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Are you looking to create an online thrift store website?
Many people think that to start an eCommerce business, they’ll need to create a new product. However, there’s another way. You can find pre-owned items and sell them online through a thrift store.
In this article, we will show you how to start an online thrift store using WordPress.
A thrift store is a type of eCommerce business where you can sell used or pre-loved products. It can be anything ranging from clothes to automobiles, electronic items, toys, books, furniture, and more at bargain prices.
One of the benefits of starting an online thrift store is its low startup cost. You don’t need a lot of money to buy and maintain an inventory. Plus, the cost of building an eCommerce site is also low.
For example, if you have an expensive dress that doesn’t fit you anymore. Instead of throwing it away, you can have it cleaned and sell it online.
Besides that, it is a great side hustle to make money online. You can start small and slowly expand your business.
When it comes to starting an online store, many people think it is too complicated. However, it’s a lot simpler than you might think.
There are 3 main things you’ll need to get started:
It’s really that easy!
You can build an online thrift website without any technical skills, coding, or complicated setup.
We’ll show you step-by-step how to get started. Simply click the links below to jump to any section:
The first and most essential step is to find the right platform for your online thrift store.
Choosing the wrong eCommerce platform can be a costly mistake for new store owners. Moving to a new service later on would mean you’ll have to re-do all the work and spend money again.
To avoid making this mistake, we’re here to help.
There are two popular eCommerce platforms that we recommend for your online thrift store: Shopify or WooCommerce (built on WordPress).
Shopify is a fully hosted eCommerce solution that lets you create an online store quickly.
However, the biggest drawback is its pricing. You’ll need to pay $25 per month, which can be quite expensive for individuals and small business owners. You also get limited payment options unless you pay extra.
This is why most users choose WordPress + WooCommerce. It is more flexible and cost-effective compared to Shopify. WooCommerce does require some setup, but it’s worth it in the long run.
To learn more details, please see our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce.
For this tutorial, we will walk you through how to start an online thrift store using WooCommerce + WordPress.
As we mentioned earlier, you will need a domain name, web hosting service, and SSL certificate to create an online thrift store.
If purchased separately, a domain name costs around $14.99 per year, web hosting will cost around $7.99 per year, and an SSL certificate will cost roughly $69.99 per year.
This cost can go even higher if you add extra features and addons to your hosting plan.
Thankfully, our friends at Bluehost offer an exclusive offer for WPBeginner readers. You can save up to 61% on website hosting plans and get started for as little as $1.99 per month.
Bluehost is an official WordPress and WooCommerce-recommended hosting provider. The best part, you get a free domain name and SSL certificate with each hosting plan.
Note: At WPBeginner, we believe in transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost using our referral link, then we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain).
We would get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we personally use and believe will add value to our readers.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Bluehost, then we suggest using SiteGround WooCommerce hosting. It is another officially recommended WordPress hosting service.
To start, simply visit the Bluehost website and click the ‘Get Started Now’ button.
Next, you’ll need to select a pricing plan.
You can get started for $1.99 per month. However, Bluehost also offers an Online Store plan costing you $6.99 per month. It comes with an exclusive store theme, store analytics, and $450 worth of eCommerce plugins included in the plan.
We’ll select the ‘Online Store’ plan for this tutorial.
Next, Bluehost will ask you to enter a name for your online thrift store.
If you don’t have a domain, then simply enter a website name under the ‘Create a new domain’ section, select a domain extension, and click the ‘Next’ button.
Make sure that the domain name relates to your business, is easy to pronounce and spell, and is memorable. You should also try to get a domain with a ‘.com’ extension.
If you’re not sure which name to choose, then please see our guide on how to choose the best domain name.
After that, you’ll need to provide details like name, address, email, and more to create a new account.
Bluehost will also show extra features to add to your hosting plan. We don’t recommend purchasing these additional features, as you can always add them later on.
Lastly, you’ll need to enter the payment information to complete the purchase.
Once that’s done, Bluehost will open the account dashboard from where you can manage your websites.
The best part is that Bluehost offers a one-click WordPress installation. However, if you are using another hosting provider or somehow skipped the setup step, then please see our guide on how to install WordPress for more details.
For instance, in Bluehost, you can log in to your account and navigate to the ‘Websites’ tab. From here, simply click the ‘Add Site’ button in the top corner.
This will launch the WordPress setup wizard in Bluehost.
You can click the ‘Install WordPress’ option and click the ‘Continue’ button.
After that, you’ll be asked to enter a name for your online thrift store website.
Once you’ve entered a title, click the ‘Continue’ button.
Bluehost will now install WordPress and create your thrift store site.
After the installation is complete, you can go to the ‘Websites’ tab to see your new website. Go ahead and click the ‘Edit Site’ button to view the WordPress admin panel.
As an alternate, you can also log in to your WordPress dashboard by going to ‘yourthriftstore.com/wp-admin’ directly from the browser.
Here’s what the WordPress admin area will look like:
Next, you’ll need to view WordPress settings and ensure everything is set up properly.
First, you need to go to the Settings » General page and add a WordPress site title and tagline. If you’re happy with the site title, then you don’t need to change it.
A tagline acts as a small description for your thrift store. However, this is optional, and you can add it later on.
Besides that, you’ll also need to ensure that your WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) are using HTTPS instead of HTTP.
Next, you can go to the Settings » Discussions page from the admin panel and scroll down to the ‘Before a comment appears’ section.
Here, click the ‘Comment must be manually approved’ checkbox. This way, your comments will go into moderation and help prevent spam.
For more details, please see our guide on how to moderate comments in WordPress.
The next step is to install WooCommerce on your website. It is the best eCommerce platform that’s built on top of WordPress.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the WooCommerce plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, the WooCommerce setup wizard will launch. You can click the ‘Set up my store’ button to continue.
Simply follow the onscreen instructions to complete the WooCommerce setup. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to start an online store.
Once the setup is complete, you can set up payment options on your thrift store.
WooCommerce supports some of the most popular payment gateways. You can accept credit cards, cash on delivery, bank transfers, Stripe, PayPal, and more.
Simply go to WooCommerce » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and switch to the ‘Payments’ tab.
You can click the ‘Set up’ button for the payment service you’d like to add to your online thrift store.
For example, let’s say you want to configure Stripe credit card payments. Simply connect your Stripe account or enter account keys to add the payment method to your store.
Another optional setting you can configure in WooCommerce is shipping zones. It lets you add different shipping methods and costs for various regions.
For more details, please see our guide on how to add a shipping calculator to your WordPress site.
When you sign up for the Bluehost Online Store plan, you get a WordPress theme pre-installed.
Simply head to Appearance » Themes and click the ‘Customize’ button to edit the theme.
This will launch the WordPress Full Site Editor (FSE). It was first introduced in WordPress 5.9 and uses blocks to edit the theme, just like editing content in the block editor.
The goal of the full site editor is to simplify website editing and make it user-friendly.
To learn more, you can see our complete guide to WordPress full site editing.
If you don’t like the default theme, then you can simply change it. There are thousands of WordPress themes to choose from. You can see our list of the best WooCommerce WordPress themes to pick the on you like.
On the other hand, you can create a custom theme for your online thrift store using a WordPress theme builder.
For instance, SeedProd is the best theme and landing page builder that offers a drag-and-drop interface. It comes with pre-built templates, which you can easily customize without editing code.
You can follow our guide on how to create a custom WordPress theme (no code).
Now that your online thrift store is ready and set up, it’s time to add products to WooCommerce.
Simply navigate to the Products » Add New page from the admin panel. Next, you can enter a name for your product and add a brief description.
After that, you’ll need to scroll down to the ‘Product Data’ section.
Here, you can enter the price of your product under the ‘Regular price ($)’ field. There is also an option to enter a sale price for the product.
Next, you can add product images from the panel on the right.
Simply navigate to the Product Image section and add your picture. This will act as the featured image for your product.
There is also an option to create a product gallery and upload other images for a product.
Once you’re done, simply click the ‘Publish’ button.
Now, you can repeat this step and add more products to your online thrift store.
You can then visit your site to see all the products listed on the store page.
Finding products on a regular basis for your online thrift store can be a challenge for many business owners.
However, there are different places from where you can source used or pre-loved products. For instance, a quick search on other thrift stores and sites like eBay and Craigslist can help discover multiple products that you can list on your site.
Similarly, visiting flea markets, other local stores, and garage sales can also help you find the right products for your store. This is a great option if you’re selling clothes, books, and second-hand electronic items.
Another option is to allow users to upload their items for consideration on your online thrift store. This way, you’ll get to build an inventory without having to invest and simply share the revenue from the sale.
You can also create an online marketplace using WordPress where users can sell their products using your eCommerce platform. For example, people can sell their used items on your site and give you a percentage or a fee for using your site.
WordPress offers different plugins that act like apps for your website. They allow you to add extra features and functionalities and help customize your online thrift store.
For example, there are plugins for adding a contact form, product image galleries, product comparisons, gift cards, giveaways, popups, and more.
You can choose from over 59,000 free WordPress plugins. There are also premium plugins that are sold by third-party sites and developers.
If you’re not sure what to look for in a plugin before installing it, then you may want to see our guide on how to choose the best WordPress plugin.
That said, we’ve handpicked some essential plugins that you should install on your thrift store.
Add Extra Features and Functionality
Website Optimization for SEO, Performance, and Conversions
Enhance Your Website Security
Other WordPress Plugins to Consider
You can also take a look at our list of the best WooCommerce plugins to find more options.
At WPBeginner, our main goal is to provide helpful and beginner-friendly WordPress tutorials for non-techy users, small business owners, bloggers, and eCommerce store owners.
To help you learn more about WooCommerce and WordPress, you can follow these guides:
We hope this article helped you learn how to start an online thrift store using WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on important reasons why you should use WordPress and the best business phone services for small businesses.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Start an Online Thrift Store Using WordPress (2024) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to add an order bump to WooCommerce and increase your sales?
An order bump is a tactic that encourages shoppers to buy more products than they initially planned. It’s an easy and popular strategy to boost sales by offering a relevant product or a special deal during checkout.
In this guide, we will show you how to create an order bump in your WooCommerce store. This way, you can get more profits without putting in a lot of extra effort.
In eCommerce, an order or checkout bump is a common strategy that can increase the average order value (AOV). It encourages customers to spend more money when making a purchase by offering them extra products or deals during checkout.
If you run an online store, then an order bump can easily boost your sales and revenue without much effort.
Instead of launching an elaborate marketing campaign, all you need to do is showcase related products that the customer may be interested in. By doing this, you make it convenient for buyers to add more items with just a single click.
Typically, eCommerce plugins or software don’t offer an order bump feature by default. For example, if you are using WooCommerce, then you will need a WordPress plugin to enable checkout bumps.
Now, let’s take a look at how to create an order bump for WooCommerce.
The best way to create an order bump in WooCommerce is with FunnelKit Builder, which is an advanced WooCommerce sales funnel platform. It lets you easily optimize your store pages to get more conversions and revenue.
We recommend using FunnelKit Builder because it has a lot of rules and settings that you can configure for your order bump. This way, you can tailor it precisely to your website visitors.
Plus, FunnelKit comes with templates to boost your online store sales, cart abandonment funnels to recover lost potential revenue, and dashboard analytics to see your store’s performance.
This guide will use the FunnelKit Builder Pro Plus plan, as the order bump feature is available in that version and higher.
Once you have access to the plugin zip file and license key, you can install the plugin. For more information, check out our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Then, you need to activate the license key. To do this, simply go to FunnelKit » Settings from your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the ‘General’ tab, and select ‘License.’
Copy and paste the license key into the ‘FunnelKit Funnel Builder Pro’ field and select the default page builder you are using. After that, just click ‘Activate’ and then ‘Save Changes.’
Once you’ve done that, you will need to set up your WooCommerce checkout page. For details on how to do that using FunnelKit, you can read our article on how to customize your WooCommerce checkout.
Now that you’ve configured the checkout page, let’s add an order bump to it. All you need to do is go to FunnelKit » Store Checkout. Then, click on the ‘Add Order Bump’ button.
A popup will appear asking to name the order bump. This will come in handy if you have multiple order bumps and need to pick between them.
Once you’ve filled out a name, click ‘Add.’
Now, you should see the order bump has been added to your checkout funnel.
To continue with the next steps, go ahead and click the ‘Edit’ button.
Adding and Configuring Your Order Bump Offer
Now, you need to add complementary products to your checkout page.
With FunnelKit, you can adjust the rules to trigger the order bump. For this step, you will pick which purchase should cause the special offer to appear during checkout.
Then, click the ‘Add Product’ button.
Now, a popup window will appear, asking you to select the products.
Here, you can enter multiple products that you think will complement the buyer’s purchase. Once done, hit the ‘Add Product’ button.
After that, you can configure the product offer. Just select one of the discount types: Percentage % on Sale Price, Fixed Amount on Sale Price, Percentage % on Regular Price, or Fixed Amount on Regular Price.
If you want, then you can also offer more than one quantity of the item.
Once the settings look good, just click ‘Save Changes’ at the top.
Scrolling down, you’ll find the Order Bump Settings section.
This is where you can adjust the order bump’s behavior and display position during checkout.
There are two ‘Behaviour’ options. One is ‘Add Order Bumps to Cart Items,’ which allows customers to add the suggested product as an extra purchase in their cart.
The second option is ‘Replace Order Bumps with a Cart Item (used for upgrades).’ With this, customers can choose to replace their purchase by upgrading to a higher-end version of the product.
For example, let’s say your online store sells a subscription product for 3 and 6 months, and your customer chooses to buy the 3-month period subscription. You can show an offer to upgrade to the 6-month period instead to provide more value for money.
Or, let’s say your eCommerce website sells coffee-related products, and a customer is purchasing coffee beans only. You can add an order bump that replaces their bean purchase with a bundle of coffee beans with a grinder.
When picking the Display Position, we recommend choosing a location that catches the shopper’s attention before they finalize their purchase. This way, the order bump is easily noticeable and doesn’t disrupt the customer journey.
In this case, anywhere in the order summary, mini cart, or checkout form is best.
When you are happy with the settings, just click ‘Save Changes.’
Customizing the Order Bump Design
Now, let’s scroll back up to the ‘Design’ tab and start changing how the order bump looks.
First things first, you need to pick a skin for the order bump. To do that, click the ‘Choose Skin’ button below the order bump preview.
Next, a popup will appear with several skin options to choose from.
If there is a design you like, just tick the ‘Use this skin’ checkbox and hit the ‘Import’ button.
To edit the design further, go back to the Design tab.
After that, simply click ‘Edit Style’ below the order bump preview.
Some elements you can change on this page are the text colors, background color, toggle color, border, font size, price display, and box padding and width.
To finalize the design changes, click the ‘Save’ button on the top right corner. Then, click ‘X’ to return to the Design tab.
Now, you can edit the text content of the order bump.
In the ‘Title’ section, you can change the call-to-action text for the order bump.
FunnelKit has inserted some HTML code for the text colors in this field, so make sure not to completely replace the content with your own.
You can also keep the merge tag {{product_name}} to display the product name dynamically.
Below the Title is the ‘Description’ field. Feel free to use this space to briefly describe your offer.
For instance, if you want customers to upgrade to a longer subscription, then you can write, ‘Upgrade to our 6-month plan now and get unlimited access to exclusive content, ad-free browsing, and priority customer support.’
Additionally, you can use the following merge tags to make your order bump more informative and user-friendly:
{{product_short_description}} reuses your product’s short description.{{subscription_summary}} reuses your subscription information details.{{quantity_incrementer}} allows you to increase the number of order bump products.{{variation_attribute_html}} displays variants of variable products.The last setting allows you to choose an image to use in the order bump. You can use the product’s default image, upload a custom one, or not display an image at all.
Once you’ve chosen an image, you can edit its width and positioning. Then, click the ‘Save’ button to finalize all of the design changes.
Setting the Rules to Trigger the Order Bump
So far, we’ve configured the order bump products and design. Now, let’s set up the conditional logic that will make the order bump appear when a customer is checking out.
To do this, simply navigate to the ‘Rules’ tab from the previous tab. After that, click ‘Add Rules.’
You can set multiple rules to make the order bump appear during checkout. The rules can be based on the cart, customer, geography, date and time, and/or the type of checkout page you are using.
You can also combine multiple conditions in one rule using the ‘AND’ button.
In the example below, the order bump will only be triggered if the customer purchases more than 1 item quantity and they are buying a blouse.
Now, if you click the ‘OR’ button below a rule, you can choose for the order bump to appear with another, different condition.
For instance, you could set an ‘OR’ condition where the order bump appears if the customer is buying either a blouse or a jacket. This gives you the option to promote different items based on customer preferences.
Once you are happy with the order bump rules, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button in the top right corner.
Setting the Priority to Trigger the Order Bump
The last step is to configure the order bump priority. This setting is useful if you are running multiple order bumps whose rules may overlap, and you need to decide which offer should appear first.
To modify the priority, go ahead and switch to the ‘Settings’ tab. Then, fill out a number in the ‘Set Priority’ field. Note that 1 is the highest, which means the order bump is more likely to appear than the other order bumps.
Once you are finished with this setting, click ‘Save Changes.’
You can now test your checkout process to see what the WooCommerce order bump looks like.
Here’s an example of how it looks on our demo website.
Now that you know how to create an order bump in WooCommerce, you might be wondering how to optimize the order bump and get more sales.
You will need to know your customer preferences and buying behaviors so that you can tailor your offers to match their needs. For example, if your audience often buys tech gadgets, then you can show compatible accessories as order bumps.
The best way to track customer behavior on your website is with an eCommerce analytics plugin. MonsterInsights allows you to connect your website with Google Analytics and see all your online store’s data within your WordPress dashboard.
For example, you can see your conversion rate, most popular products, average order value, and more.
For more details, you can see our guide on how to set up WooCommerce conversion tracking.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create an order bump for WooCommerce. You may also want to check out our list of the best WooCommerce plugins and our guide on how to create a WooCommerce buy-one-get-one offer.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Create an Order Bump for WooCommerce (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to sell audiobooks online?
By selling your books as downloadable audio files, you can make money without having to pay for shipping or printing. You can also sell the same audio file an unlimited number of times.
In this article, we will show you how to easily sell audiobooks online using WordPress.
There are lots of ways to share your experiences or knowledge online. You can create an online course, record a webinar, or even start a podcast.
Another option is recording that information as an audiobook. This is a great way to collect everything you want to say into a single, downloadable file that’s easy to distribute and sell to other people.
Unlike traditional printed books, you don’t have to pay printing or shipping fees for your audiobooks. You also don’t have to worry about physical storage, supplies, or managing your inventory. All of this means lower costs and bigger profits, which makes audiobooks the perfect way to make money online with WordPress.
If you have an ebook, then there are plenty of services that can help you turn it into an audiobook including ACX. Every audiobook you make on ACX will be available on Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes, but it’s also a good idea to add the audiobook to your own website.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can sell audiobooks online. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
The easiest way to sell audiobooks online is by using Easy Digital Downloads. Easy Digital Downloads is one of the best eCommerce WordPress plugins, and it’s designed specifically to sell digital products.
Unlike general eCommerce plugins, Easy Digital Downloads has the specific features you need to promote, sell, and distribute digital products with ease. This means you don’t have to waste time and effort with unnecessary settings, such as configuring your store’s shipping.
Even better, if you’re using SiteGround then Easy Digital Downloads already comes pre-installed on their EDD plan, so you can start using it straight away.
If you’re using a different hosting provider, then you’ll need to install and activate the Easy Digital Downloads plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Downloads » Settings in the WordPress dashboard.
Even though you’re selling audiobooks, you’ll need to set your store’s location. This allows Easy Digital Downloads to auto-fill some fields in the order form, which will help improve the customer experience.
Easy Digital Downloads also uses your location to calculate sales tax.
To add your location, simply open the ‘Business Country’ dropdown menu. You can then choose where your business is based.
Next, find the ‘Business Region’ field.
Here you can open the dropdown and choose the region where your store operates from.
After making these changes, go ahead and click on Save Changes to store your settings.
Next, you’ll need a way to accept credit card payments in WordPress by clicking on the ‘Payments’ tab. Then make sure the ‘General’ tab is selected.
In the Payment Gateways section, check the box next to each gateway that you want to add to your WordPress blog or website.
If you add more than one payment method, then you’ll need to choose a default gateway.
You can use any gateway you want, but Stripe can accept credit cards as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. This is why we recommend using Stripe as the default payment gateway.
With that done, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
You’ll now see some new tabs where you can configure each payment method.
Configuring the payment gateway will be slightly different depending on which gateway you’re using, but Easy Digital Downloads will walk you through the process.
Once you’ve set up at least one payment gateway, you’re ready to start uploading audiobooks to your WordPress website.
To create a digital product, select Downloads from the left-hand menu. Then, click on the ‘Add New’ button.
You can now type a name for the product into the ‘Enter download name here’ field. This will appear on the audiobook’s page, so you’ll want to use something that catches the visitor’s attention and accurately describes the book.
Next, type out the description that will appear on the ebook’s product page. You’ll want to give visitors all the information they need to decide whether this book is right for them.
Many online stores use product categories and tags to help shoppers find what they’re looking for. If you’re selling lots of audiobooks, then these categories and tags help visitors find related audiobooks, which can get you more sales.
You can create new categories and tags in the Categories and Tags boxes.
For more information, see our step-by-step guide on how to add categories and tags for WordPress pages.
Next, you’ll want to set a price by scrolling to the Download Prices section. Here, type in how much visitors will pay to download the audiobook.
You’re now ready to upload the audio file that you want to sell. When it comes to audio, WordPress supports mp3, ogg, and wav. It also supports m4a, although this format may not work on all browsers.
Pro Tip: If you want to sell audiobooks in a file type that WordPress doesn’t support, then see our guide on how to allow additional file types in WordPress.
To add an audio file, simply scroll to the Download Files section.
In the File Name field, type a name for the file that shoppers will get when they buy the audiobook. Then, simply click on ‘Upload a File.’
You can now choose any audio file from the WordPress media library, or you can upload a new audiobook from your computer.
Finally, you’ll need to add a product image, which will usually be your audiobook’s front cover. Simply scroll to the Download Image section and then click on the ‘Set Download Image’ link.
This launches the WordPress media library where you can choose an image or upload a new file from your computer.
When you’re happy with your digital download, click on the Publish button to make it live.
Easy Digital Downloads will now create the audiobook as a downloadable product, but visitors still need a way to access the product page.
This might mean adding the page to your website’s menu, creating a sales page where you advertise all your audiobooks, or even adding the book to a custom home page.
No matter what method you choose, you’ll need to know the audiobook’s URL.
To get this link, simply go to Downloads » Downloads. Then, find the audiobook you just created, and click on its ‘Edit’ link.
You will then find the URL directly below the product title.
Now, you can link to this product page from any area of your website, simply by using its URL. To learn more, see our step-by-step guide on how to add a link in WordPress.
Easy Digital Downloads also creates a ‘Purchase’ button for this particular audiobook. Visitors can click this button to add the audiobook to their cart.
You can add the button for this book to any page, post, or widget-ready area. This allows visitors to start the purchasing process without even Needing to visit the individual product’s page.
To get the audiobook’s shortcode, simply scroll to its Download Settings section. You can then copy the text in the ‘Purchase Shortcode’ field.
For more information on placing the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.
Every time someone buys an audiobook from your website, Easy Digital Downloads will send them an email and download link.
While this email has everything the customer needs to access their download, it’s a good idea to customize it. For example, we recommend adding your own logo and branding.
To customize the default email, simply go to Downloads » Settings. Then click on the ‘Emails’ tab.
When you’ve finished making changes, you may want to send a test email so you can see how the message will look to your customers.
To do this, simply click on the ‘Send Test Email’ button and Easy Digital Downloads will send an email to your admin email address.
Have you clicked on the ‘Send Test Email’ button, but haven’t got a test email? If your site isn’t sending emails correctly, then customers won’t be able to download your audiobook.
With that in mind, you can follow our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue. You can use WP Mail SMTP to make sure the purchase confirmation emails arrive safely in the customer’s inbox.
When you’re happy with how the email looks, you can go ahead and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
This is all you need to start selling audiobooks online. However, Easy Digital Downloads has lots more advanced features that can help you sell audiobooks.
For more information on Easy Digital Downloads, please see our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.
Another option is using your audiobooks to create recurring revenue streams.
For example, you might offer members unlimited monthly or annual access to all your audiobooks for a membership fee. In this way, you can get reliable recurring revenue over a longer period of time.
A membership site is also a great choice if you’re releasing your audiobooks as a series.
If you want to get recurring revenue, then MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin. It allows you to accept payments, create an unlimited number of membership levels, restrict access to audiobook pages based on membership subscription, and more.
First, you need to install and activate the MemberPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to the MemberPress » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.
To start, you’ll need to set up a payment gateway.
Out of the box, MemberPress supports PayPal (Standard, Express, and Pro), Stripe, and Authorize.net. You simply need to select the payment method you want to use and then type in the required credentials, such as your PayPal email address.
You may want to add multiple methods, so members can use their preferred gateway. When that’s done, don’t forget to click on the Update Options button to save your settings.
With the setup out of the way, it’s time to create one or more membership levels. These are the subscriptions that visitors will buy to access your audiobooks, or other content.
MemberPress allows you to offer different content for different membership levels. For example, you might create Bronze, Silver, and Gold memberships and then give members access to different audiobooks.
To create the first membership plan, go to the MemberPress » Memberships page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, you’ll need to provide a title for the membership plan and then add details in the post editor.
After that, you can set the pricing, billing type, interval, and expiration under the ‘Membership Terms’ section.
Next, scroll to the Membership Options box below the editor.
Here, you can customize the plan permissions and membership options.
When you’re happy with how the plan is set up, go ahead and click on ‘Publish.’ To create more membership levels, simply repeat the same process described above.
Once you’ve created all the membership levels, it’s time to add some access rules. These allow you to restrict access to your audiobooks based on the user’s membership plan.
Just go to MemberPress » Rules and then click on the Add New button.
Here, you can create all kinds of access rules, but you’ll typically start by selecting the audiobook that you want to restrict access to.
Under ‘Protected Content,’ open the dropdown menu and choose an option from the list. This might be the specific page where you embedded the audio file, content that has a particular tag, or any other option from the list.
After that, open the ‘Access Conditions’ dropdown and choose ‘Membership.’
In the second dropdown menu, select the membership level people will need in order to access this content.
There are more settings that you can configure, but this is all you need to create a simple access rule.
When you’re happy with how the rule is set up, click on ‘Save Rule.’ To create more access rules, simply follow the same process described above.
Now that everything is set up, you’ll need to make sure visitors can buy memberships and log into their accounts. Thankfully, MemberPress comes with ready-made forms that you can add to your site.
We recommend adding the MemberPress login widget to a widget-ready area, so members can log in from any page.
Simply head over to Appearance » Widgets and add the ‘MemberPress login’ widget to the sidebar or similar section.
To learn more, please see our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to save your widget settings.
There are a few different ways to add a signup page to your website, but MemberPress automatically creates a registration page for each membership level. This means you can simply add these pages to your main navigation menu.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance » Menus. In the left-hand menu, simply click to expand the ‘Memberships’ section.
You’ll now see a list of all the different MemberPress levels.
To add a membership to the navigation menu, simply check the box next to it and then select ‘Add to menu.’
For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to add a navigation menu.
When you’re happy with how the menu is set up, click on ‘Save Menu.’
At this point, you’ve created a website where visitors can buy audiobook subscriptions. However, MemberPress has lots more settings you can use to sell audiobooks, grow your brand, and get more members.
For more information about MemberPress, check out our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.
Easy Digital Downloads makes it easy to sell audiobooks on any WordPress blog or website, without you having to configure lots of unnecessary settings like shipping and handling.
However, if you’ve already created a WooCommerce store, then you can sell digital products like audiobooks using this popular eCommerce plugin.
Although it’s mostly used to sell physical products, you can add support for digital products by going to WooCommerce » Settings and then clicking on the ‘Products’ tab.
Here, click on the ‘Downloadable products’ link.
You can now open the ‘File download method’ dropdown and choose an option from the list.
When you’re selling digital downloads, there is a risk that customers may share the direct link with other people. This allows people to download your audiobook without paying.
‘Force Downloads’ helps to protect your site from direct linking, so it’s the recommended method. However, just be aware that very large files may result in a timeout, especially if your server has limited resources.
If this happens, then you may need to change your WordPress hosting plan or select a different file download method.
You may also want to enable the checkbox next to ‘Allow using redirect mode (insecure) as a last resort.’ If WooCommerce encounters any problems, then this setting will deliver the audiobook via an unsecured redirect link rather than showing an error.
This is a much better customer experience.
The second option is ‘X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile,’ which serves the file directly to the customer. This protects the audiobook from unauthorized downloads without impacting your site’s performance.
However, this method requires you to install and enable the X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile module on your server, so it’s not very beginner-friendly. Depending on your plan, you may also need to speak to your WooCommerce hosting provider.
The final option is ‘Redirect only,’ which uses a direct link to the file. This means your audiobook isn’t protected and anyone can access it using the URL. That said, we don’t recommend the ‘Redirect only’ method.
After selecting a download method, you can choose whether visitors must be logged into an account in order to download the audiobook.
Allowing guest checkout can get you more sales and downloads, but requiring users to register with your online store can help you do lead generation.
To make this decision, either enable or disable the ‘Downloads require login’ checkbox.
By default, customers can download the audiobook while their order is processing.
If you want to wait until the order is complete, then uncheck the following box: ‘Grant access to downloadable products after payment.’
By default, WooCommerce will download the audiobook to the customer’s computer.
Most of the time this is the best customer experience, but you can set the file to open in a new tab instead. The customer can then decide whether they want to save the file.
There are some use cases where this may be the better option. For example, if you’re showing the customer a free sample, or your audiobooks are short enough to enjoy in one sitting.
In this case, you may want to check the box next to ‘Open downloadable files in the browser.’
When you’re happy with the settings you’ve entered, click on ‘Save Changes.’
With that done, you’re ready to add the audiobook as a downloadable product by going to Products » Add New. Here, you can type in a title, add a description, upload a product image, and set the price as normal.
Then, scroll to ‘Product Data’ and check the box next to ‘Downloadable,’ which adds some new settings.
To start, click on ‘Add File.’
You can now either choose the audiobook from your media library or upload a new file from your computer.
After that, type in a filename for the audiobook.
By default, customers can download the audiobook as many times as they want, for as long as they want.
If you want to limit the number of downloads per customer, then type a number into the ‘Download limit’ field.
If you want the download link to expire after a certain number of days has passed, then type a number into the ‘Download expiry’ field.
When you’re happy with how the audiobook is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button. The audiobook will now appear as a downloadable product on your online store.
We hope this article helped you learn how to sell audiobooks online. You may also want to check out our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins to grow your site, and our comparison of the best email marketing services for small businesses.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Sell Audiobooks Online (3 Simple & Easy Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Are you looking for popular digital product ideas to sell online?
In today’s creator economy, there are many opportunities to make money online. You can sell items like music files, videos, blog posts, eBooks, software, apps, podcasts, premium content, and more.
In this article, we will share the most popular digital products that you can sell online.
A digital product is essentially anything that you can buy, download, and use on a device such as a computer or mobile phone. For example, ebooks, software, videos, music, online courses, and more can be digital products that you can purchase at an online store.
They are delivered to you electronically, usually through a direct download in your user dashboard or in an email with a download link inside. In general, you can easily access them anytime or anywhere.
Digital products have a lot of advantages compared to selling physical products.
First, you don’t have to worry about keeping inventory and meeting supply or demand requirements. Once you create a digital product, you can sell it again and again.
This also relieves you of any storage issues. Some physical products need to be kept at a warehouse and may require special storage conditions like refrigeration, which can be costly. On the other hand, you don’t have to worry about storing your digital products.
Besides that, you get to generate a passive income stream with digital goods and easily grow your sales. They also help reach a wider audience across the globe, as people from around the world can buy your digital products.
That said, let’s look at some of the most popular digital products you can sell online today.
eBooks are a great digital product to have, and you can write about any topic you like. The best part, once you’ve created an ebook, you can simply market it and earn passive income.
Now, if you have a WordPress blog or write articles regularly on any other platform, then you can repurpose the content for your ebook.
For instance, your most popular guides would already have enough content to be converted into an ebook. Or you can combine several blog posts into an ebook about a particular topic.
Once you’re done with the writing part, you can then add the ebook to your WordPress site so people can download it.
You can follow our guide on how to create and sell ebooks in WordPress from start to finish.
The next most popular digital product you can sell is online courses. People are always looking to improve their skillset and learn new things.
You can use this opportunity to share your expertise and teach other people through a virtual classroom. For example, if you’re a fitness instructor, then you can create an online course and teach people different exercises.
The best part, you need very little investment and no technical knowledge to create online courses.
There are many tools in the market that can help you get started in no time. All you need is a domain name for your site, WordPress website hosting, and a learning management system (LMS) plugin.
LMS software like MemberPress or Thrive Apprentice makes it super easy to create interactive courses without editing code. Plus, you can manage students and course material, offer quizzes, and more.
You can learn more by following our guide on how to create and sell online courses in WordPress.
Just like ebooks and online courses, a membership website is another simple way of making money online. You can sell premium memberships with access to exclusive content and community features.
For example, you can lock specific guides, cheat sheets, interviews, videos, podcasts, newsletters, and other content behind premium memberships.
On the other hand, you can offer exclusive entry to different communities, like a forum, Slack channel, or Facebook group, through a membership site.
What’s great about memberships is that you don’t have to rely on advertising revenue. You can allow your website visitors to support your site and generate continuous income.
There are many membership plugins and tools you can use to get started. For instance, MemberPress lets you restrict access to content, integrate different payment services, create unlimited membership levels, allow drip content, and more.
To start selling memberships, you can see our step-by-step guide on creating a WordPress membership site.
You can also sell individual guides and tutorials as digital products. This is a great way to earn more money if you have long articles or multiple blog posts on a particular topic.
Simply turn your guides into a downloadable file like a PDF document. You can then charge a fee to visitors who are willing to purchase your content.
For example, let’s say you have a detailed guide on email marketing. You can turn that guide into a PDF file and sell it as a digital product.
There are many WordPress eCommerce platforms you can use to sell digital products. We recommend using Easy Digital Downloads because it is beginner friendly, offers a shopping cart, easily integrates with payment gateways, and more.
You can learn more by going through our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.
Spreadsheets are another type of digital product you can sell on your website and generate revenue. You can create all types of useful spreadsheets for your audience.
For example, let’s say you have expertise in search engine optimization (SEO). You can create a technical SEO checklist for beginners and offer that as a paid spreadsheet. Similarly, you can create checklists, templates, calculators, lists, and other types of spreadsheets.
The best part is that you don’t need any investment to create a spreadsheet. Plus, it helps offer evergreen content that can you use to generate leads and a passive income stream.
You can check out our guide on how to sell spreadsheets online for more details.
You can also create WordPress plugins and sell them as digital products.
WordPress is open-source software, and it powers over 43% of the website on the internet. There are over 60,000 WordPress plugins that include free and paid options. This shows that there is a huge potential to create a plugin that generates revenue.
Usually, you need basic coding knowledge like PHP, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to write a plugin. For more details, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to create a WordPress plugin.
You can also hire a developer to help you create a plugin. There are many WordPress developer job websites where you can post an opening and hire the right talent for a specific project.
If you’re willing to take on a DIY project, then you can also use a plugin called Pluginception. It lets you create a WordPress plugin from the WordPress dashboard. To learn more, please follow our guide on how to create a WordPress plugin using a plugin.
Just like WordPress plugins, you can also create software and mobile apps. There are many SaaS (software as a service) products that you can create for any niche. It can be productivity software, workout apps, games, and more.
Usually, SaaS products have a recurring subscription. This means that you’ll need to generate income on a monthly or annual basis.
Since creating such software and apps requires specific skills, you might need to hire developers. This process can be expensive because you’ll need investment for creating software or purchasing an existing one ($15,000 and upwards).
As an alternative, you can convert your WordPress websites into mobile apps and monetize them. There are tools and plugins that can turn your site into an app. For example, let’s say you have a membership site. Converting it into an app will help you attract mobile users and sell it as a digital product.
On the other hand, you can also join affiliate programs and earn a commission on each sale. You can create a WordPress blog to review different software and apps and promote them as affiliates. Or you could create an online store using affiliates.
For more information, check out our ultimate guide to affiliate marketing for beginners.
Similarly, you can make WordPress themes and sell them online. Themes are necessary for every WordPress user, and often users look for themes that offer specific features and customization options.
There are many platforms where you can sell website themes. Some of these include Enavto, Themeforest, CodeCanyon, and Creative Market.
You can also list a free version of your theme on the WordPress.org theme directory. From here, you can encourage users to upgrade to a premium version to unlock more features.
We recommend selling the digital products on your own websites instead of a marketplace like Envato because they charge a large commission on every sale without much benefit.
You can use an eCommerce solution like Easy Digital Downloads to create your own digital store.
If you’re a graphic designer or an artist, then you can create a variety of digital products and sell them online.
For example, you can create logos, design templates, original digital artwork, clip art, patterns, brushes, backgrounds, icons, fonts, shapes, and more.
Besides that, creating assets for different photo editing software like Adobe PhotoShop, Canva, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Photo can also help you make money online.
To get started, please follow our guide on how to sell digital art and graphics online.
Another great digital product you can sell online is photography. Many people look for images that they can use for their WordPress websites and blogs.
There are different types of photos you can sell. Some of these include stock photos, event pictures, portraits, drone images, backgrounds, and more.
Now, you can sell your images to different stock photo sites, like Shutterstock, 500px, iStock Photo, Adobe Stock, and more. Each of these websites has a payment structure where they’ll share a percentage of direct sales or give you a royalty fee.
On the other hand, you can create your own photography website and sell your images there. This way, you don’t have to share the profits with another third party and have more control over your images.
To help you get started, check out some useful WordPress plugins for photographs.
Videos are the next digital products on our list that you can sell online.
For example, videos like drone footage, stock videos, online training, product reviews, video game reviews, and gameplay footage are some of the ideas you can use to create a video-based digital product.
One of the easiest ways of monetizing your videos is by creating a video membership site. This way, you don’t have to rely on ad revenue from other platforms and get recurring payments from users who pay to access your content.
Are you a chef, a home cook, or a food blogger? If you do, then you can sell recipes as digital products.
The food industry is worth trillions of dollars and is very competitive. However, you can find a niche that your audience likes and share recipes to earn money.
For instance, you can start a food blog and offer premium recipes for subscribers. Or you could combine multiple recipes into an ebook and sell that as a digital product.
Plus, you can offer cooking courses and other premium content by creating a membership site. We recommend MemberPress for this sort of site, as it’s the best plugin for that on the market.
Podcasts are audio shows that users can subscribe to. They are generally made up of audio files that listeners can download or stream to listen to.
There are many topics you can create a podcast on. For example, if your topic is music, then you can narrow it down to a specific genre. Similarly, if you’re into sports, then you can create a podcast on football.
Another great way of selling podcasts is by inviting industry experts and serving it as a masterclass. You can charge a premium or only offer these podcasts to members to generate income.
Many podcasters rely on their communities supporting them, whether that’s through a service like Patreon or creating their own membership site.
For more details, you can follow our guide on how to start a podcast and make it successful.
You can also sell your expertise as a digital product and help other businesses.
For example, if you’re a copywriter, graphic designer, social media expert, developer, fitness coach, legal professional, translator, SEO expert, offer technical support through live chat, or any type of consultant, then you can offer your services to others for a fee.
Now, you can sign up for different freelancing websites like Upwork, or create your own site. From here, simply market your expertise on social media platforms and build a following to get more projects and clients.
Do you conduct industry-wide surveys, polls, and research? If yes, then you can create digital products and sell the research data.
Many businesses are looking for insights into their industry. They want to better understand their audience and find out what they like or don’t like.
You can carry out research on popular topics, collaborate with companies, or simply run a survey to gather data. After that, you can create a report, add it to your website, and sell it to consumers.
If you have a membership website, then you can also offer research and data to subscribers.
For examples, see some of our research articles we offer for free here at WPBeginner:
Now that you know some of the most popular digital products to sell online, you’ll also need to market them to your customers.
Here’s a list of WordPress plugins and tools that you can use to promote your product and boost conversions:
We hope this article helped you find the most popular digital products to sell online. You may also want to see our guide on low-cost and easy online business ideas that make money and the best email marketing tools to promote your digital products.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post 15 Most Popular Digital Products You Can Sell Online in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.
One of our readers recently asked if it was possible to integrate Shopify in your WordPress website?
Using Shopify with WordPress allows you to combine the eCommerce features of Shopify with the powerful website platform on the planet, WordPress. This gives you more flexibility and freedom to grow your business.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily connect Shopify with WordPress to grow your business.
Here is a quick overview of the topics we’ll cover in this article.
Let’s get started.
WordPress is the best website builder in the world powering more than 43% of all websites on the internet.
It is incredibly easy to use and gives you access to thousands of free and paid WordPress themes and plugins (apps for your WordPress website).
On the other hand, Shopify is a popular eCommerce platform that helps you easily sell products online.
You can use WordPress with WooCommerce to create your online store, but some users may want to use Shopify for their online store and WordPress for their website.
For more details, see our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce with the pros and cons of both platforms.
Combining Shopify and WordPress gives you the advantages of both platforms. You can sell products with Shopify while enjoying the flexibility and freedom of WordPress to manage your website.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily use Shopify with WordPress.
If you don’t have a Shopify store, then you can go ahead now and create your Shopify store. You can quickly add a few products and then come back here.
Next, you’ll need to set up your WordPress website.
There are two types of WordPress. First, there is WordPress.com which is a website hosting service. Then you have WordPress.org also called self-hosted WordPress.
You’ll need WordPress.org because it gives you instant access to all WordPress features out of the box. For more details, see our comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.
To make a WordPress.org website, you’ll need a domain name (like wpbeginner.com) and a web hosting account.
A domain name costs around $14.99 per year, and website hosting plans start at $7.99 per month (usually paid yearly).
Our friends at Bluehost have agreed to offer WPBeginner users a free domain name with a generous discount on hosting. Basically, you can get started for $2.75 per month.
Once you have signed up for Bluehost, they’ll automatically install WordPress for you.
You’ll see your WordPress site under the My Sites section in your Bluehost account.
Simply click on the ‘Log into WordPress’ button to access your WordPress admin dashboard.
It would look something like this:
Now, the next step is to connect your WordPress website to your Shopify store.
For that, you’ll need the ShopWP plugin. It is a Shopify plugin for WordPress that allows you to easily connect WordPress to your Shopify account.
First, you need to install and activate the ShopWP plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to visit the ShopWP Pro » Connect page and click on the ‘Begin the connection process’ button to launch connection wizard.
This will launch the connection wizard.
First, you’ll be asked to enter your myshopify.com domain name.
Click on the ‘Connect your Shopify store’ button to continue.
Next, you’ll be asked to allow ShopWP app access to your Shopify store. Simply click on the Install App button to start the connection process.
This will take you back to your WordPress website.
The plugin will confirm that your website is connected to the Shopify store.
Click on the Next button to continue.
Now, you’ll be asked to configure different settings for your store, starting with the pages you want to use for your Shopify products.
You can turn on listing pages and then choose a WordPress page or use the default ShopWP Products page.
Similarly, you can turn on collection pages and individual product detail pages.
In the next step, you can choose what happens when users click on the products. You can show the product in a modal, or redirect users to Shopify or the WordPress product detail page.
Next, you can choose how you want to display the cart. ShopWP comes with a custom cart experience that shows the cart in a slide-in modal. You can turn it off if you are using individual product detail pages in WordPress.
Click on the Save and Finish Setup button to exit the wizard.
Next, you need to sync products between your WordPress website, and your Shopify store.
Simply switch to the Sync tab under plugin settings.
From here, you need to click on the Sync Detail Pages and Connect Auto Post Syncing buttons. This will allow the plugin to fetch any product details as you add new products to your Shopify store.
That’s all! You have successfully connected your Shopify store to WordPress.
ShopWP allows you to easily display your Shopify products anywhere on your WordPress blog.
If you are using the default settings, then the plugin will create a ShopWP Products page for you which will display your Shopify products.
You can also display products on any WordPress post or page by simply editing it and adding the Products block.
For more details, you can see our guide on how to use the WordPress block editor.
The block comes with a bunch of settings that you can configure to change the appearance of products.
The settings include the layout, colors, product details to display, and more.
Similarly, you can also add a Single product block to display a single product.
You’ll be able to find the product you want to display by typing product title in the block settings.
The plugin comes with powerful display options that you can control in block settings or under the plugin settings page.
Now that you have connected your Shopify store to your WordPress website, the next step is to continue setting up your WordPress site properly.
First, you would want to choose a theme for your WordPress site. Your WordPress theme controls your site’s overall design and layout.
There are thousands of premium and free WordPress themes to choose from. To get started, you can take a look at our roundup of the most popular WordPress themes. We’ve also hand-picked a list of of the best clothing store themes.
Want to design your own theme layout? You can do that with SeedProd. It’s a drag-and-drop WordPress site builder that allows you to create your own custom theme without writing any code.
Next, you would want to create content for your WordPress website.
You can use pages to create your website structure by adding home, blog, shop, contact, and about pages. See our list of important pages to create in WordPress.
After that, go ahead and add pages to the navigation menu in WordPress.
For more details, you can see our tutorial on how to customize your WordPress theme.
The best part about using WordPress is that it comes with thousands of plugins and works with all the marketing tools that you’ll need to grow your business.
Following are a few essential tools and plugins that you may want to install right away.
1. OptinMonster – The best conversion optimization software, OptinMonster allows you to convert website visitors into customers. It comes with tools like sticky banners, countdown timers, lightbox popups, and more. The best thing is that OptinMonster works with both WordPress and Shopify, so you can use one plugin for both platforms.
2. WPForms – The best WordPress form builder plugin that allows you to easily create contact forms, surveys, polls, and basically any kind of forms you need for your website.
3. All in One SEO for WordPress – The best WordPress SEO plugin on the market, it allows you to easily optimize your website for search engines. This helps you bring more traffic to your website. The one feature you absolutely need from this plugin is the ability to add your Shopify store to your WordPress sitemap.
4. MonsterInsights – Want to see where your traffic is coming from? MonsterInsights helps you install Google Analytics and easily setup enhanced eCommerce tracking.
5. TrustPulse – Adds social proof to your eCommerce store by displaying targeted messages to users with real time user actions on your website. TrustPulse works with both WordPress and Shopify.
6. PushEngage – The best web push notification software that helps you connect with your visitors after they leave your site through push notifications.
For more recommendations, see our list of essential WordPress plugins for business websites.
We hope this article helped you learn how to easily integrate Shopify with WordPress. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best email marketing services and best live chat software to grow your business.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Easily Integrate Shopify with WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to add a wishlist feature to your WooCommerce store?
A wishlist allows visitors to save their favorite products, so they can quickly find them later in your store and complete their purchase. It also makes it easy for your visitors to share their favorite items with friends and family as part of their wedding registry or another gift registry.
In this article, we’ll show you how to add a wishlist to your WooCommerce store.
A wishlist lets your customers and guests save their favorite products on a list. It helps them to remember which products they want to buy in the future, so they can quickly find them later on your WooCommerce store.
Plus, customers can share their wishlists with their friends and family. This helps build brand awareness and increases traffic to your online store so you can boost sales.
Another benefit is that you get to see which products people add the most to their wishlists. To increase sales, you can then run promotional offers and discounts on popular wishlist products.
That said, let’s see how you can easily add a wishlist to the WooCommerce store.
The best way of adding a wishlist to your WooCommerce store is by using a WordPress plugin like YITH WooCommerce Wishlist.
It’s a free WooCommerce plugin that lets your visitors save their favorite products to a wishlist and share them with their friends and family.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the YITH WooCommerce Wishlist plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you can head over to YITH » Wishlist from your WordPress dashboard and click on the ‘Add to wishlist options’ tab to configure the plugin.
The plugin will automatically add a ‘Add to wishlist’ link to each product that shoppers can click on to save items.
In the settings, you can select which link to show after a user adds a product to the wishlist. For instance, you can still display the ‘Add to wishlist’ button, or you can change the link to show the ‘View wishlist’ or ‘Remove from list’ options instead.
Next, you’ll see the Loop settings and Product page settings. You can choose where you’d like the ‘Add to wishlist’ button appear on the product page.
By default, it will be shown after the add to cart button. However, you can choose a different position by clicking the dropdown menu in front of the Position of “Add to wishlist” on product page option.
After that, simply scroll down and customize the text for your wishlist and edit the color and style of the add to wishlist button.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Options’ button at the bottom of the page when you’re done.
Next, you can head to the ‘Wishlist page options’ tab.
The plugin will create a new page for wishlists on your WooCommerce store. If you prefer, you can select a different page from the Wishlist page dropdown menu instead or show wishlists on any page using the [yith_wcwl_wishlist] shortcode.
Next, you can now scroll down and select which details to show in the wishlist table.
For example, there are options to display product variations, the date on which the product was added to the wishlist, price, and more.
You can even select social media channels on which people can share their wishlists, add custom text when the list is shared on social media, and more.
The plugin also offers settings to change the text and edit the style and color of the sharing button, social media channel buttons, and more.
When you’ve customized the wishlist page settings, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Options’ button to store your changes.
You can now visit your WooCommerce store and see the ‘Add to wishlist’ option on the product page under the Add to cart button.
When a user clicks the Add to wishlist link, they can then browse their wishlist and remove items or add to cart products from the list.
Besides that, the plugin also shows options to share the wishlist on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest or send the list via email and WhatsApp.
Now that you have added the wishlist feature to your WooCommerce store, you may want to further optimize it to boost sales and conversions.
We recommend using the WooFunnels plugin to optimize your WooCommerce checkout, add one-click upsells, and other marketing automation features.
For more details, see our step by step guide on how to create high converting funnels in WooCommerce.
Aside from that, here are five other plugins that we recommend to help grow your WooCommerce store:
We hope this article helped you learn how to add a wishlist to your WooCommerce store. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best WooCommerce plugins to grow your store, and the best WooCommerce hosting companies that scales with your growth.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Add a Wishlist to Your WooCommerce Store first appeared on WPBeginner.
While we entered the new digital world of the 2010s optimistic and trusting, all the major headlines about data breaches at the world’s largest organizations have made us all more cautious.
As we enter a new decade, data security has become more relevant than ever before.
Are you looking for the best free eCommerce platform to build your eCommerce website?
In the early days, eCommerce platforms used to cost thousands which kept many small businesses from creating an online store. Luckily now there are several popular eCommerce platforms that offer free or low cost options.
In this article, we will compare the best and most popular free eCommerce platforms that you can use to start an online store. We have a detailed pros and cons analysis for each, so you can choose the best eCommerce website builder for your needs.
Let’s be honest, there is no such thing as a 100% free eCommerce platform.
Even when the eCommerce platform itself is free, you will have to pay for domain, web hosting, payment processing fees, and other extension costs.
We have a detailed guide on the real cost of building eCommerce websites.
With that said, your goal should be to find an eCommerce platform that helps you get started at the lowest to no cost, without putting severe limitations on how you run or grow your business.
You would also want the platform to be easy to use, full-featured, with the ability to accept payments using your preferred payment methods.
Keeping these things in mind, let’s take a look at the best free eCommerce platforms that you can use to make money online and grow your business.
WooCommerce is the world’s most popular eCommerce platform. It’s a completely free software that you can download and run on any web hosting provider.
Since WooCommerce doesn’t provide hosting for you, you’ll need to buy web hosting and a domain name to make sure your website can be accessed by users worldwide.
We recommend using either Bluehost or SiteGround. They are both among the largest hosting companies in the world and are officially recommended by WooCommerce.
Bluehost is even offering WPBeginner users a free domain name + SSL certificate, and a generous 60% discount on hosting. Basically, you can get started for $2.75 per month.
→ Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Deal ←
Pros
Cons
To help beginners get started, we have the most detailed WooCommerce tutorial on the web that helps you build an eCommerce website with WooCommerce.
Constant Contact’s website builder has a free plan that allows you to create an online store without spending anything at all. Constant Contact will host the store and even provide you with a free subdomain.
You’ll only be able to have up to 3 products in your store, but if you’re just starting out, this might be enough. If you want to add more products, you can upgrade to a paid plan.
It’s worth noting that Constant Contact does charge a 3% transaction fee if you’re on the Free or the Starter plans.
Pros
Cons
You can use Constant Contact online store along with your WordPress website and easily link to the store from the menu. This is a good option for small businesses who want to sell few products without the overhead of managing a self-hosted eCommerce platform like WooCommerce.
BuyNow Plus is not a full eCommerce platform. Instead, it lets you create “buy now” buttons that you can put on any website.
You’ll need to create a free Stripe account in order to use BuyNow Plus.
Pros
Cons
BigCommerce is a fully hosted (or all-in-one) eCommerce platform that you can use to create your eCommerce store. There’s also a WordPress plugin available, if you have an existing site that you want to use with BigCommerce.
While they don’t have a free plan available, there is a free trial which lets you set up your shop and get started without paying anything.
Pros
Cons
Related: See our comparison of WooCommerce vs BigCommerce for more details.
Shopify is another fully hosted eCommerce platform. Shopify also offers a 14 day free trial and, like BigCommerce’s free trial, this doesn’t require a credit card.
Pros
Cons
Related: For more details see our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce.
Weebly isn’t quite so well known as some other eCommerce platforms, like Shopify and WooCommerce, but they offer a free trial where you can test out the platform.
Pros
Cons
Big Cartel is a hosted eCommerce platform that’s designed especially for artists and creatives. If you want to have a store selling handmade products or similar, it could be a great option for you.
Pros
Cons
So which is the best free eCommerce platform for you? That depends on what you’re looking for.
If you want to start cheap and have full freedom to grow your business, then WooCommerce is the best option.
Using our exclusive Bluehost deal, you can get started for $2.75 per month. That’s less than a cup of coffee.
If you want to use a totally free eCommerce platform, then Constant Contact website builder is easier and free. However, it is limited in terms of features and flexibility that you get with other platforms.
If you want to try out an online store for free, but you’re happy to pay for something that’s a good fit for your business, then BigCommerce and Shopify are great full-featured options.
We hope this article helped you learn about the best free eCommerce platforms to get started with. You may also want to see our guide on the best email marketing services and best live chat software for eCommerce, so you can increase your store sales.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post 7 Best Free Ecommerce Platforms for 2020 (Compared) appeared first on WPBeginner.
Are you thinking of starting an online store? Not sure whether you should use Shopify or WooCommerce?
Shopify and WooCommerce are the two top eCommerce platforms in the world each with their own pros and cons.
As a business owner, choosing the right eCommerce platform that fits your business needs is crucial for your success.
In this guide, we will show you a detailed comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce. The goal is to break down their advantages and disadvantages to help you choose the best option for your eCommerce store.
Since this is a detailed comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce, here’s a quick table of content:
Before we start with our in-depth comparison of the two most popular eCommerce platforms on the web, it’s important that we cover the basics and highlight what makes these platform stand out.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform that makes it easy for you to create an online store, accept payments, and manage your inventory all from a single platform without ever worrying about the technical aspects of managing a website such as web hosting, security, caching, etc.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin built for WordPress. It allows you to leverage the most powerful content management system (CMS) and use it to run an online store. Because of the open-source nature, you can customize every aspect of your store and easily build custom extensions.
The decision to choose between the two platforms depend entirely on your needs and skill level.
There are few things that you absolutely need to keep in mind when starting an online store. These key factors will help you decide which platform is better suited for your needs.
These are the very basic requirements that all online store owners must consider. However, depending on your needs, you may also want to look at other options like shipping, inventory management, invoicing, taxes, dropshipping, etc.
Our goal with this article is to take an in-depth look at how Shopify and WooCommerce stand on these basic requirements, and which one of them is best suited for your needs.
Cost is often the most important consideration for eCommerce website owners. You need to evaluate the cost of getting started while also keeping in mind the variable costs for add-on services and software.
Shopify makes it super easy to start your online store. Their basic plan starts at $29 per month, and you can upgrade to the Shopify plan for $79 or the Advanced Shopify plan for $299 per month.
Each of these plans includes domain name, SSL certificate, and web hosting.
The basic plan comes with enough features to set up a new online store. You can add unlimited products, 2 user accounts, unlimited file storage, and more.
However, this pricing doesn’t include third-party tools and add-ons that you will need to take your Shopify store to the next level. As your business grows, these costs will start adding up, and you’ll soon be paying a lot more than the basic plan.
Payments are another factor that affects your costs. Shopify offers their own Shopify Payments solution which costs 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.
If you want to use third-party payment gateways or your own merchant account, then you will be charged a flat fee of 2.0% for all transactions. You can reduce this fee to 0.5% by using the Shopify Advanced plan which costs $299 per month.
These payment processing fees are fairly steep when using external payment gateways. However, if you’re just starting out and want to use the Shopify payment solution, then the fees are fairly comparable to popular platforms like Stripe and Braintree.
WooCommerce is an eCommerce plugin for WordPress.org (also known as self-hosted WordPress). It is open source and freely available as a WordPress plugin.
However, you’ll need a domain name, SSL Certificate, and a WordPress hosting account to start a WooCommerce store.
Typically, a domain name costs $14.99, SSL Certificate costs $69.99, and web hosting around $7.99 / month. This is not cheap, particularly when you are just starting out.
Thankfully, there are several hosting companies who are now offering specialized WooCommerce hosting plans which significantly reduces the cost.
Bluehost, an official WordPress and WooCommerce recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a discount on web hosting.
This will help you start your online store for as low as $6.95 / month.
→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←
As you can see, the cost of starting a basic WooCommerce store is significantly lower than Shopify. WooCommerce also doesn’t charge you a percentage fee of your transactions which is a very nice perk.
But the WooCommerce costs start adding up as you purchase paid extensions. Your hosting costs will also increase as your online store grows.
However, one clear advantage of using WooCommerce is that you can often find free alternatives to the paid extensions. You can also keep your costs in control by only purchasing the tools and plugins as you need them.
With the number of free themes and free add-ons available for WooCommerce, it’s definitely the winner when it comes to cost.
Winner: WooCommerce
Most users starting an online store are not web designers or developers. Even users who are familiar with basic concepts need a platform that is easy to use and gets out of their way.
Let’s see how Shopify and WooCommerce stack up in terms of user-friendliness.
Shopify is a fully hosted platform which means you don’t need to install, manage, or update any software. You also don’t need to worry about security, performance, backups, and compatibility issues.
As soon as you sign up, it helps you pick a design for your website. After that, they walk you through customization and then help you add products.
Shopify comes with an intuitive drag and drop interface. Managing your products, sales, and inventory inside Shopify is a breeze.
One downside of this guided, polished, and highly optimized user experience is that it limits your control. You can only use the design and development tools provided by Shopify or add-ons available in their marketplace.
However, this is not as bad as it sounds. For most users, the large selection of extensions and themes available in Shopify, is more than enough to get started and grow your online store.
WooCommerce is not a hosted platform like Shopify. This means you will need to install WooCommerce, manage updates, keep backups, and make sure that your website is secure. There are plenty of free and paid plugins that can automate most of these tasks for you.
WooCommerce is super flexible when it comes to customizations. You have full control of the whole platform. You can add any functionality imaginable to your website with the help of more than 55,000+ WordPress plugins.
However, there is no built-in drag & drop design builder. You can use one of the WordPress page builders like Beaver Builder, but it adds to your cost.
The biggest downside of the flexibility is that it comes with a learning curve and requires a more hands-on management of your website. You also have to signup for a merchant account or similar service like Stripe / PayPal.
While the WooCommerce guided setup wizard is helpful, it does not come close to the onboarding and ease of use of Shopify.
Winner: Shopify
There are many payment gateways that you can use to accept payments online. Some payment methods may not be suitable for you, and others may not be available to your customers.
This is why it’s important that the platform you choose offers multiple payment options. Let’s take a look at how Shopify and WooCommerce compare when it comes to payment integrations.
Shopify offers plenty of payment options that you can use to receive payments from customers. It has its own payments solution called Shopify Payments (powered by Stripe) as well as all popular third-party payment gateways.
The problem is that Shopify charges an extra 2% fees on each transaction made through third party payment gateways. This is on top of the transaction fees charged by the payment gateway. You can reduce the fee to 0.5% by paying $299 per month for Advanced Shopify plan.
Shopify Payments has flat credit card fees, but no other transaction fees. Credit card rates start from 2.9% + 30¢ for the basic plan and get lower for other plans.
WooCommerce offers PayPal and Stripe payments by default. It also supports all other popular payment service providers through add-ons.
For payment gateways, WooCommerce even has support for many regional and less popular payment services. Since there is no barrier to entry, any payments company can create add-ons for WooCommerce and provide support for it.
As a self-hosted platform, you are only charged transaction fees by your payment gateway or your bank. WooCommerce never charges you a % fee on your store transactions which is a major plus.
If choosing your own merchant account and using a third-party gateway is important for you, then you will save A LOT of money by using WooCommerce. But if you’re a small store and willing to use Shopify Payments which has the same credit card rates as Stripe / Paypal, then it makes no difference.
Winner: Tie
No matter how robust an e-commerce platform is, you’ll always need third-party tools and services to grow your store. For example, an email marketing software, lead generation tool, analytics tools, outreach services, etc.
Both Shopify and WooCommerce have a massive extensions directory, and they integrate with many third-party services.
Shopify comes with a powerful API and an App Store where you can buy third-party add-ons for your Shopify store. They have hundreds of apps in the store covering every feature you’ll want to add to your store.
For lead generation, they have integrations with software like OptinMonster which helps you grow your email list and reduce cart abandonment. They have apps for SEO, product reviews, discounts, countdowns, and more.
Shopify’s app store contains both free and paid apps. Free apps are usually created by third-party services that have their own pricing, and the app only integrates your store to their APIs. Pricing for paid add-ons varies and most apps offer monthly subscriptions.
WooCommerce is open source and built on top of WordPress. This gives you access to more than 55,000 free WordPress plugins and many more paid plugins.
You can use these add-ons to add payment gateways, lead generation, SEO, performance optimization, and almost any feature you can think of.
Due to the low barrier of entry, there are a lot more integrations and add-ons available for WooCommerce than Shopify. Almost all third-party tools and service providers have their own plugins to seamlessly integrate with your WooCommerce store.
You can also hire a developer to create an integration or plugin just for your own website. However it’s important to keep in mind that WooCommerce is a lot easier to customize. Having personally gone through the process of submitting a plugin for WordPress and submitting an app to the Shopify store, we can say that the process is extremely harder on Shopify vs WooCommerce.
Winner: WooCommerce
Dropshipping is an online business where an eCommerce store doesn’t keep the products in stock. Instead, it fullfills order by purchasing products from vendors and then shipping them directly to the customers.
Due to its low overhead, dropshipping has become popular around the world. Many of our users asked us to compare WooCommerce vs Shopify for dropshipping and which one of them is better for a dropshipping business.
When building a dropshipping business, the front-end of your website will look just like any online store. Your users will be able to browse the products, add them to cart, and make payment, just like they would do on any other eCommerce store.
Depending on the vendors you choose, you will then have to place user’s order for shipping.
Shopify also has integration apps for several popular dropshipping marketplaces like AliExpress, Oberlo, Printify, and more. However, each of these product marketplaces has their own membership fees, shipping, and other charges that you need to keep in mind when building your dropshipping website with Shopify.
WooCommerce is a popular choice among dropshipping businesses. Mainly because WooCommerce allows you to install extensions that make order fulfillment a breeze.
You can easily find extensions that allow you to instantly import products, fulfill orders from your website, and more. You can even create your own eCommerce marketplace allowing other vendors to sell on your website.
Keep in mind, that your supplier and vendor may have minimum order requirements, membership fees, and other charges. You need to keep those in mind when adding products to your WooCommerce dropshipping store.
Winner: WooCommerce
You have probably heard the term “growth-pains” from various CEOs. As your business grows, you will need more resources to handle new challenges and goals.
Shopify and WooCommerce can both be scaled to handle large amount of traffic and orders, but they’re not created equal. Let’s take a look at how these two eCommerce platform compare when it comes to scalability.
Shopify handles the technical parts of your store which means you don’t ever have to worry about performance, security, and scalability. Once your business starts growing, you can simply upgrade your Shopify plans.
Their infrastructure can easily handle your growing business without you having to worry about downtimes, backups, updates, or security. They also offer enterprise services as part of the Shopify Plus plan.
This takes out the painful part of the growth, but it also adds to your cost of business. Your expenses will grow, and you’ll have to plan accordingly.
The good part is that your costs will be offset by you not having to hire / manage a technical team in-house.
WooCommerce is a self-hosted platform which makes you responsible for maintaining updates, backups, and security of your website.
Your starter WooCommerce hosting plan would run out of resources as your store starts getting more traffic.
The good part is that you have plenty of options to manage growth as you are in full control of your website. Starting with better management of resources with caching to upgrading your hosting plan to more powerful servers.
Your WooCommerce hosting costs will increase, but you will have better control on resources, and you can make sure that you are not paying for resources that you don’t need. You can use a managed WordPress hosting provider like WP Engine or LiquidWeb to help scale your WooCommerce store.
Despite the control that WooCommerce offers, some business owners simply prefer a hassle-free solution.
Winner: Shopify
Both WooCommerce and Shopify are quite easy to use. However, sometimes you may need help to learn how to do something new on your store.
Let’s see how WooCommerce and Shopify handle support and what are your options to get help when needed.
Shopify is a fully hosted platform, which means they control the software and they are the ones who know their platform the best.
Shopify provides 24/7 support via live chat, phone, email, and Twitter. For users who want to fix things on their own, Shopify offers extensive documentation, how-to guides, knowledge base, video tutorials, and forums.
It also maintains a directory of Shopify Experts that you can hire if you need extra help or if you want to integrate a third-party solution.
Shopify doesn’t provide support for any third-party apps or themes that you are using.
WooCommerce is the world’s most popular eCommerce platform, which means there are tons of support options that you can utilize when needed.
The official website has extensive documentation, tutorials, and guides that allow you to help yourself. They also have support forums where you can get help from other WooCommerce users and experts.
WooCommerce is a self-hosted platform, which means your hosting provider is responsible for providing support for issues with your server.
For your WooCommerce theme and extensions, those developers are responsible for answering support questions regarding their products.
Due to its immense popularity, it is quite easier and often cheaper to find developers to help you fix issues with your WooCommerce store. You can find developers on freelancing websites to fix WooCommerce issues.
Winner: Shopify
Shopify and WooCommerce are both powerful platforms to start your eCommerce store. It truly comes down to your personal skills and preferences.
Shopify is a lot easier to use. It doesn’t require you to install anything, and you can get started quickly. Setting up payments is easier, and they have easy to understand pricing plans.
The disadvantage of Shopify is that you don’t have full control over everything. Your costs can go high with transaction fees, add-ons, and integrations. Your upgrade options are limited to select plans, and you cannot manage costs on a pay-as-you-grow basis.
WooCommerce is open source and gives you full control of your website. It costs a lot lower to start an online store with WooCommerce specially with these WooCommerce hosting companies.
The disadvantage is that you’ll have to maintain the software. It comes with a bit of learning curve. However, millions of beginners are already using it, and they get over the learning phase quite quickly.
If you are looking for a cost-effective solution, and you want to have full control of your online store, then WooCommerce is the best platform for you.
If you want something that’s completely hassle-free that has infinite scalability, then Shopify is the better platform for you.
We hope this article helped you compare pros and cons of Shopify vs WooCommerce. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best website builder.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post Shopify vs WooCommerce – Which is the Better Platform? (Comparison) appeared first on WPBeginner.