browse our website. The store would not be the whole website. Only a part (page) of the site. I presume I can still use the blueprint you offered. Look forward to your response.
Yes, you can use this as part of a site instead of the entire site if you are wanting.
I wanna say a big thank to you. Your tutorial are awesome. Even a beginner can never get lost trying to follow the steps.
Glad you found our guide helpful
Great article. As I am beginner it will helps me to start an online store. Thanks for this valuable article.
Glad you found our guide helpful
I am helping set up my friend who wants to sell products on this site. It does not seem like when he purchased a web hosting account, he did not get the hosting and Woocommerse bandle, but can I add Woocommerse plug in now and follow your direction from there?
It would depend on the specific hosting but normally you should be able to add WooCommerce to different hosting even if it is not specifically a WooCommerce plan after which you can follow our guide.
Can WooCommerce be used for an ‘affiliate marketing” site?
Yes, it would depend on how you’re wanting to use it for how to set that up.
On WordPress I am only allowed a free website but it will have the wordpress extension in it unless I purchase a plan through wordpress as well?
That would be a WordPress.com site, our tutorials are for WordPress.org and you can take a look at the comparison in our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/
Can Woo Commerce be added to an existing WP site?
Yes, it can
Yes, of course.
You can get the WooCommerce, down the WordPress dashboard.
thanks.
great informations.
You’re welcome
I couldn’t find anymore clear instructions than what you have described. Great job!!
Thank you
Hi, I’ve followed the steps until setting up HTTPS to use SSL. I’ve changed it from http to https, now I can’t open the my wordpress. it loads as 404 NOT FOUND. I can’t access WordPress for my site anymore. How do I fix this?
More than likely there may be an issue with your SSL certificate. If you reach out to your hosting provider they should be able to assist.
good tutorial, thank you
You’re welcome
This is very informative along with the other tutorials I was reading from your page. It’s simplified, easy to comprehend and I wasn’t confused with technical jargon that would’ve have stirred me away to keep searching. Much appreciation for your time and effort to provide such resources so that others may learn and hopefully prosper from.
Glad you found our guide helpful
Nice information for beginner
Thank you
Hi! Your article and videos have been so helpful! I purchased a hosting package through Bluehost that preinstalled WordPress and WooCommerce. I notice in this article you install WooCommerce later after setting the site up. If I follow your instructions will it cause issues since WooCommerce is already installed? One thing that’s confusing is that there are pages already set up for WooCommerce that don’t match the theme that I chose. So things aren’t matching when previewing my shop and website pages.
No, it will not cause an issue.
I want to start online business
This article should help you do that
I like this video don’t forget to subsribe
Glad you liked our video
I cannot see the widgets live in my Sidebar what do I need to do?
You would want to start by clearing all caching, we have an article on this below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-clear-your-cache-in-wordpress/
Hi there, will WooCommerce be idea/suitable for selling tickets/making bookings for online events/classes/courses etc?
For booking plugins, we would recommend taking a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/5-best-wordpress-appointment-and-booking-plugins/
Incredible, it’s really a step by step tutorial, very helpful thanks
You’re welcome
Can I use the same information, the same way it’s being described for an online dropshipping business?
Because on dropshipping you don’t have the items you sell for a third party and get your commistion.
How does that work if I have to use this website?
For learning dropshipping you would want to take a look at our guide on dropshipping below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/ultimate-dropshipping-guide-for-wordpress/
You guys are doing great job am bless to have you by my side thanks
Glad we can be helpful and thank you for your kind words
Thanks for sharing the great blog. This is very informative for my shop online. thanks.
You’re welcome, glad our guide could be helpful
Wpbegginer is really good and amazing site to learn a lot for begginers……..we support and appreciate you….
Thank you, glad you like our content
Great article!! Very useful for beginners
Thank you, glad you found our article helpful
Folks, when I posted this article link in linkedin, the caption for the image was “How to start an online store in 2019” You might want to update that.
Thank you for letting us know
I would like to set up my art gallery with just a Buy it Now button from PayPal. Is this possible or do I have to use WooCommerce?
For single items you could do that, WooCommerce gives you more tools for showing and tracking purchases on your site.
Great tutorial! I’m in the process of setting up an e-commerce business but don’t have my branding / business name yet.
In the meantime I want to start a blog to start building my audience.
If I start the blog with a particular name and domain name, and then decide to launch the business under another name – will this cause me a big issue in future?
Thanks,
Medha
Long term it should not cause an issue but in the short term, you may see a drop in visitors.
When I use your affiliate link to purchase hosting from Bluehost with wordpress and woocommerce is this a wordpress.org or a wordpress.com site? Thanks.
You would be creating a WordPress.org site
Hi, nice tutorial, but…
I am looking to create an online showroom (for antiques, second-hand furniture etc.) but do NOT want a shopping cart – I don’t want people to be able to order online.
I have read that this can be called catalog mode…
Do you have any views (or experience) of how this can be achieved?
Thanks
For creating a catalog, you would want to take a look at our How to Create a Product Catalog article here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-create-a-product-catalog-in-wordpress-without-a-shopping-cart/
This is a great tutorial. I’m curious about setting up a platform for mobile users and if that’s a whole different animal. I’m looking to launch a merch Store but would like to have the option to have mobile support as well
As long as your theme does not have issues on mobile browsers this should also work for mobile devices.
I love the information you provided. I’m interested in starting an Online Store to sell products and I would like to sell my own Courses. Can that be done on one website?
You can certainly sell courses on your site, we would normally recommend using an LMS plugin for your courses. For some recommended LMS plugins you could take a look at our list here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/best-wordpress-lms-plugins-compared/
Thank you very much for the update. Was a bit confused and I thought having an online store would be expensive, a lot of work and demanding, after reading. However, with the screenshots and explanation provided it seems a lot more easier.
Thank you very much for the information.
Glad our article was able to simplify the process for you
Impressive blog.
Thank you
I’m new and am eager to get started. I have a domain and FatCow is my hosting service. Can WooCommerce work with it? I am intending to promote both digital and material content/products. Anything else I should do…besides study WPBeginner…:)
WooCommerce should work on any hosting provider, for now our recommendation is to go through our articles and take a look at the WooCommerce documentation on WooCommerce’s site
Where do the actual products come from?
Either yourself or if you’re creating an affiliate store you could take a look at our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-build-an-amazon-affiliate-store-using-wordpress/
Great for beginners ,iam a 77 year old man I love business this was great for me
I want to open an on line store at this time I continue to learn .
We will talk iam just about ready
Thank you JJ
Thank you, glad our article could be helpful
Thank you for the in depth post. I’m getting ready to switch my ecommerce site from weebly to WordPress woocommerce.
I currently have my hosting on hostgator.
I have a couple of questions.
1. Should I use WordPress. Com or WordPress. Org as recommended by other bloggers?
2. Are the instructions in this blog valid for hostgator?
Thanks in advance
If you are signing up on HostGator your site would be a WordPress.org site. Our instructions should work on any host other than the installation steps as hosts can have different installation tools for WordPress.
Very impactful, I really learnt a lot.
Thank you, glad our article could be helpful
Great post giving all reqd information step by step. Your posts are free tutorials.
Thank you, glad you like our free tutorials
Thanks for providing this information. I definitely have a better idea of how to set this up on my own.
You’re welcome, glad our guide could be helpful
I am really impressed by WordPress I thought that to make an online store would be hard but it’s easy after reading this article whereby I learnt that I can setup the website in 30 minutes and how to install Woocommerce which is the heart of online store.Thanks for the information.
You’re welcome, glad our article could be helpful
Thanks for this detailed guide.
With your help, I set up my WP site in 2017 through BlueHost.
I have just added the WooCommerce Plugin as I try to set up a way of directly selling my ebooks.
I was able to upload a PDF file for one of my books but not a .mobi (for Kindle) file. The error message said that type of file could not be uploaded for security reasons.
Am I doing something wrong or do I need a different plugin?
Thanks for your interest and support.
For fixing that error, you would want to take a look at our guide here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-add-additional-file-types-to-be-uploaded-in-wordpress/