Over 25% of the web today runs on WordPress, which accounts for nearly 60% of the Content Management System (CMS) market share. Owing to the flexibility that WordPress offers and its ease of use, it is presently one of the most highly popular platforms. With myriad features and the availability of a variety of WordPress plugins, WordPress ecommerce website development is now a “no sweat” task.
The ecommerce industry is constantly on the rise and the best time for WordPress ecommerce web development is today. Here are seven key steps on how to create a WordPress ecommerce website that can help you take your business to the next level.
1.Selecting Niche Using Personal Experience:
Before starting with WordPress ecommerce website development, determine what exactly you will sell on your ecommerce website. Know what you are passionate about and take inspiration from your own personal experience. This may include assessing your own shopping habits and analyzing how you prefer spending your free time and if there’s any scope to monetize it. The more you work in this area, the more accurate your niche would be.
2.Picking an Appealing Domain Name:
Domain name has a critical role in deciding how easily customers can reach you. Too simple domain name means customers may confuse it with other brands. Likewise, a too difficult name will be tough to remember for them. So, you should be prudent while selecting a domain name for your WordPress ecommerce website. You can also consider a name generator to accelerate this process.
3.Defining Your Business Model:
This is an important aspect of WordPress ecommerce website development. Similar to other business models, you may need a detailed business plan for your ecommerce platform that should detail every facet of your business. The plan may include the following:
What service/product you will sell
How you will build a WordPress ecommerce website
How you will promote and grow your business
How you will manage taxes and operating costs
Creating a business plan not only helps you stay on track all the time, but allows you to consider the issues you hadn’t thought of initially.
4.Choosing an Ecommerce Plugin:
Picking the right plugin during the WordPress ecommerce website development adds more power to your ecommerce platform. You can choose from a bevy of open-source and hosted options. Some popular WordPress plugins for ecommerce platforms are BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Jigoshop, WP E-commerce, Shopp, and Ecwid, among several others. When selecting a WordPress plugin, your focus should be on improving the overall performance of your ecommerce website design company.
5.Selecting the Right WordPress Theme:
Your WordPress theme is not just a combo of fonts and colors that makes your ecommerce website glitzy and lively. Rather, it coveys your brand message and has the capability to make or break your business. Your theme should be able to strike the right chord with your customers while facilitating ecommerce-specific operations.
6.Attracting the Audience with SEO & Content:
Once you are done with the technical part of WordPress ecommerce web development, you may need to divert your attention to assess how your ecommerce website will reach your target audience. You can make use of SEO-friendly content to boost your search engine results page (SERP) rankings. A thorough keyword research will aid you finding the phrases and words that are most relevant to your niche.
7.Growing Traffic via Social:
Social media is possibly the easiest and the most effective channel to boost website traffic. Spread the word about new product launches, offers, discounts, etc. and leverage the concept of storytelling on social platforms to get the attention of your audience while engaging them with your brand. You can share customer reviews in order to convince your prospects to invest in your product/service.
Promoting your ecommerce business’s pages on Instagram and Facebook, and boosting ads for specific pages of your website do come in handy when it is about building trust and credibility with the potential customers.
The steps discussed above will surely walk you through the process of how to create a WordPress ecommerce website, eventually helping you run a successful ecommerce business.