Is it Too Late to Start a WooCommerce Online Store – 2024 Guide

A lot of individuals that want to start an online business wonder whether or not it’s too late to start a WooCommerce store. To answer this question right away, no, it’s never late to do so, especially since such platforms are free, entirely customizable, and affordable, and there is also a wide range of plugins WooCommerce platforms could feature!

But, you might be a bit confused and overwhelmed by how to open such a shop, and if so, don’t worry, our article below will assist you! To make everything simpler and to ensure that you don’t forget to add some important features to your shop, here is our 2024 guide that’ll help you open a successful and thriving online store:

1. Before You Start – Determine Your Targeted Niches

Before you start creating your online store, there is one essential thing that you must do – determine your targeted niche. Basically, you must determine why and what product you’ll be selling, as well as to whom you’ll be marketing it to. By doing so, you will be capable of creating targeted marketing campaigns, which means that you’ll learn to whom you’ll be marketing your goods, which could help your store thrive.

2. You Must Buy a Domain Name

Once you determine your targeted niche, you’ll have to purchase a domain name. It’ll be the name that’s shown on the site’s URL, which suggests that your clients can find you by, for instance, searching for your URL over the net.

Because of this, it’s crucial that you choose a name that is connected to your business, and by doing so, you could guarantee that your clients can locate you, and more importantly, you could then use it for making your own SEO strategy.

Besides opting for a domain name, you should seriously consider getting an SSL certification. Why should you do this? Well, by choosing to get this certificate, you’ll be capable of protecting the data submitted to your platform, which means that your clients’ data – such as banking and shipment data will be protected. Search engines also give an advantage to sites that have this certification, meaning that you could rank higher.

3. Get WordPress + Install WooCommerce

Once you get the certificate and opt for a domain name, you must download WordPress. It isn’t difficult to get and install it and all you’ll have to do is follow the instructions in the program. Once you’re done, you should move on to installing WooCommerce. When you’re done creating the account, you must ensure that you choose a WooCommerce plugin that suits the needs and requirements of your business.

Keep in mind, that there is a myriad of companies out there such as Booster that offer an all-in-one tool kit, hence, you can rest assured that you have everything that you require. Using such tool kits could, for example, help you set up and customize your product descriptions or you could customize the checkout experience for your customers. It’s worth mentioning that these tool kits could also, for instance, add a button to your site that’ll show frequently bought together WooCommerce goods.

4. Opt For a Theme + Add Your Goods

If you wish to make your shop more interesting and appealing, you must opt for a theme. There is a wide range of themes available, some are free of charge, and others are premium, hence, the option you choose will entirely rely on your business and of course, budget.

After you’re done, you could then start adding items to your shop. When it comes to the categories you could add, there are literally endless choices, thus, you could pick something that suits the items you’re selling.

For instance, if you’re selling digital products, you could add two classes– downloadable products and virtual services. However, you should know that you could also add custom product classes, hence, you could basically add whatever you wish to your online shop. The process of adding goods can be time-consuming, however, it isn’t difficult and complex. All you’ll need to do is to follow the instruction and that will basically be it.

5. Offer Several Payment Gateways

Since you’ll be opening an online store that could have customers from all over the world, it’s crucial that you implement the right WooCommerce payment gateways. Now, keep in mind, that choosing one gateway isn’t smart, mostly because people use a wide range of payment options to pay for products they order online, hence, it’s always better to have multiple options than to offer one, especially since someone might decide not to purchase an item or service from you if they cannot pay for it as they want.

 6. Opt For a Suitable Shipping Option

If you wish to guarantee that you get new customers, and, of course, retain the ones you already have, you must be capable of shipping their goods to them as soon as possible. After all, we all wish to see the product we got online quickly, hence, it’s crucial that you opt for the correct shipping option. There are plugins that could help you with WooCommerce shipping, thus, it’s best if you do some digging to determine what can help you ship products to your customers.

7. Advertise Your Store

By now, you’ve probably set up your store and if so, the only thing that is left for you to do is to advertise your store. You can do this in so many ways including online and offline adds, paid ads, social media platforms, and so on. To ensure the success of your shop, you should advertise it everywhere, and also, it might be best if you learn WooCommerce short codes that’ll make everything so much easier and simpler for you.

Conclusion

WooCommerce platforms are still incredibly popular with individuals that want to start an online business. If you’re one of those individuals, you should follow our 2024 guide from above, and by doing so, you could ensure that you open an online store that’ll be successful and that people will actually visit and purchase goods from.

Since you’re now well aware of all the things you should do to open a WooCommerce store, you really shouldn’t spend any more of your time reading guides similar to this one. Instead, you should start with the first step we’ve mentioned above – which is determining your targeted audience.