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How To Start An Online Store In 2024 (Step By Step Guide)

Do you wanna know how to start an online store?

You are at the right place!

This is the most lucrative business venture with significant potential for growth. The world of eCommerce is booming right now!

According to Statista, global eCommerce sales generated $4.28 trillion in 2020 and $5.40 trillion in 2022.

These statistics show that the growth of eCommerce businesses is in high demand for online shopping. As brick-and-mortar business expenses are increasing, more and more people adopting online for use as business space.

The brick-and-mortar store takes a huge money to start and it takes a recurring maintenance expense that can be hard for any low investor.

The online entrepreneur can start with just a domain and hosting and with some marketing knowledge in the head.

So this is the perfect time to start your own store online. Normally starting a business online is a very daunting task for beginners.

It requires planning, research and execution to ensure success in the highly competitive market.

But with the right tools and the right strategies you can lower your startup cost, reach your target audience and grow your business easily.

In this article, I have tried to cover everything you need to learn from choosing a niche and platform to optimizing your websites and the tips on driving and selling everything.

So without further ado, let’s dive in:

Decide Your Target Audience

Deciding your target audience is the most important aspect of launching an eCommerce site.

You have to identify the group of people that you will target to find your new customers and increase sales.

As a new eCommerce entrepreneur, you can categorize your target audience based on:

  • Demographics: These are factors like age, gender, occupation, education, income and other similar things that help you to understand the basic profile of your potential customers and you can segment them according to their characteristics.
  • Locations: You can divide your audience based on geographic location. This factor is very important because some products are popular in certain regions. You can use location-based targeting to reach customers in those areas.
  • Interests: This is based on psychographic factors like attitudes, personality, opinions and lifestyles. You can create a personalised and engaging marketing strategy that resonates with them and this can help you to attract more customers and convert your customers into buyers.

If you already have a product, it’s crucial to understand what is your buyer’s characteristics which means age, occupation, education, income and other relevant factors.

Creating a buyer personally can help you to use this information to create effective website copy and marketing campaigns.

If you don’t have a product in stock yet, then you can consider the types of customers you know best and understand their needs and choices.

For example, suppose you’re a fitness enthusiast and you want to sell workout gear. You might know many people who prefer to exercise at home, rather than go to the gym, and who enjoy high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

With this understanding, you can focus on selling products that cater to this specific audience, such as resistance bands, adjustable dumbbells, and yoga mats.

Pro Tip: Know your target audience before starting your store. It will help you to get the target customers who need the product most. Simply send them personalized messages and grow your business faster.


Choose Your Product To Sell

Finding profitable products to sell is the most challenging task in the eCommerce business.

If you can follow the steps I have mentioned above to define your target customer, you can make this work in an easy way.

There are different strategies you can follow to find profitable products matter you are a manufacturer, reseller or drop shipper.

Let me clarify some ways you can follow to find your products

1. Target Enthusiastic Hobbyists

If you can find an audience who are interested in fitness, you can offer them fitness-related products that can feed their need and interest.

That means workout equipment, supplements and apparel can be a profitable business for you if you can find your audience who are passionate about Fitness.

2. Persue Your Personal Passoins

You can also pursue your passion to build a profitable eCommerce business. For example, you are passionate about home decor.

So you can sell unique home decor items that you create or source from other suppliers. Spocket is the best eCommerce supplier platform for the US and Europe.

You can use Google Trends to find which products are getting good popularity. Simply offer them to your audience before other online businesses target them to sell.

4. Analyse The Market Place

You can Analyze online marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy and eBay to find out which products are high in demand.

Sellzone is the best tool to spy on Amazon products. You can find there which products gaining more traction in the Amazon marketplace.

Simply order the products from direct suppliers and sell them on your own websites. That’s pretty simple!

You need creativity, research and a deep understanding of your target audience to find profitable products.

If you can leverage the strategies I have mentioned here, you can easily identify the products that will resonate with your audience and help you build a successful eCommerce business.

So what are you waiting for?

Grab the Bluehost WoCommerce Hosting Plan and launch your business!


How To Create An Online Store In 2024

It has become so much easier that you do not need any coding skills to get started.

You can start a blog or start an online store in 2024 without having any technical skills in just minutes.

There are some basic requirements to start an eCommerce store in 2024:

  • A domain that will represent your online store
  • A hosting where your online store or e-commerce site will store data.
  • Deep attention for a minimum of thirty minutes without any disturbance.

We will cover the following topic in this article:

  • How to get a free domain name
  • Best and reliable hosting to start an eCommerce site
  • Installing WordPress
  • Creating an e-commerce store & adding products to your store
  • Theme selection and customization
  • Installing useful plugins

Step one: How to set up the eCommerce website

There are two types of e-commerce platforms online. Shopify and Woocommerce. The Shopify e-commerce is a hassle-free platform for only $29/month.

But it will cost you more for a long-run business and you have to pay the additional cost to increase their payment options.

That’s why the maximum number of online businessmen recommend Woocommerce. It may take time to set up but it is more flexible than Shopify.

how to start an online business
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How To Get A Free Domain Name

The domain is like the address of your home. Your domain name is an address to your own online store.

Hosting is like home. Your hosting is the home where your online stores will store their data to live online.

Check this article, How to get a free domain name.

There are many web hosting companies that offer free domain names with their hosting service.

As a beginner, you can try Bluehost. It’s cheap reliable and recommended by WordPress.

If you wanna buy a single domain it will cost approximately $15 a year. Web hosting may cost you approximately $8 a month and an SSL Certificate $70 a year.

That’s a very big investment for a starter.

Fortunately, Bluehost is offering all of the above for free. They are offering a free domain, free SSL certificate, and cheap-priced hosting for FacileWay readers. That will cost you 6.95/month.

About Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the oldest and best WordPress-recommended hosting providers that will ensure you a great hosting experience.

Because of their awesome performance, millions of website owners are hosted with them.

The first thing You need to do is to go to this special link. You will see a page like the following image.

Start selling online with Bluehost

When you will click on the green box you will see the host plans page where you will see the Woocommerce hosting price policy. As a starter, the Starter Plan is a good choice.

Bluehost pricing policy
Bluehost Woocommerce pricing policies

You will see the following page after choosing your desired plan.

On this page, you have to enter your desired eCommerce business name that will represent your online store.

register your domain with bluehost and get it for free

When you will find your company name available you can book the domain for free on Bluehost.

In this final step, you will need to insert your account information to complete the process.

There are some extra packages you can purchase if you would like to.

Bluehost offers a cheap price

There are showing some extra costs because of choosing extra packages. You can avoid that cost packs to reduce the extra costs.

After making the final payment you will get an email with the login details of your Bluehost Cpanel. Cpanel is the interface from which you will manage everything in your store.

Login into your Cpanel. You will see a popup like the following image denoting that you have installed Woocommerce on your WordPress Site.

Go ahead and log in to your cPanel. You will see a welcome popup informing you that WordPress with WooCommerce is pre-installed on your website.

WordPress and Woocommerce Integration

Login by clicking on the green button. It will take you to the WordPress Dashboard.

Well done! You have successfully set up your hosting and domain. Now it’s time to set up your WordPress site and start your online store.

Step two: Installation of WordPress

The amazing thing about purchasing a Woocommerce hosting plan is they install WordPress and WooCommerce on your site automatically.

When you will log in to your WordPress site, you will notice a welcome message and they will ask you what type of website you want to set up.

WordPress Dashboard

Click on the “I don’t need help” tab. You don’t need to worry about this. I will show you every single step in this article.

Then you will see a wizard in your WordPress Dashboard like the following image-

Integrate WooCommerce on WordPress

The first thing you need to do before setting up the wizard, You have to visit the Settings » General page to set up your WordPress site title and description.

Set up WooCommerce Plugin

You got a free SSL certificate with your Bluehost hosting plan. This certificate has been installed with your domain already.

But you have to configure the SSL certificate on your WordPress site on the Settings>>General page. That’s why you should use HTTPS instead of HTTP.

WordPress Address setup

Go to the bottom of the page and save the changes. Congratulations! You have done your Basic WordPress Settings.

Now it’s time to set up your online store.

Step three: Set up your online store

There are some important factors that you will need to consider to start an online store in 2024 such as shipping information, payment methods, and currencies.

In this step, you have to run a setup wizard for the WooCommerce setting.

Run the Wizard to complete the WooCommerce Integration

When you click on the “Run the Setup Wizard” button you will see the following interface like this:

Welcome to the WooCommerce

To start an online store, you will need some important pages that will be created by WooCommerce automatically if you click on the continue button on the following interface.

how to do woocommerce page setup

After completing this step you will be taken to the next page. Here you have to select your location, currency, and unit measurement.

Select your local currency

When your selection of location and currency is done, click to continue.

Then you will be taken to the next page where you have to enter shipping and tax information.

how to setup shipping and tax for an online store in Woo commerce

You can use WooCommerce to sell both digital and physical products that need shipping services.

At this point, you have to check the box if you are going to ship physical products and leave it blank if you are going to sell only digital products.

The next step is you have to answer the tax question that you will be asked by them.

Don’t worry WooCommerce will help you to calculate and add taxes to your price automatically. Now click continue to go to the next page.

Integrate the payment gateway

In this step, you have to add the payment method that will be used for your customer payment.

You will get PayPal, Paypal Standard, and Stripe Payment Gateway by default.

There are many payment options available for WooCommerce. You can install every one of them if you want.

I would love to recommend PayPal Standard as it is the easiest payment option to start an online store. Just enter your PayPal email address and continue.

Woocommerce widget setting

After adding the payment gateways, you are done! Now click on the “Return to WordPress Dashboard” button to exit the wizard setup.

Well finished!

Now you are ready to add products to your WooCommerce store.

Step four: Add your products

There are some very simple steps to adding a product. You can check the following procedure.

Add products to your store

Firstly, Go to WooCommerce>>Products>> Add Products. Here you will see a very well-known interface that any newbie can understand easily.

Secondly, Enter your product Title and description.

Thirdly, Go to the Product Data panel and mark Downloadable if there are any virtual products.

Point to be noted that if you are going to sell a virtual product there is no need to add shipping costs as virtual products don’t need to ship.

You can check this article to learn in more detail about adding products on WooCommerce.

Step five: Theme selection and customization

The theme is the most important factor when it comes to starting an online store. It depends on the theme of how your online store will look.

It also depends on the theme of how your products will be displayed on your site. You should customize your website look according to your business model.

Because it helps you establish your brand identity and differentiate your business structure from your competitors.

Your eCommerce platform should reflect your brand’s values, mission, and personality, making it easier for your customers to recognize and remember you.

You can start with the free theme. But it will be the best idea if you go with the paid theme.

how to start an online business with a storefront theme

Bluehost installs the Storefront theme for your site automatically. All you need to customize the theme to your requirement.

But I don’t recommend using the Storefront theme as it comes with free features and can limit your access to customization.

If you can manage a little budget Astra WooCommerce Theme will be the best choice for you.

Step six: Increase Your Online Store Functionality with Important Plugins

I prefer WordPress most for launching a Woocommerce shop because it comes with tons of amazing plugin that helps to add more functionality.

Normally a non-techy guy will need a developer to launch their business online.

But if you use WordPress as your CMS, you can do it yourself which will save you a thousand dollars in developer costs.

Here I have included some important plugins that every online store should use to improve their business growth-

1. OptinMonster

You will get some amazing features like lightbox popups, sticky banners, countdown timers and many more that will help to convert your website visitors into customers and increase your sales.

The powerful targeting and segmentation options help you deliver personalized messages to your visitors and improve your customer experiences.

FacileWay partnered with Optinmonter and offers a 55% discount to its customers.

2. Easy Affiliate

You can add an affiliate program to your store using this plugin. It helps to partner with the marketers in your niche and promote your product for a commission.

You can manage your affiliate program, track referrals and commissions and set up your custom commission rates for different products or affiliates with Easy Affiliate.

3. Advance Coupon

You can extend your coupon functionality and create effective coupons for different customers such as loyalty programs, schedules coupons, and buy 1 get 1 free deals using this amazing plugin.

You can create URL coupons, BOGO deals and cart conditions that drive sales insanely and it is also easy to manage coupons using this plugin.

4. Elementor

This is the best page builder plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce. You will get tons of ready-made templates that are designed for conversions and sales.

You will get WooCommerce blocks to create custom product pages, checkout pages and many more!

The drag & Drop features with integration with popular email marketing services made this tool a high-demand WordPress plugin that creates stunning landing pages that convert.

5. MonsterInsights

This is the Best Google Analytics plugin I have ever seen. It helps to track your customer behaviour and sales data that you can use to make data-driven decisions for your marketing strategies.

You will know what should be your next move when you are optimizing your store.

This tool helps you to observe your customer behaviour and you can work on your store performance using the data you will get from MonsterInsights.

You can save up to 60% on MonsterInsights with this Exclusive link.

6. Hubspot

You can manage your contacts, segment them into lists and observer the visitor’s interactions on your website using Hubspot CRM.

It also offers free email marketing features that you can use to follow up with your subscribers.

Some other features of this CRM that will blow your mind are you can track customer behaviour, create custom reports and automate your marketing campaign using this plugin.

This plugin is really very important for any Woocommerce website for its amazing features that come for free.

7. Systeme.io

This is the most powerful sales funnel builder that comes with so many marketing automation features.

You can create high-converting checkout pages, order bumps and one-click upsells that will boost your profit with Systeme.io.


Why you should use Astra?

Astra has great fame for its lightweight and highly customizable theme. There are empowering more than 700,000 websites and has more than 3400 five-star ratings on WordPress.org.

It has a great inbuilt integration for WooCommerce that will help to start an online store in 2024 with an elegant design.

There are some advantages that Astra will provide you can not deny using their theme. I will elaborate on these briefly.

1. Easy Customization

You can install their free theme which is easily customizable. You don’t need to have any technical or coding skills to do that.

Go for the paid theme as it extends more features that will have a great customer experience. You can check their WooCommerce integration here.

2. Minimize efforts

You can build a beautiful online store from scratch with the starter templates that save time and effort.

It is quite easy to import ready sites that are built with Astra and WooCommerce which will insanely decrease your efforts.

3. Responsiveness

This amazing theme has a good responsive option for mobile, tablet, and desktop devices that will give your customer the best experience.

You can also easily manage your shop on your mobile.

4. Great performance and good speed

Online buyers leave an online store when it takes more than three seconds to load the page.

So, it’s very important for your shop to use a theme that will help to give your customers a great shopping experience.

It is only possible when you will be able to provide them with a faster website and a faster website can only help you to make your shoppers stuck with your site for a long time.

Astra is offering faster loading times with clean and optimized code. You can check the Speed test on GTmetrix.

GTMetrix speed test

5. SEO friendly

Astra offers the best SEO-friendly WooCommerce theme with built-in schema support.

Schema plays a great role in understanding the search engines in the best way that your website is about to display and it also shows the relevant results to the end-users.

6. Support

You will be able to learn about every feature with their video tutorials and in-depth content with their 24/7 email support.

You will also get access to their dedicated Facebook Group with over 10,000+ active members.

7. Good customer satisfaction

Astra has very good customer satisfaction and a lot of good customer reviews on the internet. You can google it and check their customer satisfaction level.

Because of their great service, they are happily empowering more than seven lac websites with more than three thousand four hundred five star ratings.

8. Great security

Astra ensures great website security that will help you to prevent your data and website from hackers and malware from installing on your device.

When you get online there are thousands of hacking attempts will occur on your website. If you use Astra, you will be able to prevent hacking attempts.

9. Advertisement friendly

Astra has a fully compatible widget that will help you place online promotions and advertisements for your users. That will insanely increase your website traffic.


Astra Pricing Policy

You can also use the Astra free theme but I recommend grabbing their paid options.

Because a free theme comes with free features, you will not be able to enjoy the pro features with a free theme. Go with the paid one and enjoy the pro service.

Annual Pricing:

  • Astra Pro For $59/year
  • Mini Agency Bundle For $276/year (Special Price $169/year).
  • Agency Bundle For $523/year (Special Price $249/year).

One-time Lifetime Pricing:

  • Astra Pro For $249/lifetime
  • Startup For $996/lifetime (Special Price $499/lifetime)
  • Agency For $1893/lifetime (Special Price $699/lifetime)

You will be able to get access to customer support, unlimited website usage, and extensive training on both annual and lifetime packages.

Your store is ready to go. It will need some extra features for what you need to take help from WordPress Plugins.

WordPress plugins are WordPress Weapons that will increase the functionality of your Online Store.

There are tons of WordPress plugins available. At FacileWay, we have listed some of the best plugins you will need to increase the functionality of your site.


How to install WordPress Plugins

You can install WordPress Plugins easily using the WordPress plugin directory which is limited to only free plugins. Just Go to the “Plugin option” and click on the “Add New”

how to install WordPress Plugins

Then go to the search option and search for your plugin. If you find your plugin available click the “Install” button.

Once your installation is done don’t forget to activate the plugin.

How to upload wordpress plugins

If you are thinking of using paid plugins. Then you have to use “Upload” to upload the plugin file.

Once the upload is complete don’t forget to activate the plugin.

how to upload wordpress plugins

Many of our audience look for Google blogging or online business-related article on Google.

Just add FacileWay at the end of the search query. You will find a detailed guide on our site if it is available.


Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some FAQs related to starting online businesses-

1. How much does it cost to start an online store?

The hosting costs an average of $120, the domain costs an average of $8, and the theme costs $0-$100/year. Total $228 in a year. More features will cost you more bucks.

2. What is the best online business to start in 2024?

Blogging, Selling E-books, affiliate marketing, and dropshipping is the best online business to start in 2024

3. What kind of online business is most profitable?

Starting a blog and monetizing with affiliate marketing, starting an e-commerce site to sell goods and services.

4. What business is good for beginners?

Consulting, selling services, and creating an online store as well as purchasing a franchise.

5. How many products do you need to start an online store?

If you are going to sell physical products you should have a stock of 30 products minimum.

6. How can I sell online for free?

There are many online sites like Craigslist, Geebo, Letgo, eBid, and Etsy that you can sell online for free.


Conclusion

It’s both challenging and rewarding to start an online business. If you follow the above steps carefully you can create an online store easily.

You know everything to create a successful online business. Just don’t skip the steps and tips I have shared here.

If you can target the correct niche and marketing, you can gain huge profits. All you need to find the product that stands out from the competition but has good market demand.

So what are you waiting for?

Start your eCommerce stores right now!

I hope you have loved this article. Please share and give your feedback below!

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