If you want to know how to create a WordPress e-commerce site, I can help. First, congrats on taking the first step!
Since about half of the websites on the interwebs are built with WordPress, you won’t be alone, and there’s an open-source community you can call on for resources and support.
I’ve been freelancing for about eight years now and I’ve guided many clients through the process. Below, I run through some basics and offer a few recommendations for anyone who’s new to the WordPress e-commerce website journey.
If you have a domain name in mind, but haven’t registered it yet, there are more than 2,000 domain registrars in the US. GoDaddy has a comparison of the top nine here. Registration can be around $10-20/year, depending on the registrar. Most hosting companies also offer domain registration.
WordPress Hosted or Self-Hosted?
When it comes to hosting your new WordPress site, you have two options. You can create an account on wordpress.com and host/build your website there. The free plan is fine for a basic website or blog, but a full e-commerce website will require a premium plan.
The second option is a self-hosted website. That means you acquire hosting from any web host you choose, download WordPress from wordpress.org, and install it on the server. Most hosting companies will install it for you with a managed WordPress hosting plan.
Personally, I’d recommend an independent, privately owned hosting company that employs actual humans who will talk to you. One of them is InMotion Hosting, based in Virginia. They offer shared, VPS, and dedicated server hosting. I’ve had a reseller account with them for about 8 years now. They’re a solid group and they offer excellent phone/chat support (chat is 24/7).
Siteground is another independent web host. Based in Bulgaria, they offer shared and cloud hosting and a modified version of cPanel. They’re a little more expensive and support is by email/ticket only, but they offer a good selection of plans/features.
Web hosting has been experiencing a lot of changes in recent years as private equity firms have been buying out many well-known hosting companies.
For instance, Bluehost and HostGator were bought by Endurance International Group (EIG), then swallowed up by Clearlake Capital. The captured web services aren’t limited to hosting; there’s also Constant Contact, Yoast SEO, and domain registrars. At this point, Clearlake Capital owns a large chunk of tech businesses and I think it’s also interesting that it purchased Dun & Bradstreet in 2025. Hmmm…
A WordPress theme provides the basic structure of the site. Things like page widths, headers/footers, fonts, colors, etc. are set by the theme. Settings can usually be modified through the built-in Customizer, but some may require custom code.
You can find free themes in the WordPress dashboard. Most free themes also have a premium version.
Premium themes will give you some sample pages with existing designs/layouts. You could just replace their text and images with your own.
One free theme I’d recommend is Customify by Press Maximum. I use this theme on many websites I build because it’s easily customizable and consistently reliable. They release updates regularly and support is responsive. The free version is great, but you could also purchase the premium version, which probably includes some pre-designed layouts.
Page Builders
If you’re not using a pre-designed theme, page builders will help you create the look that suits your business.
Elementor
A very popular drag-and-drop page builder with some nice elements, from a company based in Israel. The free version used to be amazing, but in the past few years, they’ve been removing a lot of features and putting them behind the subscription version. There are other plugins that can extend the free version of Elementor, if that’s the way you want to go.
Site Origin Page Builder
A simple, clean option. Based in South Africa, Site Origin was one of the first WordPress page builders. They also offer a premium version, but the free version is fine for most sites.
Of course, it you want a completely custom site design, you can always hire a pro.
WooCommerce is a free e-commerce plugin from Automattic that’s easy to use and extend. Woo is based in California and their support is pretty responsive. Once you have it installed and set up, you can upload your products/images, set pricing and shipping options, etc. In the past few years, it’s changed a lot, but it’s still a great platform and there are other free plugins that can extend some features.
Shopify, based in Canada, is a different animal. Your shop will be hosted on Shopify servers with monthly fees ranging from $39 to $2000+, and you’ll need a plugin to embed your shop contents on your WordPress site. They have a selection of layout styles and an impressive checkout experience. But, since your shop will live on their servers, you won’t have control of everything.
CheckoutWC
I’m adding this amazing little plugin here. Once installed, it will basically give you the Shopify checkout experience within WooCommerce. CheckoutWC is compatible with most WordPress themes and plugins and they have super-responsive support.
Here are a few other things you’ll need for your WooCommerce shop:
Payment Gateways
Your e-commerce store will need a gateway to process payments. If you don’t have a payment processor (PayPal, Stripe, etc.), you’ll set that up and then add a plugin to integrate with WooCommerce. You can use the “official” gateways that WooCommerce offers, but here are two alternatives:
Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce
Shipping
Depending on your setup, Ship Station is a good option to manage order fulfillment with multiple carriers.
Even if you’re starting small and doing the shipping yourself, you’ll need to set up billing accounts with USPS, UPS, or FedEx and connect the respective plugin(s).
SMTP
Adding WP Mail SMTP will help ensure your WooCommerce order emails are consistently delivered to customers.
Summary
If you’re a tech savvy DIYer, you can have your web shop up and running in no time. The suggestions I’ve offered above are enough to get you started. From there, the sky’s the limit!
Once you get going, there are a multitude of other plugins you can add to extend the core functionality.
Good luck!