Recently we came across some interesting content by the editorial staff over on WPbeginner; they developed a software to give local businesses a way to get a footing in ecommerce.
WordPress is a tool many people are familiar with and like companies including Hybrid Advertising use on a daily basis, while ecommerce is something where a lot of people and entrepreneurs may not have the knowledge and therefor the ability to use. What they cover in the article is how to open their open source software, and create your own online store for your business.
The software allows multiple businesses to sell their products and services, opening the door to not just intercity, but potentially international! (think etsy, or amazon)
The three things you need to get started is a domain name, a web hosting account, and an SSL certificate.
- Domain name is exactly what it sounds like. A name your organization has that people can use to find it.
- A web hosting account is where your website “lives”.
- An SSL certificate allows for secure payments online.
WPbeginner familiars will have access to these through their friend at Bluehost (on top of that, a fancy discount people can use to get things rolling)
Once you get the functionality rolling, you can move into the next step with plugins like WooCommerce. Unfortunately that doesn’t come with a multi vendor addon, so you can include WC Vendors into it, which is going to allow for that support you will need.
WC Vendors is good because of the capabilities it brings. You can fine-tune user permissions, automatically create pages you will need to run the store effectively, and a wizard to wave its wand to make your life productive and profitable.
Now that you have it tuned up to your ideas, you can set it up specifically to your needs.
First up, the accounts:
Don’t forget to publish your page, then head over Account and privacy in settings. That is going to allow your customers to create their own account. Your customers can sign up for themselves, or even as vendors to boost your store on top of that (they can be automatically approved or you can approve them in the Users tab)
From there you can use some more friends to your website like SeedProd to fully customize your website down to the speed you need it to run at.
Other assets they have in their arsenal include:
- SEO
- Google analytics plugins
- Email delivery systems
- WPForms
- Conversion optimizer
- Plus another 59,000 plugins to make your life easy, and more excitingly, with more money to utilize!
I strongly recommend checking out the full blog HERE, or contacting your marketing agency to get them to set it up for you.
Happy building!
Your friends,
Hybrid Advertising Inc.
www.hybridadvertising.ca/main