How To Set Up Your WooCommerce Store

December 6, 2023

Are you a new ecommerce store owner? Are you wondering how to set up your WooCommerce store? If you’re still undecided about which ecommerce platform to go with, check out our guide to the best ecommerce platforms, and our WooCommerce and Shopify comparison. 

If you’ve decided to go with WooCommerce for its affordability, control, and customization, (we think you made the right choice), the next step is setting up your WooCommerce store.

Get your Web Hosting and Domain Name

The first step to set up your WooCommerce store is to set up your hosting and get a domain for your new online store. Don’t be scared – it’s not as complicated as it sounds. 

There are tons of hosting and domain providers to choose from to make your life easier. Nexcess, Bluehost, and SiteGround are some of the most notable hosting providers for WooCommerce. BlueHost and SiteGround both provide the necessary hosting features at a very affordable price. Nexcess, while a more expensive option, offers more functionality and is more user-friendly.

Nexcess WordPress hosting
Via Nexcess
bluehost woocommerce hosting
Via Bluehost

Whatever hosting provider you choose, they will have a few different plans to choose from. Most basic hosting plans will include your domain, a single website, a specific quantity of storage and space, and an SSL certificate. Most hosting providers will only cost a few dollars a month.

Get Your WordPress Site

Now that you have a hosting plan set up, you can go ahead and install WordPress. Your hosting provider will probably give you the option to simply install it directly on your hosting account. If not, download WordPress yourself following these instructions

Activate WooCommerce

Once you have your WordPress website up and running, the next step to set up your WooCommerce is to install the WooCommerce extension. The easiest way to do this is is to install it directly through your WordPress Plugin Directory. 

Simply log into your WordPress account, select Plugins>Add New, and use the search bar to look up “WooCOmmerce.” Hit Install, and Activate once it’s finished installing.

That’s it! You now have WooCommerce.

Set Up Your WooCommerce Store

Next, WooCommerce will walk you through your store setup. 

First, it will ask you some basic questions about your store, such as your location, business type, and currency, for example. You can always go in and change your WooCommerce settings, as well.

Next, select which payment methods to have in your online store. WooCommere’s default options are Stripe and Paypal. If you’d like to use different payment options, you can later install additional extensions to let your customers use different payment methods.

Next, configure your shipping settings, such as your shipping zones, shipping and shipping rates.

The configuration Wizard will recommend some addons for your store, such as MailChimp and Facebook (you can skip these for now if you’d like to keep it simple and just set up your store – you can return to this setup any time). It also prompts you to select the Storefront Theme, a WordPress theme designed for WooCommerce. This is optional, and you can always opt for another theme for your online store. 

Before you’re finished setting up, it will also prompt you to install Jetpack, a type of all-one-one extension to help you with various aspects of your online store, including security, site speed, analytics, and design tools. Completely optional, but it may be useful to have. 

Finally, once you’ve finished setting up your WooCommerce, the Wizard will prompt you to create your products. 

Adding Products 

You can select the prompt given to you by the Setup Wizard, you can select Products > Add New

Creating your product is quite simple. Name your product, enter a product description, and scroll down to enter your product price. Here you can enter sale prices, taxes, and barcode if necessary. If your product is a variable product – a product with variations such as different colors or sizes for example – you can select that at the top of the product data section.

Select the Inventory tab to enter your product stock, and Shipping allows you to enter weight and size for shipping calculations. Select Attributes to create different attributes for your product – this can be used for your product variations. For example, if you have a hat that comes in both blue and green, create an attribute for green and blue. You can then use these attributes to manage the different stock levels and prices for each variation. 

Themes

If you didn’t opt for the Storefront theme during your setup, there are a ton of other WooCommerce themes to make your online store look amazing. The WordPress Theme Library has a ton of options, but there are other third party theme marketplaces for you to buy even more aesthetically pleasing and unique WooCommerce themes to make your store stand out.

Extensions 

Sell In-Store

If you’re also selling from a physical store front, or if you plan on doing so after setting up your WooCommerce, there are a ton of options for WooCommerce POS systems that help you sell smoothly from either channel. 

Visual Builders

If you want even more control and customization for your store, we recommend investing in a visual builder such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Divi. These visual builders aren’t free, but they help you make a beautiful and unique online store that will dazzle your customers.
For more extensions to help you run your WooCommerce store, check out our best WooCommerce plugins to increase sales.

Buy a new device, get a free LIFETIME subscription!

en_USEnglish