You’ll find no shortage of ecommerce options for your website, but one you might want to consider is WordPress.

WordPress offers the best ecommerce solutions, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the popularity of WordPress as a whole. Still, some think of WordPress only for blogging and not for an online business.

Once you realise all that WordPress has to offer, it’s easy to see that it’s far more than a CMS and works well as a full ecommerce solution.

Integrates Well

One of the things that make WordPress so popular is how well the platform integrates with other services. For instance, take a look at WooCommerce, which powers 28% of all ecommerce sites. Hundreds of extensions are available for accepting payments, scheduling package deliveries and managing an email list. All it takes is a few clicks to integrate with most popular ecommerce solutions.

When you’re able to use the services you already know and love, it’s easier to manage your site the way you want.

Simple Installation

WordPress easily offers the best ecommerce solutions simply due to ease of installation. Most web hosts have a one-click WordPress installation feature and ecommerce themes install easily as well. You’ll get online faster versus spending weeks just trying to get started. Of course, between WordPress developers and the WordPress community, you always have support whenever you need it.

Customise Both Appearance And Function

WordPress offers thousands of themes and plugins to let you fully customise the appearance and function of your ecommerce site. With other solutions, you might find yourself limited. For instance, if you want to ensure your site is available for mobile visitors, you can choose a responsive theme that automatically adjusts based on your visitors’ screens.

Many plugins are designed specifically for ecommerce and make it easier than ever to customise your store. Some of the best ecommerce solutions for WordPress to include:

• WooCommerce
• Ecwid
• Easy Digital Downloads
• WP Ecommerce

No matter which solution you choose, you’re able to customise it completely along with your theme to ensure you site is unique to your business.

Includes Regular Security And Feature Updates

While this doesn’t just apply to ecommerce sites, it is something that sets WordPress apart when choosing the best ecommerce solutions. WordPress is often a target for hackers since it’s so widely used, but to combat that threat, WordPress releases regular security updates. Of course, you have to make sure you install them in order to keep your site safer. Remember to take extra security precautions too, such as changing admin passwords and using a security plugin.

In addition to security updates, feature updates are also released. This means you get to take advantage of the latest WordPress has to offer and it’s all offered for free.

The popular WordPress ecommerce solutions also release regular updates to put security first. For instance, a single outdated plugin could compromise your site. Keep your theme and plugins updated for a more secure site for your visitors.

Easy To Learn And Manage

WordPress is designed to make it easy for anyone to manage their own website. The intuitive backend helps you upload content in minutes. As a result, it offers the best ecommerce solutions because the learning curve is so small. You’re not going to spend forever trying to figure out how to upload product images and descriptions. It’s not difficult to master setting up a shopping cart and checkout process.

The less time you have to spend learning how to use your ecommerce solution, the more time you can spend on what matters most – getting your products/services in front of potential customers.

Start your search for an ecommerce solution with WordPress and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what the platform has to offer.

Want to set up your own ecommerce site with WordPress? Make the process even easier by contacting Darren today to get started.

Image: Jens Kreuter

If you want to boost your mobile conversions, you have to help your customers shop easier.

Everyone wants their online shopping experience to be straight-forward, quick and of course, easy. The more difficult and time consuming it is, the less likely a customer is to go through with a purchase.

Making a few changes to your WordPress website turns an awkward shopping experience into an incredible one. And remember, if your customers are happy, they’ll spread the word, leading to more new customers.

1. Use A Responsive Design

It should go without saying that you WordPress site should be responsive by now. A mobile friendly design is the first and most important step to help your customer shop easier on mobile devices. Imagine being a customer for a moment. Would you want to zoom in and out to see product details? What about scrolling side to side just to see the entire page? It’s frustrating.

A responsive design optimises your site to the screen size. You never know if someone’s using a tablet, phone or desktop. With this design, you’re always ready.

2. Improve Page Loading Times

Page loading times aren’t just important on desktops. Customers don’t have long attention spans and 57% of shoppers abandon sites if they don’t load within three seconds. With mobile now surpassing desktop, you can’t afford to let your slow loading mobile site send visitors to your competition. Reduce image sizes, clean up code, limit plugins and do anything else you can to speed up your site.

3. Include All Important Elements

If you really want to help your customers shop, include all the most important elements on your mobile site. It might sound obvious, but 21% of customers reported having to still go to the full site to shop, ask questions and complete transactions. Think about everything required to view products, contact support, view FAQs and make a purchase. Are all of these available easily on the mobile version of your site?

4. Think About UX

The user experience is critical on mobile. You want the design to be as easy to use as possible. When surveyed, 33% of customers said they had to zoom in just to read text and click in the right places. Even if text and images are large enough, what about your forms and navigation? Getting from product to checkout on mobile should be as easy as it is on desktop.

Another UX problem is entering information, such as contact details and payment information. Using WordPress plugins to ensure forms are easy to use and the right type of keyboard appears, such as numeric versus qwerty, drastically improves the overall experience.

5. Offer One-Click Call Support

Calls to businesses are expect to reach 73 billion by 2018 and that’s just from search alone. Customer support is key if you want to help your customers shop online. What if they have a question during the process? Filling out a contact form is cumbersome. Adding a one-click call button or link gives customers direct access to the support they need immediately.

6. Provide Mobile Payment Options

An overwhelming 56% of customers abandon their mobile shopping carts. While some of that is just a change of mind, part of it is difficult or security concerns during the checkout process. First, make the checkout process simple. The fewer steps, the better. Second, offer alternate payment options that don’t require the user to enter a credit card, especially as they may be shopping in public. Making it more convenient leads to more conversions.

7. Integrate More Images And Video

Mobile means limited real estate, so videos and images make it easier to explain products and services than pages of text. With 98% of millennials watching videos daily on their mobile devices, it’s easy to see that video on mobile is popular. Integrate it as part of your mobile site to make the most of the limited screen space. Quick videos also work well with the average customer’s limited attention span.

Bonus: Consider A Mobile App

Apps are becoming increasingly popular. If you want to give your customers an even easier way to shop on mobile, consider a mobile app. With an app, you could even offer location based discounts or use push notifications to encourage transactions.

Help Your Customers Shop From Anywhere

Mobile shopping continues to rise with the popularity of mobile devices. It’s easy and convenient. Help your customers shop wherever they are by ensuring your site is even easier to use than the desktop version. Optimise your site for mobile and it’ll work to drive conversions 24/7.

Does your WordPress site need a mobile makeover? Contact Darren today to ensure customers fall in love with your mobile website.

Image: Cristian Baron

Many people still think WordPress is just for blogs and standard websites, but it’s for so much more.

With all of the customisation features, many are now using WordPress for ecommerce. With the right plugins and setup, it’s easy to build your business using the WordPress platform.

From selling ebooks to running a membership site, WordPress has the tools you need to get setup so you can focus on running your business.

Ecommerce Features

WordPress is more powerful than many realise. It can handle both small and large ecommerce sites. Plus, it’s compatible with all major browsers. What really makes WordPress stand out is how customisable it is. You’re not forced to choose a single layout or one or two payment methods. You choose the layout, payment options, site access and much more.

Depending on the plugins and themes you choose, you get the benefits of numerous payment options such as PayPal, Stripe and manual payments. You also have integrated tax calculators to make selling digital goods as easy as possible.

One final feature that makes WordPress for ecommerce a good choice is how the platform works with databases. Simply create a new database for user account and transaction data along with the graphical interface and you’re done. WordPress is well known for it’s powerful database functionality and it’s yet another benefit when it comes to ecommerce.

Types Of Sites

WordPress is often used to power digital ecommerce and membership sites. For digital sites, files are stored and accessed as soon as payment is processed. Since you’re able to accept multiple payment options, it’s easy to sell products to nearly any customer.

Membership based sites are just as easy to work with. Once the customer pays for access, they’re able to view specific areas of a site, such as a course or premium posts. All relevant data for what they’re able to access and when they must renew their membership is all stored in a WordPress database.

Recommended Plugins

While the platform on it’s own is powerful, the true ecommerce features come from plugins. These plugins provide features such as payment processing, shopping carts, analytics, secure data entry and more.

The most popular WordPress ecommerce plugin is WooCommerce. It’s currently used on over 78% of all WordPress ecommerce sites. According to the developer’s site, the WooCommerce toolkit powers 29% of all online stores. It’s designed to allow you to sell anything while keeping customer data secure. There are also extensions and even themes created specifically for this plugin.

Gravity Forms helps you create simple and complex contact forms so it’s easy for customers to contact you. Every reputable ecommerce site needs contact forms. Once the plugin is installed, forms are created through a drag and drop approach, so it’s easy to create forms without being a programmer. Plus, it integrates well with major services such as PayPal, AWeber and MailChimp along with many major theme providers such as WooThemes and Organic Themes.

One final plugin you’ll likely want is Easy Digital Downloads. It’s perfect for managing any digital products such as music, videos, ebooks and more. Easily track earnings with graphical statistics and even add in discounted pricing whenever you want. It also supports multiple payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe and WorldPay.

While other plugins are available, these three have made their way to the top due their ease of use and powerful ecommerce features. It’s ideal to hire a developer to set them up for you and ensure they’re properly integrated on your site. Once everything’s set up, all you have to do is add in your products, choose your payment options and start marketing your site.

Conclusion

If you want a platform that scales with your ecommerce business, look no further than WordPress. Get a unique storefront with all the features you need by working with an experienced WordPress developer. The end result is a store you’re proud of and one your customers will love.

Ready to experience how well WordPress works with ecommerce? Contact StuartMedia today to get started on your own site.

Image: Serge Kij