How to Create a WordPress Online Store – Step-by-Step Guide

Selling products simply and uncomplicatedly on the internet - no problem with an online shop on WordPress! We'll show you how it's done!

Table of contents
  1. What advantages a WordPress online shop offers
  2. What is needed to create a WordPress online shop
  3. WooCommerce – the WordPress extension for your online shop!
  4. Step-by-step guide to setting up a WordPress online store
  5. Optimizing your shop
  6. Conclusion

Do you want to sell your products online? Fortunately these days, it's easier than ever! Especially popular is setting up an online shop on WordPress. What you should consider, what success factors there are and how to optimize your shop later, we show you in the following step-by-step guide!

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What advantages a WordPress online shop offers

  • Great selection of design templates: There are many reasons why you should create your online shop with WordPress. First of all, the Content Management System (CMS) offers a large selection of themes and design templates that make it easy for you to customize and design your shop. So adapting your shop to your personal preferences and the corporate design of your company is child's play!

  • Plugins that make life easier: The process of creating itself is also simple: As a rule, you do not need programming skills when working with WordPress. Of course, basic technical knowledge doesn't hurt either. But many requirements for your online shop can be conveniently solved with plugins on WordPress. Especially popular is using WooCommerce. This plugin allows you to manage and operate your WordPress online shop. In another article, we will show you 7 providers for your WooCommerce hosting.

  • Easy to use: Another advantage of WordPress is the user-friendliness. The user interface is intuitive and it's very easy to add new pages, upload products, and edit content. So you can be sure that you have control over the shop and can always update it.

  • SEO made easy: WordPress is also ideal for beginners in terms of search engine optimization: with various plugins like Yoast you can optimize the website and thus attract more visitors to the shop. In addition, it makes it easy to add meta tags and keywords, which in turn improves the search engine ranking.

All this shows: An online shop on WordPress is worth it – the system offers many possibilities for the design of the shop as well as for SEO optimization. With the right theme and the right plugins, anyone can create the perfect shop!

What is needed to create a WordPress online shop

It's time to set up a WordPress online shop. However, there are a few things to consider before you start. We'll look at the necessary prerequisites and some planning aspects to get started.

First, you need a domain name and a web hosting provider for your shop. Depending on how much traffic your site generates and which WordPress plugins you want to use, you should choose the right package here. You can find a large selection of providers in our web hosting category on OMR Reviews.

It is also important that your site is equipped with SSL encryption so that your customers can make secure purchases. In addition, you need to install and edit a suitable WordPress theme. As already mentioned, there are numerous templates on the internet that you can download for free or for a fee. Choose the theme that best suits your brand and edit it until it meets your expectations.

Finally, you should look at the plugins you install. Here too, there are numerous possibilities, from e-commerce plugins to SEO plugins. So think carefully about which ones you need and which ones you don't. If you take these steps into account and plan carefully, you will soon be successful with your WordPress online shop.

WooCommerce – the WordPress extension for your online shop!

It is undisputed that a powerful e-commerce plugin is necessary for every online shop to succeed. If you are looking for such an extension, then you should take a look at WooCommerce. The plugin offers a variety of features for WordPress, enabling you to set up your own online shop on WordPress quickly and easily.

These features include managing product catalogs, processing orders, and controlling billing. It also offers some useful tools that let you customize your website in no time. With the WooCommerce plugin, you have the possibility to add and manage various payment methods.

Even if you don't have any technical knowledge, don't worry – the plugin is intuitive and makes it very easy to expand and personalize your shop. The best thing about WooCommerce is the price: it is completely free! With the plugin, you get all the functions and features you need to run your online shop completely free of charge.

In addition, regular updates are provided for the plugin, ensuring that it always remains up to date and is able to block any potential security threats.

There are many other advantages to using this plugin: You get access to a broader range of products and categories than if you were trying to do everything manually; there are more design options for the shop; it is much faster than other available plugins; it supports international payment options; finally, it offers your business more flexibility in expanding.

Of course, there are also many other popular e-commerce WordPress plugins on the market. So if you're looking for something that has even more features than WooCommerce or maybe something completely different, you might want to take a look at Magento or Shopify. Both offer similar features to WooCommerce - but with more flexibility and options - but are associated with higher costs. Overall, WooCommerce is an excellent e-commerce plugin for running an online shop with versatile features and functions.

However, despite all the advantages, WooCommerce has a major flaw: it is designed for the U.S. market and doesn't take into account any regulations valid in Germany like the GDPR. But fortunately, the ingenious WordPress community provides a solution here as well: With 'Germanized for WooCommerce' you can extend the plugin so that your online shop is legally secure for the German market.

Step-by-step guide to setting up a WordPress online store

You have now created all the important basics to create your WordPress online store. It's time to take the next step and install the necessary plugins. In the following, we are assuming a setup using the plugin WooCommerce.

1. Choosing the right theme: To run your shop on WordPress, you need to use a WooCommerce-compatible theme. Such a design template offers you special advantages that can help in the setup and management of your shop.

2. Install the WooCommerce Plugin: Once you've selected the right theme, you need to install the WooCommerce plugin. With this plugin, you can add your products and categories, set prices, and add payment methods. The plugin also offers you many other features such as order tracking, vouchers, and automated email notifications to customers and much more. To install the plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard and search for the plugin under the 'Plugins' section and click 'Install'.

3. Add Products: Once the plugin is installed, you can start adding products to your shop. To do this, go to the 'Products' page in your WordPress dashboard and click on 'Add' to upload a new product. Here you can enter details about the product, set prices, and add categories. With WooCommerce, you have numerous possibilities to individualize your product information.

4. Add payment options: Once the products are set up, you need to set up payment options for your shop. To do this, go to the 'Settings' section in the WooCommerce menu on your WordPress dashboard and then click on 'Payment Methods' to set different options for your shop. Your choices here include credit card payment or PayPal for example.

5. Manage your orders: Now it's time to set up your order tracking - this is very important so that you know what orders have been processed or shipped. For this, still go to the 'Settings' section in the WooCommerce menu on your WordPress dashboard and then click on 'Order Status' to set different options for your shop.

Optimizing your shop

You have created an online store and are ready to conquer the world with your products. But there are still a few things you need to pay attention to in order to achieve the best success. With the following tips and tricks, you can maximize your chances of more conversions:

  • Measuring Data: You should regularly monitor the data of your website visitors and conversions to see which measures are most effective. By measuring the number of your customers and conversions, you can find out what works and what doesn't. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or HotJar, to accurately determine where your audience is coming from and how it navigates through your shop.

  • Draw conclusions: Once you have collected the data, you should draw conclusions and find out which pages are the most visited or where users drop out the most. Based on this, you can determine where optimization measures are necessary.

  • Take optimization measures: After you figured out what works and what doesn't, it's time for optimization measures. For example, you could create a more user-friendly navigation or conduct A/B tests for different design elements or landing pages. This way, you can find out which version works best and generates more conversions. So if you want to make your online shop successful, you need to take data collection seriously and take optimization measures, whether it's about design elements or the content of your site. Data collection is the key to more conversions!

Conclusion

Anyone who wants to open a successful online shop can realize their vision with WordPress. It pays off to follow some basic rules: search engine optimization is the be-all and end-all, good content is just as crucial. Technical developments such as plugins offer additional functions and thus more comfort for your customers. We wish you every success in creating your online shop!

Nils Knäpper
Author
Nils Knäpper

Nils ist SEO-Texter bei OMR Reviews und darüber hinaus ein echter Content-Suchti. Egal, ob Grafik, Foto, Video oder Audio – wenn es um digitale Medien geht, ist Nils immer ganz vorne mit dabei. Vor seinem Wechsel zu OMR war er fast 5 Jahre lang als Content-Manager und -Creator in einem Immobilienunternehmen tätig und hat zudem eine klassische Ausbildung als Werbetexter.

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