How to Sell on WooCommerce

Woo potential customers with this quick sellers’ guide for WooCommerce!

Setting up a website for your shop is pretty much today’s online version of having your physical store. When preparing a physical outlet, you assess the foot traffic, organize your products, and put up signboards and posters to make sure that you capture the attention of all potential customers. This quick guide will teach how you can do these things in the e-commerce world with WooCommerce.

What’s WooCommerce?

If WordPress powers your website, there’s no way you’ve never heard of WooCommerce.

WooCommerce is one of today’s leading open-source e-commerce solutions used by over 4.4 million live websites. It’s a plugin created for WordPress, and as of this year, 93.7% of e-commerce websites established with WordPress are using it.

Is WooCommerce for you?

If you’re planning to set up your website with WordPress and you want to keep a low budget when starting up your online store, then WooCommerce is the way to go! But before we get down to the nitty-gritty of using it, let’s first check out its pros and cons.

Let’s start with the cons!

You have to be familiar with WordPress

WordPress and WooCommerce go hand in hand. To quickly get the hang of WooCommerce, you have to be familiar with the ins and outs of WordPress. Adequate knowledge in WordPress can also come in handy as you try to maximize the functions and potentials of your WooCommerce store.

Nonetheless, it’s still possible to master the art of selling through WooCommerce without being a WordPress pro.

It’s not entirely free

Using the plugin for WordPress alone is free. However, to make and keep your store running and improve its functions, you must pay for a hosting plan and additional plugins. Nonetheless, it’s possible to make it function with just around $10 to $12 per month, covering the basic features you would need.

Potential delays

As previously mentioned, you get to add more functions when you purchase and utilize additional plugins. However, it’s important to note that these may take up so much memory and hamper your shop’s overall performance. Thus, be careful when purchasing a plugin and only get those that you’ll need.

And now, the pros

It lets you be creative!

WooCommerce allows you to decorate and customize your pages and site. Its theme store offers a wide range of designs for different industries. You can also craft creative product blocks and landing pages with WooCommerce Blocks.

Keep tabs on your performance with ease

With WooCommerce Reports, you can easily track your business’ monthly performance. It provides graphs and statistics regarding your sales, top-selling products, discounts, inventory, customer downloads, taxes, etc.

Manage your business wherever you are!

With the WooCommerce Mobile App, you can access your store’s stats, post new products, and process orders while running errands.

In other words…

It doesn’t matter what you sell. If you’re a business starter who wants to optimize your resources and need lots of room for creativity, perhaps WooCommerce is for you!

Now, let’s get you prepped!

Before you set up your store, you must have a hosting plan and a domain name. Without a host, your store would be nowhere to be found. There are various hosting providers you can choose from, such as Kinsta, Bluehost, and HostPapa. Some of them even let you have a domain name for free.

Speaking of domain names, make sure to create one that’s catchy and would reflect your brand. If you’re having a tough time coming up with a name, try using a domain name generator to check your options’ availability.

Once you’ve got your host and domain name, have WordPress installed on your PC. Be careful to check which WordPress you’re choosing before you install. You might find yourself confused between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. The former is the free, open-source website builder, while the second has its hosting, though it’s more pricey.

After setting up WordPress, install WooCommerce, which you’ll find in WordPress Plugins located at the dashboard.

When you’re all settled with the technical stuff, it’s time to finalize your products and plans for the store you’ll be setting up.

Setting up your store

Absorbing all that information and jargon has so far been overwhelming. Now, we’ll spare you some hassle—here are four quick and simple ways to set up your WooCommerce powered store.

1. Set up your store with the setup wizard and customize it

It takes less than an hour to set up your store with WooCommerce’s setup wizard. In the initial stages, you’ll be asked to provide and finalize the following information:

• Your store details, including the address, country, postal code.
• Your industry. For this part, you may choose from the ones presented or tick the box corresponding to “other” and specify the industry you’ll be operating in.
• Product types. Are you selling physical products? Subscriptions? Bookings?
• Business details. Aside from the basic information such as the number of your products and other platforms you’re currently using, you’ll also be asked if you’d want to install some marketing tools such as Mailchimp for WooCommerce, Google Ads for WooCommerce, and Facebook for WooCommerce.
• Your theme. This is where you set your shop’s look and vibe. Most of these are free, but you can also purchase a premium one.

You will also be asked to set up your payment and shipping options which you can later expand by adding plugins.

2. Install add-ons

Add-ons or additional plugins entail more functions and options for your shops. To track your clients and deals and automate emails, you can purchase a plan for CRM software such as Hubspot. You can also set up a loyalty program for your customers or give them rewards to attract new ones using WooCommerce Gift Cards.

Once you’ve chosen and purchased the plugins that suit your business, download their extensions, connect them to your WooCommerce account, and install them through WordPress Plugins. Once installed, you can now activate them on WooCommerce.com Subscriptions.

3. Add products

Now that you’ve set up your account, you can finally add your products to your shop. To do this manually, go to ‘Products’ and click ‘Add New.’ You’ll then be asked to put the product’s name, description, category, tags, and image. You can sort your products later on according to this information.

To ensure that your shop functions, don’t forget to answer the items under Product Data. In this part, you’ll be asked about the type of product (e.g., variable Product, simple Product, etc.) you’re selling, which will then show you configuration options (e.g., attributes, variations, inventory) that correspond to your choice.

4. Start selling

And you’re all set! Start marketing your products and making your brand known. Remember, you can always purchase and install a plugin to improve your operations or strategies.

To give you a head start, here are some tips you might also want to consider:

• Curate your featured products. Showcase your top-sellers and hot items by adding them to your store’s featured products. You can do this by simply clicking their corresponding stars in your product list.
• Maximize WooCommerce widgets. WooCommerce has built-in widgets you can use to allow your customers to filter their searches according to the products’ prices, attributes, and ratings. You can also highlight your top-rated products, best sellers, and on-sale items using WordPress 5.8 version.
• Give discounts and rewards. Discount and promo coupons can surely entice potential buyers to purchase from your shop. These also increase the tendency of your existing customers to buy more and more. To create and give out discount coupons, loyalty rewards, gift cards, and many other promos, you can purchase and install plugins like Smart Coupons.
• Broaden your customers’ choices. Present all the finest and feasible choices to your customers before they check out. Using plugins like Product Recommendations can upsell and cross-sell your products and increase your buyers’ purchases. These will allow the customers to see complimentary products they can add to their carts and possible upgrades or premium versions of the ones they’re planning to purchase.
• Keep your eye on your performance. Of course, once you start accepting orders, be sure to track and manage them. Only you, the admin, and your shop’s managers have access to these orders and their respective details. To manage the orders, just head over to ‘Orders’ and check their statuses. You may also filter and arrange them according to the information you need.

Apart from the orders, you must keep track of your sales and other performance indicators as well. To access graphs and statistical reports for such information, you can always use WooCommerce Reports.

We can take it from here!

After setting up your store, Awkward Styles has got you covered! If your goal is to share your art and sell items designed by you, you can now loosen up.

Aside from our low shipping prices and 24/7 email support, you won’t have to sweat over adding new items to your store with our free mockup generator and store synchronization. You’ve also got over 100 products to choose from our catalog! Integrate our website with your WooCommerce shop, and we’ll take care of your orders.

So… what do you say we work together?