Author Archives: Local Buzz

How to Easily Sell Products on your WordPress Website!

The following tutorial is going to explain how to easily sell physical and/or downloadable/virtual/digital products on your WordPress Website! This can include virtually any product you can think of such as t-shirts, music/audio files, iPhone cases, ebooks, online guides and so much more. This solution only works if you have a self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org) Website installed and have access to your WordPress website administration panel (all you need is a user/pass to login).

We will use WooCommerce as your shopping cart and PayPal as your credit card processor. There are ZERO monthly fees involved. Just pay regular PayPal transaction fees for any products sold. If you haven’t already go to PayPal.com and signup for a PayPal account because you will need a place for all your funds to go to from all the products you are going to sell!

There are no other expenses associated with setting up your shopping cart this way. So if you are just starting out or just want to test if your products sell then this is the best and cheapest option I have found online. WooCommerce is the most popular ecommerce platform on the internet. It is an incredibly powerful and free online shopping cart. There have been over 8.5 million downloads and over 29% of all online stores are using WooCommerce via WordPress.

If you follow all the directions below you will be able to have your online shop up and running in as little as 1 hour!

STEP 1: Install Woocommerce on WordPress

Login to the administration panel of your WordPress Website and go to Plugins –> Add New. Search for “Woocommerce” and click “Install Now”. Make sure that you Activate the Plugin when prompted.

how to sell products on wordpress

STEP 2: Install Woocommerce Pages

Once the Woocommerce plugin is installed you will see a banner that says Welcome to Woocommerce – You’re almost ready to start selling 🙂 Click on the purple button that says “Install WooCommerce Pages.

Step 3: Woocommerce Settings

Once you have installed the Woocommerce Pages now click on the new Woocommerce tab that appears on the left hand side of WordPress and click on “Settings”. Make sure to choose all the correct settings in General Options such as your Base Location, which countries you are selling to and which currency you would like to use. Also make sure to uncheck Enable the REST API in order to start selling immediately.

WooCommerce Product Settings

Click on the next top tab labeled “Products” and make sure the correct weight and dimension units for your products are selected. If you aren’t sure or don’t want to mention this for your products then leave this area as it is. Same with the Product Reviews area.

Next go to Display (sub link underneath Products tab) and make sure the Product Images section displays the sizes of the images you are going to show in your shop. Make sure these sizes match your product sizes BEFORE uploading your images. Otherwise you will have to regenerate all the image sizes which is usually a bit of a pain. Make sure to click Save Changes if you make any edits to this page.

WooCommerce Tax Settings

Go through the Tax Settings and make sure to select everything that applies to your shop. Make sure to click Save Changes if you make any edits. This goes for all the settings below as well.

WooCommerce Checkout Settings

Click on the Checkout Tab and you will see several options right below it such as BACS | Cheque | Cash on Delivery | PayPal | etc. Usually to start selling products right away you should disable all the other options and go straight to enabling the PayPal option. Click on each tab and where it says “Enable/Disable” Disable all of the options except PayPal.

Once you go to the PayPal tab go to the section where it says “PayPal Email” and enter in the PayPal email you would like to receive all the payments from your sales. This is the only required area you will need to enter your PayPal information. There are additional Advanced options you can look into but they aren’t necessary to start selling products.

You can use premium plugins in order to sell with a merchant service provider other than PayPal. Many times those premium plugins will require you to make monthly payments and transaction fees. PayPal will not charge a monthly fee and will only charge their standard 2.9% per transaction. There are also other PayPal options that you can select if you have a PayPal merchant account. However this is the absolute easiest way to start selling products today! And your customers will be able to pay you with credit cards (it will just be processed through PayPal)

WooCommerce Shipping Settings

The default shipping settings within WooCommerce are pretty weak. Go into each option and disable them. Keep only the Free Shipping enabled or the Flat Rate enabled. (Only have one of these enabled) If you do Free Shipping then this is super easy and you are done. (This is the perfect option if you are selling a digital product that doesn’t need to be shipped like an ebook or online manual).

If you are selling a physical item that needs to be shipped then you can also leave the Free Shipping or enable the Flat Rate Shipping option and enter in your shipping cost/order (ie. $9.99 per order). If you want to have more complex shipping (based on weight, location etc) then you need to install a WooThemes Shipping plugin (if you would like me to do an in-depth tutorial on WooCommerce shipping options then leave a comment below!) I recommend to try to avoid buying expensive plugins until you have sold a few products. Once you gain traction then invest in a plugin.

WooCommerce Account Settings

Not much to change here. You can scroll down to Registration Options and select the options that best suite your shop.

WooCommerce Email Settings

Here you can customize the emails your customers will get once they purchase a product from your online store. Add in the File URL of your logo to the Header Image area and change the colors to match your website. These options are pretty self explanatory. Once you are done with this its time to list your Products!

Step 4: Add your Products in Woocommerce!

(Step 5 will show you how to edit the option for a Virtual/Digital/Downloadable Product)

Go to the left side of your WordPress admin panel and click on “Products” –> Add Product

Now if you have a simple physical product without variations (different colors, sizes, and other options) then this is going to be really easy.

Just Enter in the Product Name at the top, add in a Long Product Description in the large white box, enter in a Product Category at the right hand side (optional) and enter in the Regular Price in the Product Data box. Also make sure to upload a “Featured Image” and any additional images you have into the “Product Gallery“.

Below I show an example of adding in a Product called “Best eBook ever”. I added in the title, long description, a short description (Scroll down to the bottom where it says “Product Short Description” which is another option to add more information to your product description page). This area will appear to the right of your product on your individual product page. This is a great place to sum up your product and to sell someone on the benefits of purchasing this product.

Step 5: Add in a Digital Downloadable Product

This section is if you are selling a digital/downloadable/virtual product that the customer will need to download. Please scroll to the Product Data section and select Virtual and Downloadable. Then enter in the fields below and also upload the file the customer will receive once they have paid for the item. See below:

Once you have entered all the information into Product Data then Scroll Up on your page and make sure to click “Publish” to make your product live!

Here is what the live page will look like:

(The product page will embed itself into your website page. This is pretty cool because it will fit in nicely with your existing website.)

In order to change a few of the default WooCommerce colors to match your website then download this free plugin: WooCommerce Colors. This plugin will allow you to change the Add to Cart button as well as the green price to better match your website.

And that’s it! Repeat the Add to Product Steps in order to add more Products to your Woocommerce WordPress store to populate your store with more products. If you want to add premium and custom features to your website shop and shopping cart then consider hiring a WordPress/WooCommerce designer and developer and/or purchase premium WooCommerce plugins.

To view all the products added to your shop then go to www.yourdomain.com/shop

To view your checkout page go to: www.yourdomain.com/checkout

To view the account page go to www.yourdomain.com/my-account

I hope this WooCommerce tutorial has helped you to easily start selling products through your existing WordPress Website!

Your Comments

Was this WordPress/Woocommerce Shop Setup tutorial helpful? What products are you selling online? Please let me know in the comments below!

Etsy’s IPO Success is an Important Milestone for Business

A few days ago Etsy, the online craft marketplace, made its debut on the Nasdaq. The stock has already doubled since its’ initial IPO and has been trading for over $34 dollars a share which values the company at roughly $4 billion dollars. Etsy may have some trouble keeping its small craft community identity by going public though. Etsy is seen as an alternative to ecommence giants like eBay and Amazon. However even at the $4 billion mark Etsy is still considered niche if compared to eBay’s valuation of $69 billion and Amazon’s at $178 billion.

Some background on Etsy: Etsy connects sellers with buyers looking for handmade and handcrafted items. There are a wide variety of items including clothing, jewelry, food, beauty products, toys, craft supplies and so much more. Etsy is one of the new growing companies called B Corps that pledge to abide by social and environmental accountability guidelines.

Unlike other companies, Etsy’s core goals are not to maximize profits

Etsy’s mission is to do business differently. As one of the many growing certified B corporations, they view their social, environmental and business goals as inseparable. That means they put social and environmental goals at par with being profitable. In fact, even having US revenue at $195.6 million in 2014 it still generated a net loss of $15.2 million dollars. In its’ public offering Etsy warned that in the near future as a public company it may not be profitable. This has caused some concern on Wall Street as generally the main mission for a company that goes public is to be profit driven. Even with Wall Street’s concern Etsy has still managed to have a successful public offering most likely due to its year-over-year growth in revenue and community of 1.4 million active sellers and almost 20 million active buyers. This makes the Etsy IPO success an important milestone for tech businesses this year as tech IPOs have had a slow start in 2015.

How does Etsy make money?

Etsy is an ecommerce website platform that allows sellers to have personal storefronts where they list their goods for a small fee. Etsy generates revenue through three revenue streams.

Etsy charges sellers 3.5% for each completed sale item and a listing price of 20 cents per item.
“Seller Services” which includes fees generated from Etsy’s Promoted Listings, payment processing and purchase of shipping labels.
Other revenue is generated from fees received from third party payment processors.

Mobile sales continue to rise on ecommerce platforms

It is also interesting to note that 36.1% of gross merchandise sales on Etsy came from purchases made on mobile devices which is another clear indicator of how much the mobile commerce market has been growing the last few years. This also shows how important it is for all companies that do business online to have a website that is optimized for mobile viewing.

Major Google Algorithm Update. Will your Website drop in rankings?

Starting Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Google will make a major change to the way it ranks websites on it’s search engine. The major change will be that if your website is not fully optimized for mobile devices, then your website will likely see a decline in its’ search engine rankings. So basically, if you do not have a mobile website or a responsive design for your website then you will be at a huge disadvantage against competitors that have this design implementation on their website.

Here is what Google said on their Webmaster Central blog back in February:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Test your Website to see if it is Mobile Friendly

Google has a great tool to test if your website is mobile friendly. Just click on the following link and type in your web page link. Click Here to use the free Google Mobile-Friendly Test. The Google tool will analyze your website and report if the page has a mobile-friendly design.

Fixed width is out and responsive design is in

Just having your website show up on a mobile phone does not make it mobile friendly anymore. A fixed width site across all devices is not going to give you an edge over competitors. Google wants to display the best quality search results for its’ user. And since a large volume of consumers use their mobile device to access Google they want to deliver the highest quality websites to these users. A responsive design allows your website to adjust based on any screen that a user views your website on. Google likes this because it makes it easier for users to read and navigate your website. And if Google likes your website then your website will also have a better ranking.

Some prominent SEO bloggers have started calling April 21st, 2015 as “Mobilegeddon”. Is your website ready to face the Google apocalypse?

Book Review: #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

#GIRLBOSS details Sophia Amoruso’s humble beginnings as a thief, dumpster diver, hitchhiker and community college dropout to becoming the Founder, CEO and Creative Director of Nasty Gal, a $100+ million dollar online ecommerce retailer that sells edgy women’s clothing, shoes and accessories.

Sophia writes about how at 22 years old she didn’t really have any direction in life and worked at a boring day job just for the health care. Around that time she was struck with the idea to start selling stuff on eBay and eventually started selling vintage clothing she found at local thrift shops.

Most of the vintage clothing listings were shown on a mannequin without any type of styling so Sophia decided to do things differently. She showed the clothing on real girls and how each piece of clothing could be worn. By giving her listings this personal touch it immediately made them stand out and sell more quickly.

She took complete control of finding the clothing, negotiating the prices, finding models to wear the clothing, styling the photoshoots, crafting descriptions for each product, printing labels, packing products, sending them to the winning buyer, managing social media, customer service etc. And she was smart enough to take full advantage of the growing social media trend at the time and cultivated a very loyal following. She took all of this on and completely isolated herself from all of her friends and family. And that dedication and complete attention to detail is what made her business successful on eBay.

So it’s an understatement to say that she was completely obsessed with her business. She says in her book: “I completely dropped out of everything for two years. From the time I woke up until the time I went to sleep, eBay was my entire world.”

In my opinion, this was a quick and fun summer read. I liked this book because it shows you that you don’t need a detailed business plan or tons of startup cash to succeed. Just work hard and do what you love, passionately.

Don’t expect any real tips or advice on how to start or succeed in business. This is an autobiographical book about Sophia’s journey from an unemployable twenty something to CEO of a major fashion retailer.

This is what the New York Times Sunday Book Review had to say about #GIRLBOSS:

“Amoruso’s voice is accessible and charmingly self-deprecating without losing the effortless cool that characterizes her clothes . . . Amoruso’s scrappy capitalist narrative makes an admirable attempt to prove that navigating the system isn’t the same as endorsing it. Being anti-establishment is the old cool. The new cool is playing by your own rules and still winning by their standards.”

Some quotes from the book #GIRLBOSS:
“I stopped feeling that I didn’t belong anywhere and realized that I actually belonged anywhere I wanted to be.”

“Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back. Learn to create your own opportunities. Know that there is no finish line; fortune favors action.”

How to buy #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso?

Click on the shop link below to buy #GIRLBOSS from Amazon
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Book Review: The Glitter Plan by Juicy Couture Founders

The Glitter Plan: How We started Juicy Couture for $200 and turned It into a Global Brand – By: Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor with Booth Moore

Two best friends start a comfortable fitted t-shirt company in Los Angeles which later turns into the global phenomena known as Juicy Couture. There was a time a few years ago when anywhere you went there was some girl or usually girls wearing the same velour color outfit from head to toe with the word Juicy splattered across their butt. You can thank the authors of The Glitter Plan for that. A few years ago this was an international fashion trend and everyone from Madonna to your mom to your teenage sister was wearing velour colored outfits wherever they went. This trend turned sweatpants into something more than just gym or lazy attire. It created an entire new category of clothing. Anyone who is able to do that in today’s saturated clothing market deserves a lot of credit. And that’s why I decided to purchase this book and learn more about how they made this possible.

Would I recommend the Glitter Plan?

Pam and Gela make it seem like Juicy Couture was a rags to riches story and that they didn’t have access to any money to start the company. I think that’s a little misleading considering they were able to borrow $75,000 from friends and family, Gela comes from a well-to-do family and Pam is married to a pretty well known director who connected her to celebrities.

However I give these ladies a lot of credit for being innovative with their marketing strategies and their killer instincts on what was missing in the marketplace and filling that gap. Their tenacity to target celebrities and send out tons of free samples was very bold at the time. I think the book would have been better if they stopped trying to be a rags to riches story and focused more on how they created the “comfortable chic” clothing genre and revolutionized fashion in the fitness industry which paved the way for many new companies. Overall I enjoyed the book and liked learning about how Juicy Couture came to fruition.

The Glitter Plan vs. #Girlboss

If you frequent Barnes and Noble as much as I do you may have noticed that there were not one but two pink business books in the business section. It was pretty exciting to see business books marketed specifically towards young women in the business section. This is a clear indicator that more women are becoming interested in entrepreneurship.

I would recommend that you read both of these books however if you only have time to read one I would without a doubt recommend #Girlboss over The Glitter Plan. (You can read my review of #GIRLBOSS by clicking here). It is more authentic and genuine and I think more women will be able to relate to Sophia than Pam and Gela. Pam and Gela seem like smart and nice women but it always seemed like they had an advantage over other people when they started their company. I think women will be able to relate to the author of #Girlboss more and enjoy her rags to riches story. Plus I also think Sophia had a much tougher road ahead of her and the story of how she became so successful at such a young age is very inspiring. Either way both books are interesting because Pam, Gela and Sophia don’t seem like typical business women or entrepreneurs. And it is incredible to read about their journeys to becoming successful women and their impact on the fashion industry.

How to buy the Glitter Plan?

Click on the shop link below to buy the Glitter Plan directly from Amazon.
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Click on the shop link below to buy #GIRLBOSS from Amazon
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