With its intuitive interface and numerous features, WordPress is the perfect CMS for creating websites. It also offers many possibilities for creating e-commerce sites. Discover in this article all the steps to follow to create your WordPress e-commerce site.
If you want to launch into developing your own e-commerce site, then this guide is for you. All the same, I invite you to complement your reading with our complete article to .
Domain Name, Hosting and WordPress Installation
This part has already been covered in detail in our previous articles on creating a website, so we will rather get into the details of e-commerce management. In any case, you will need a domain name:
- Fairly short and easy to remember (if possible the name of your brand)
- Use .fr or .com and avoid unusual extensions (.xyz and others) at all costs.
To select your domain name, or to .
Then choose your hosting — the best being Kinsta (do not read the article if you are sensitive).
Then install WordPress. If you are on Kinsta, it is just a button click. Generally, other web hosts also offer one-click WordPress installation.
If you are a tinkerer and want to install WordPress manually on your hosting, or locally, .
Install the WooCommerce Plugin
Go to your WordPress admin area (log in to your WordPress site online) then go to: Plugins → Add Plugins → Type “WooCommerce” in the search bar, click on Install Now → Activate.
Set Up WooCommerce Like a Pro
Now that you have downloaded WooCommerce and activated the plugin, your WordPress has now become an online shop. Now you just need to finish configuring it. After installing the plugin, WooCommerce will immediately offer to fill in several options, but not all of them. To finish, you will need to click on WooCommerce in your admin panel, where you will land on the plugin’s home page which will indicate the steps to complete to finish setting up your online shop. But it is possible that this will not be enough to configure the e-commerce site you need. In that case, go to WooCommerce → Settings. You just need to find the options that suit you!
Create the First Product of Your Online Shop
To create your first product, click on Products → then Add. You simply need to give your product a name, create the description, and manage its price. On the far right side, you can add your product image.
- Define the name of your product.
- Write the description of your product.
- Choose the image of your product. (alternatively, just below you can add multiple images to create a complete gallery illustrating your product in several ways).
- This section allows you to manage the technical aspects of your product, such as the price, stock, etc.
- Finally, you can create a short version of the product description.
You can also assign a category to your product on the right side. A category allows you to group similar items together. For example, assign the accessories category to your ties and umbrellas.
Choose a Theme for WooCommerce
Now that you have your WordPress e-commerce site, and you have even created your first product, it is time to build the beautiful pages that surround it. For this you can either download a theme to dress up your WordPress, or a page builder plugin as Elementor does. It is also possible to use a theme and a page builder at the same time. Alternatively, the Divi theme takes care of everything (theme + integrated visual builder).
There is also the theme or which pairs very well with Elementor. For an e-commerce site it is probably better to use Elementor alone, but in that case in its Pro version. That is for me the best option.
Install Plugins for Your E-Commerce Site
From now on, you might be interested in essential plugins for your site, such as Yoast SEO for your natural SEO. But you are also likely to need more features for your e-commerce site — and that is convenient since WooCommerce offers many additional ones! If you are interested, I will let you discover all their plugins . Still, think about not downloading plugins for everything and anything, as this would significantly lower your site’s performance, for you as well as for your users. So a little but not too much!
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