How to install WordPress and Woocommerce Step by Step — Part 2 of 2
In my previous post, How to install WordPress and Woocommerce Step by Step Part 1 of 2, we looked at installing a brand new WordPress installation.
I had named my installation storeexample.
Today we’re going to look at installing Woocommerce on the newly installed WordPress installation.
Let’s get started, I am assuming you have LAMP/WAMP/MAMP setup and running on your machine.
First off, open up where you installed your WordPress Installation, this will be something like http://localhost<your_site_name>
From here you’re then going to type: http://localhost/<your_site_name/wp-admin and you should see a screen like this one:
You’re going to need the username and password you set in the previous tutorial to login, so enter this information here.
If you have your web server correctly configured your username will have been sent to you via email.
What is wp-admin?
WP-Admin is a folder that sits within the WordPress installation, this part of the website controls the entire front end, from the themes, to the plugins and so much more.
Do explore the wp-admin area, get used to working with it, playing with it, and have some fun with it.
Installing Woocommerce
When I first started using WordPress there wasn’t an in built plugin system, you couldn’t type in the name of the plugin you wanted from the WordPress backend.
Instead I had to go to https://wordpress.org/plugins/ and do a manual upload using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), today we’re lucky to have this all taken care of by the WordPress admin panel.
Click on Plugins within the WP-Admin area
From here in click the Add New button and this will bring you to a screen like this one.
In the top right hand corner you have a search box, this looks a promising place to start our hunt for Woocommerce.
Let’s go ahead and type Woocommerce into that search box.
Next you’re going to hit install and let WordPress work its magic.
Now its installed, lets activate it, go ahead and click activate.
Woocommerce Setup Wizard
With everything now in place we’re going to walk through the Woocommerce setup wizard.
What I like most about Woocommerce is its simplicity, you really can install and setup an online store within minutes, and if you already have a theme setup you can start trading virtually within hours.
So enter the address of your physical store, or where your stock is held. If you’re a drop shipper enter the address of your business.
Industry Type
Lets specify the industry our store operates in, most of you will fit one of the top 6 of these categories, however if you’re offering something a little more specialist click the other button.
Now we’ve done that, and I do like this bit, you can specify the kind of store you want to setup.
Like its parent, WordPress, Woocommerce is also extendable. Essentially you can add plugins and customise Woocommerce till you’re blue in the face without much of a problem.
Most of us will be selling Physical Products, so lets stick to the default.
The price you see on the right hand side, is the cost to you per calendar month for the extension on the system. I would advise looking around at what extensions/plugins are available for Woocommerce before siding on an official Woocommerce product.
No Product Limit
One of the major features of a Woocommerce store is its ability to host as many products as you want. There seriously is no limits to the number of products you can have on the website.
This question, as part of the wizard, I’d assert is more for Woocommerce’s benefit than your own. But either way go ahead and fill this in.
On the free features tab you will have the option to add lots more plugins and extendable features to your Woocommerce store to get you all setup and raring to go with administering and marketing your online store.
That’s it our store is now fully setup, the next stage is the Theme that comes with Woocommerce.
Yes your store has its very own theme which means you can start trading within a few minutes.
Introducing Store Front, Woocommerce Theme
Alongside Store Front there are a variety of other themes you can install, this will be dependent on what industry in and whether you want a prebuilt website or one that is customised to your product/general requirements.
For the sake of this tutorial I’m going to click choose on Store Front and install this as the default shop theme.
With that all done we have now installed Woocommerce and setup a theme and our website will look something similar to this:
There is still a bit of work to do to get the website to get it working as an online store, however with this tutorial we have covered how to install WordPress and Woocommerce on a local machine.
Let me how you get on, and if you have any questions, post them in the comments below, I’d be happy to answer them.
