Ecommerce website using Wordpress

hjst45

hjst45

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Hi everyone,

I would like to create a fully-functional e-commerce website with a cart saved server-side (so you can still see items in cart on different devices), online payment (credit card, paypal, payfast), automatic emailing of order details to customer, newsletter etc.

I am doing this purely for educational purposes and was planning on doing it using php and sql but based on my research, it seems like Wordpress is the way to go (note, I have 0 experience with Wordpress).

Can anyone advise on what the best (and correct) way would be to get started? I don't mind purchasing a domain, but seems like a waste since I won't actually launch a real store but don't mind doing so if needed. Also, was looking at AWS hosting using Lightsail/EC2 but believe it becomes tricky with all the extra stuff like SES you need to set up.

Some plugins I was considering:
WooCommerce
Mailchimp

Any advice to point me in the right direction would be appreciated, thanks!
 
Buy a domain via Xneelo - R90 for the domain and I think R100 a month for hosting
Install Wordpress and link to DB
Install Woocommerce
Install a theme - https://woocommerce.com/storefront/
Add products and pricing
Configure shipping if physical products
Add payment method (snapscan, EFT, Payment gateway for credit cards)
Optimise SEO
Start running Google Ads

Sit back on the beach and watch your money come in (in theory)
 
If it is for educational purposes then you can download local by flywheel, MAMP or XAMP there's another one I've forgotten the name. You can build everything locally. It will only work on your PC. You can easily take it live if you need too.
 
@hjst45

Yes! WordPress is the way to go, we have developed several successful WordPress WooCommerce store's for our customers and they absolutely love it, best of all is there are no premium plugins involved!

WordPress combined with WooCommerce & Elementor is a very powerful combination since you have never used WordPress before, Elementor page builder will make it really easy since it is a drag and drop page builder.

Here are a few FREE awesome themes I highly recommend: https://themeisle.com/blog/best-free-woocommerce-themes/ <-- Elementor Compatible

For hosting you can use "any" provider you want. Noticed how I put the words "any" in brackets? If you want to test out the WooCommerce & WordPress I can offer you a 7 day FREE trial on our hosting packages so you can play around. We have LiteSpeed optimized servers that will definitely make for a fast browsing experience as well as our built-in CDN from Cloudflare.

I'd be happy to help you with your WooCommerce store for free! Send me a DM if you are interested!
PS - We offer a one-click WordPress install in under 30 seconds.

Regards,
Ruan
 
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jezzad said:
Buy a domain via Xneelo - R90 for the domain and I think R100 a month for hosting
Install Wordpress and link to DB
Install Woocommerce
Install a theme - https://woocommerce.com/storefront/
Add products and pricing
Configure shipping if physical products
Add payment method (snapscan, EFT, Payment gateway for credit cards)
Optimise SEO
Start running Google Ads

Sit back on the beach and watch your money come in (in theory)
Click to expand...
We provide Wordpress hosting from R18 a month - hosted on SuperMicro Servers with SSD, Litespeed web server, imunify360, mail hosting etc

co.za domain registration charged at R79 per year, or order an annual hosting plan and get your domain registration for free.
 
Jade @ Absolute Hosting said:
We provide Wordpress hosting from R18 a month - hosted on SuperMicro Servers with SSD, Litespeed web server, imunify360, mail hosting etc

co.za domain registration charged at R79 per year, or order an annual hosting plan and get your domain registration for free.
Click to expand...
I'm trying the R18 package. R200 for a year seems very cheap. I was trying to avoid wordpress but it sucked me in. Woocomerce looks promising for a small business.
 
Arandompeer said:
I'm trying the R18 package. R200 for a year seems very cheap. I was trying to avoid wordpress but it sucked me in. Woocomerce looks promising for a small business.
Click to expand...
Hosting is one thing but you're going to need database storage.
Also, always good to have a platform that provides multiple domains, so more than one websites hosted on the same server.
 
WaxLyrical said:
Hosting is one thing but you're going to need database storage.
Also, always good to have a platform that provides multiple domains, so more than one websites hosted on the same server.
Click to expand...
Our Wordpress hosting packages include mysql databases and the entry level package up to 4 additional domains.
 
Hey guys, wife has started her own business selling custom made items and baby clothes. Currently using Instagram which is working great but as the business scales she will require a website. Not sure if it is worth paying a website designer or using wordpress and the self design options? Any recommendation ?
 
L-Dog said:
Hey guys, wife has started her own business selling custom made items and baby clothes. Currently using Instagram which is working great but as the business scales she will require a website. Not sure if it is worth paying a website designer or using wordpress and the self design options? Any recommendation ?
Click to expand...

Hi L-Dog

You can totally design your own eCommerce website using WordPress + WooCommerce + Elementor, there are hundreds of thousands of resources online that will guide you exactly how to do it.

All of these tools are totally free!

Not sure if it is worth paying a website designer or using WordPress and the self-design options?
Click to expand...

This depends, are you creative? Do you know what you want? Do you know SEO? Can you manage the technical aspects of WooCommerce? I'd suggest trying to do it yourself and if you find that it's not working you can hire a designer.

If you have any questions I'd be happy to help out!
 
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