Two people processing an online order, scanning a shipping label on a cardboard box and checking order details on a laptop and clipboard.

How to Build an Ecommerce Website with WordPress

ByAllie Nimmons

So, you’ve got something to sell. Maybe it’s a physical product, a digital download, or even a service. The good news? Building an eCommerce website with WordPress is absolutely doable, no matter your skill level. With the right setup, you can start selling in no time – you just need to know where to begin.

Before we dive in, this guide assumes you’ve already handled the basics: hosting, a WordPress install, a domain, and an SSL certificate. With that foundation ready, let’s build your store.

Step 1: Create a Sitemap

Think of your site like planning a museum tour – you want visitors to move naturally through the space and end up at the checkout.

At minimum, you’ll need:

  • Homepage
  • About page
  • Contact page
  • Shop page
  • Product pages

If you’re selling multiple products, a “Shop” page is essential, with links to individual product pages. For example, a bookstore might organize mystery, cookbooks, and sci-fi into categories. Look at competitor sites for ideas, but keep your structure simple and intuitive.

Step 2: Sketch a Wireframe

Next, outline the basic layout of your key pages (homepage, shop, and product pages). A wireframe is just a simple sketch showing where text, images, and buttons will go. It’s where you start building a compelling e-commerce user journey. Here’s an example of one:

Ask yourself:

  • What info belongs on this page?
  • In what order should it appear?
  • Where will the user’s eye naturally land?

For ecommerce sites in particular it’s important to use the wireframe to anticipate where your user will be guided. Remember the museum analogy from earlier? With a wireframe, you’re drawing a map of the space and indicating what art piece will go where. That way you get a top-down view and can trace where the visitors will go. Links and buttons in particular serve as doorways; if you want a user to go from the homepage to the product page for your most popular item, where can you place links and buttons that direct them that way? This step ensures your design will guide visitors smoothly from browsing to buying.

Step 3: Pick a Selling Tool

Here’s the thing: WordPress itself doesn’t process payments – it’s just the “museum” for your products. To actually sell, you’ll need tools for transactions.

The most popular setup is:

  1. WordPress
  2. WooCommerce (free, with paid extensions)
  3. A payment gateway like Stripe or PayPal

WooCommerce helps you create product pages, checkout pages, and emails, while the gateway handles sensitive payment data securely. (It’s worth it to brush up on your cyber security knowledge when building an ecommerce website.)

Other options:

Choose based on what you’re selling.

Step 4: Pick a Theme 

Now comes the fun part – design! 

Your WordPress theme is what helps you make your website look good. It’s what you use to establish the layouts you planned earlier. But it will also help you with color, sizing, fonts, etc.

There are tons and tons of WordPress themes that are specifically designed for ecommerce shops. And some are even specifically designed to work with WooCommerce. It can be daunting to try to choose one, but we can recommend this video from our own Allie Nimmons which walks you through how to pick the perfect theme for your website.

Step 5: Upload Your Products

Now, it’s time to add your inventory. For each product, prepare:

  • A clear title
  • Features and benefits
  • Price (and any variations)
  • Delivery method (shipping, download, or email)
  • High-quality photos or visuals

For example, if you’re running a fundraiser raffle, include a description of the event, ticket pricing tiers, how the winner is chosen, and images that inspire support.

Step 6: Put it all Together 

Now it’s time to take all of these things and assemble them, adding details and finishing touches. 

Build out each page one at a time. Focus on how the pages interlock; how users’ questions are answered, but they’re also being gently encouraged to press buy. User ecommerce website design best practices to ensure that the design is as strong as it can be. Remember that a good design includes meeting website accessibility standards and best practices. 

It’s also essential to work on the emails that will be sent when someone makes a purchase. Regardless of what they purchase, both you and the customer should get a notification email with details about the purchase – like a receipt. And if you’re delivering the product via email, now is a good time to build and design those emails. 

Take extra time before launch to ensure that the website is as secure as possible. This includes secure user passwords, encryption, setting up monitoring tools and firewalls, etc.

It’s also a very good idea to set up tracking of your website traffic that you can analyze later.You can use a tool like Google Analytics to see what pages people are looking at, where they hit buy, where they end up leaving the site, etc.

Establish a plan to maintain the site over time to keep it happy and healthy. 

To Sum Up

Building an ecommerce website with WordPress is completely within your grasp. Even if you’ve never built a website of any kind before, WordPress makes it easier than ever to start selling online. If you need help, or would like to work with someone else to build your store, we’d be happy to chat! 

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