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 $6.95 / 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!!! Thank you so much for such an amazing page! You have boosted my motivation to learn to use WordPress after some people told me to forget the idea because it is “too complicated”, so thank you!
I have just one question before I embarked on this experience. I would like check with you if the propose I am looking to have is possible with WordPress. I would like to create an online store to promote the products I sell on amazon. Can I have an plug in “buy with amazon” instead of the common purchasing/delivery options?
Any information about this I would highly appreciate it!
Cheers,
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa,
Please see our article on how to build an amazon affiliate store using WordPress.
You guys are awesome! Thanks for the wonderful information and tips <3 <3
The scope of my business licence is Canada-wide.
1) Can I still sell products, both digital ebooks(my major business items) and physical goods(my minor and potential business items) to non-Canada regions, e.g. USA, UK, China, etc.?
2) My bank account that is to be linked to Woocommerce is in Canada Dollar. If my ebooks and goods are purchased by non-Canada region customers, can Woocommerce convert the C$ product amount to the customer region’s currency, and show it on the client webpage ahead before the customer make the transaction? Also can Woocommerce do the opposite when processing returns and refunds?
Thank you very much.
Hi Edward,
1. Yes.
2. WooCommerce itself does not process payments. It depends on the payment method you choose (Stripe or PayPal), and your bank. For example, Stripe allows Canada based users to receive payouts in Canadian or US dollars. If you have a local currency account, then you can select your local currency as your settlement currency.
I purchased a theme with WP+WooCommerce on Envato Market. They say the theme is only good to use with WP.org and not compatible with WP.com Is it anyway I can still install it on WP.com host or I just wasted my money? What should I do now? Look for another theme which is compatible with commercial host? If I switch to BlueHost from my current host, can they make use of this theme so I don’t loose money? My current host does not help beginners like BlueHost does. In fact, I have no help at all, unless I always pay them for every little thing. If I transfer my existing domain to Bluehost, will it be free of charge? Thanks a lot for your quick reply.
Hi Natasha,
Yes, if you switch to Bluehost then you can use the theme you have purchased. To learn more, see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Hello. Please, is it compulsory to do the plan for 36 months or we can pay per month?
Kindly respond because I was about to start the process but noticed that it only had the $6.95 for 36 months which defeats the affordability, to be honest.
Kindly respond. Thank you.
Hi Bolaji,
Yes, this gives you the maximum discount on the offer.
When I put my payment info, will I get charged per month ( $14.95) or per year ($ 179.40)?
Hi Remi,
You will be charged anually and you will be able to select the duration during the sign up. It will also show you the total amount you will be charged when you are entering your payment info.
Hi!!!
Thank you so much for the information! I took the leap of faith and got the hosting through your affiliate link (to make sure you get the referral fees because you’re worth it!)
Yay to you! LOL
Hey Fanya,
Thank you, we are glad you found this information helpful.
How do i create and connect database/database table in wordpress(form)
1.Is it a Multi Address extension to collect shipping addresses for each basket purchases?
2. How can i use my own graphics for the site?
Hello,
Thanks for the useful information though I have a question as a future online seller. I’m an artist currently working on my website and I’ll be selling my artworks on it through Woocommerce using Paypal. When selling do I need to be a registered business in the country I’m residing and pay taxes, or everything is handled by Paypal tax invoice system?
Thank you in advance!
Can you please explain. How to ship products?
Hi Suraj,
It depends on your location, size of products, and delivery methods available. Many small businesses process their orders by getting them picked up by a delivery service.
Can you explain… What is shipping? And how to ship.
I have two questions
1) I am wanting to set up an online store that includes my blog. Is this possible using wordpress and/or Woocommerce?
2) I already have a domain that is not through WordPress. Can I use this domain still, or do I have to get one through WordPress in order to use your services?
Thank you!
Hey Liberty,
1. Yes, you can create a WordPress website and run a WooCommerce store and a blog on it.
2. There are two types of WordPress websites. WordPress.com which is a hosted solution. You will need at least business plan to install WooCommerce on WordPress.com.
Then there is WordPress.org, which is a self-hosted solution. You will need a domain name and hosting for that. In both cases, you can use the domain name you already have.
Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Hi,
I got a theme with built in WOO Commerce.
I wanna sell my EBook through my BLOG.
Pls tell me a way by which it will be delivered to the user automatically who buys it.
MK
So glad to come across your website, thank you. I have two questions.
1- How do I prevent a person I add to wordpress to see information on my woocommerce with client and sales?
2-I set up the store but cannot seem to sort products in the order I want. How do I do that?
Hi Rana,
Make sure that the person you add has appropriate user role and permissions.
You can sort products by visiting WooCommerce > Settings page. Under the Products tab you will see the default product sorting option.
Someone asked this question in an earlier post and I don’t see a reply for it. I also want to know your reply to this question:
“How do I get manufacturers and suppliers to sell products on my store? Basically I don’t wanna sell my products. I want to open a store like Amazon which sells other’s products”
Hi Alisha,
Please see our article on how to create an online marketplace using WordPress.
thank you for the tutorial. I want to ask is it work for Morroco
Hi ElMokhtar,
Yes, it would. All you need is a credit card to purchase your hosting.
Is this working here in Philippines?
Hey Jennelyn,
Yes, it should be working in Philippines and every other country
Hi, thank you for your article. I’ve actually bought a domain from bluehost, and i want to build a web that both contain my blog/article and the online shop. Is it possible for me to set “Shop” as 1 page of my blog that my viewers can click and link to online shop?
Hi Kennie,
Yes you can have a blog and a shop page on your site.
Hello,
I am looking at opening my own online shop as well. I have a few questions.
1. Do you have to get a small business license before setting up online?
2. How do you know if you need to charge taxed?
3. When someone makes a purchase, does this automatically give you an invoice to print off for each order?
Thanks for your time.
Hi Jaime,
First, good luck with your online shop
Now to answer your questions:
1. It depends on where you are located. You can usually find this out by typing this question with your location (city, county, state, or country) next to it.
2. This too can be found out online. Once you know the figures you can add enable taxes option in WooCommerce to calculate taxes.
3. You can enable invoices and print them.
That’s a great guide. I will buy a domain here and connect with woo commerce.
But I have a question.
How do I get manufacturers and suppliers to sell products on my store? Basically I don’t wanna sell my products. I want to open a store like Amazon which sells other’s products.
Hi. Your blog was very helpful. Just one question. Does database automatically created when you install wordpress on bluehost?
Hi Braile,
Yes. Their automated setup takes care of it.
Hi I just have a question!
If I want to make a website for my client who will be responsible for buying domain name, web hosting service and SSL certificate?
Also will I have to ask for PayPal account of the client?
Hello sir
I am an artist from India. Recently buy a wordpress hosting plan. I want to built a website just to welcome other artist also to show their artworks. How can it bw possible. The woocommerce, Dokan, Wp marketplace plugin shows the vendor forms that is not suitable for artists. I need to built artist registration, login, dashboard, uplord artwork forms for this websites. Can you help me plz.
hi
is this working in france too?
thanks
Hi Ana,
Yes, it works in France too.
Hi sir,
i am facing problem in woo commerce shipping setting
your guidance is amazing.
Hi. I have Personal plan for WP. Do I have to upgrade before setting up the store following this tutorial? Thank you.
Hi Dagmar,
Seems like you are using WordPress.com. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
I would love to learn how to have a page dedicated to Amazon. I want to do a bookstore through Amazon. I can’t find any plugins that work and I don’t want a dedicated site, just a page. How can I do this?
Hi, may I know how long does it take to set up SSL? I have followed your instruction and changed “http” to “https”. However, the changes are still not reflected. My site is still not secured. Any advice for this?
Hi there,
I recently bought a domain name on Shopify and haven’t subscribed to anything yet and still running on the trial phase for the next few days but after reading your article I’m much more interested in following these steps explained above. Am I gonna have to buy another domain name or will I be able to use the one I just purchased?
Thank you
Sonia
Hi Sonia,
You can use the same domain. You will need to change its DNS settings and point them to Bluehost.
Hi there,
I have an onlive store with Shopify but want to move to wordpress and woocommerce. How do I change the DNS setting to move my domain to bluehost. Also, can i just buy the $2.95 Hosting and install free woocommerce? Or does it need to be the plan you mentioned, 6.95? What about backup? Would I need to purchase that as well? Thanks.
Hi Esther,
You can change your domain name settings in Shopify by visiting Online Store > Domains and then under Shopify Managed Domains section click on your domain name. Next click on DNS settings to edit them.
WooCommerce is a bit more resource intensive than a typical starter WordPress blog. That’s we recommend their eCommerce plan it is optimized for WooCommerce hosting.
Good tips really nice. I tried following your steps i select $6.95 per month and chose a domain name….on getting to paying with my credit card I received a message ” insufficient fund on my account ” of which I do know I have more than $6.95 on my account. Please is this a familiar error message , are there other hidden charges or am I missing something? Please I really need your advice. Doing this is so important to me. Thanks
Hi Patrick,
This could be a temporary error. If your card wasn’t charged, you can retry again. If the same error occurs again, please contact their support staff.
Hi, read your article and found the article very informative. But still have one query how can we add a login and register feature(just like a seller in flipkart) who can have these own market place.
Hoping for answers
Thanks and best regards
Hello, I want to create an online store but I just bought a domain and hosting plan on another platform. Does my domain have to be with WordPress, do I have to transfer it or I can go ahead with the already made domain
Hi Beth,
If your hosting provider supports WordPress then you can start there. Othwerwise, you may want to consider moving your site.
I want to know the difference between using normal wordpress bluehost, then install woocommerce plugins for free and using bluehost wordpress + woocommerce. isn’t the first option more affordable and cheaper?
Hi Mohamed Ramadan,
Yes, and WooCommerce would probably run too. However, resources on shared servers are very low and WooCommerce is a very transactional app. If you start getting more customers your site will slow down, shared host may block your processes to save other sites from slowing down, and transactions may not complete due to slow site or server interruptions. That’s why we recommend using Bluehost‘s eCommerce plan.
Thanks for this great WooCommerce tutorial! I’ve installed the plugin and started setting everything up but I noticed that WooCommerce has automatically pulled products from my existing /products page. This is incorrect and these items should not be populated on my WooCommerce /shop page. But when I delete these items from the WooCommerce products tab, it actually deletes them from my /products page as well. I absolutely don’t want WooCommerce automatically populating their /store page with information from any of my other pages and can’t seem to find a way to prevent this from happening. Do you have any advice for me?
Hi Jenny,
It seems like your product pages have the same post type as WooCommerce products. One thing that you can try is switching your older products to a different post type. See our article on how to switch post types in WordPress. However, this could have adverse consequences like broken links. Make sure you create a complete WordPress backup before you try this.
hi i want to make onlinestore in which there is every thing including gift items also what can i have to do?
Hello, why does checkout, basket…… appear on the menu list. I thinks thats abnormal; please how do i make them invisible to my site visitors.
Also on my site (customizr pro theme) submenus do not appear under their parent menus (I mean sub menus are supposed to be invisible until you hover or click the parent) how do i resolve this.
Thanks.
Hello, weldone.Pls i am interested in settling up a blog for job/vacancies advertisement and online store like WooCommerce.pls how do i get started?
Hi Yomi,
For an online store please follow the instructions above. For vacancies and jobs you may want to checkout our article on how to add a job board in WordPress.
Hello We are trying to decide to use shopify or woocommerce we already have a website. We will be selling hobby shop items-drones &RC cars from our website. And our website was built on wordpress. I have heard that woocommerce is a little more technical than shopify. Our situation is one where we would like our web developer to build the initial ecommerce site & then train someone at our shop to maintain & sell/load products. We plan on a 100 or so SKUs to start & grow from there.
Which would you recommend woocommerce or Shopify & why please?
Hi,
Can you list Amazon products (dropship) through WooCommerce? If so, how?
Hi ,
I would like to have an ecommerce store but I am based in South Africa and will only be selling in S.A do I get a co.za Domain? And does stripe work with all credit cards? Can I also add Visa and MasterCard to receive payments?
How to setup an order popup notification to visiting customers on woocommerce website????, just like wpforms.com. website.
Hi Sarah,
WPForms.com uses OptinMonster for displaying popups.
Hi there, I like your articles. Nice read as usual. But 2 have one queries.
My site is largely a blog website and I have 5 major tabs on my menu bar.
1. I’ve installed the woocommerce but want to apply it only one of the menu bar(Page). Is it possible? If yes, please how do I go about it.
2. How do I access the information when my viewers comment on my blog?
Hi Samuel,
1. You can add the shop page to your navigation menu.
2. You can see comments inside your WordPress admin area by clicking on the comments menu.
Hello. Why do we need woocommerce and why do we have to pay for woocommerce
Hi Bereket,
WooCommerce is an eCommerce software. It allows you to sell things from your WordPress website. Just like WordPress, you will need web hosting to run it which will cost you money.
Is there no simple solution? Woo Commerce is way too complicated to create simple shop pages ..
Hi , I want to set up my own e commerce site , read your whole article , its just wonderful , just have 2 query
1) What type of payment gateway is useful for both national and international customer like in India we have Instamojo , PayUMoney and RazorPay as provider whereas PayPal and CC Avenue is also nice option for International Transaction.
2) On creating e commerce website , will there a tab avail a space can be made in wordpress to create a separate TAB for Blog wherein i can upload the Blog related to my products to sell online on my portals.
3) And How far the Woo Commerce is compare to Shopify on parameter to Safety Layer , Payment Transaction ,Website functionality like buffering and loading and stopage /loading time on internet of e commerce site while creating in wordpress+woo-commerce.
Hi Nirav,
1. It actually depends on your target customers. If you will be serving customers in both India and other countries, then you will need to find payment gateways convenient for your target customers.
2. Yes, you can add a blog to your ecommerce website in WordPress.
3. WordPress is quite secure. On your self hosted website you are responsible for keeping backups and performance. It is a little more work than Shopify but will give you freedom to choose the tools you want to use.
Thank you so much for the instruction!
Hi, i already have a domain name. i like to start a website of price comparison. where from branded store i can display the amount of these product. i want to start with electronics items like mobile and some gadgets. this is a simple store making web design. would you please help me to create this website.
Hi! I’m so happy I stumbled upon this article. I have a question, I already have a domain and hosting package with go daddy. Have had it for years. Can I do all this in godaddy or is it not compatible? Thank you!
Hi Anaely,
Yes you can do that on GoDaddy. However, you will still need an SSL Certifcate which you’ll have to purchase.
Hi there! I don’t have a credit card. Can I use my debit card, instead, for my registration? Thanks!
Hi Dawn,
Please contact your bank to check if you can make online payments with your debit card.