Wondering About WooCommerce? Here Are Tips From My Experience

byFKelso

3.5K followers

Updated 2 years ago

My store is called "Lucinda's Boutique," because it is a subdomain of my cat website

(Be prepared -- a long post.)

If you are thinking of opening a WooCommerce store, have your patience handy and be ready to ride a long learning curve upward. In this post, I will give you suggestions on some things you will need to figure out.

The developers of the WooCommerce plugin are to be commended. What a huge job it must have been to develop this plugin! They have certainly created a complete program for developing your on-line store.

Here's a look at how I developed my store. First, I have been in the jewelry business for 50 years, and am now retired. However, I have lots of odds and ends of stock left over; my pieces are often one-of-a-kind. So, for me, an online boutique seems like an excellent way to try to find a home for some of those leftovers.

I started my WooCommerce journey from the product end. Marion Black suggested I start with 27 pieces. Therefore, I found the 27 pieces I wanted to show first.

All my pieces are listed at below retail, and depending on their category, some are ridiculously low-priced.

To organize my products, I divided them into three categories. The first, the Bargain Trunk, consists of pieces that I've gotten in trade, from estate sales, and from old stock from suppliers no longer in business.

These are often at rock-bottom prices. What you save on the product cost helps offset shipping. However, since I use flat rate shipping exclusively, you can get more than one of these pieces, if purchased at the same time, for the flat-rate shipping price. For me that works. If you have products that weigh considerably more, it might not work for you.

The next category is Costume Jewelry, again below retail. This group consists of pieces one might wear to match an outfit or to wear at some informal gathering. Though many are made of metal, they aren't usually sterling or gold, and not many stones are included.

The final category I call "Bridge Jewelry," which consists of higher-priced pieces, many from leading suppliers, often sterling, and often set with semi-precious gemstones. Bridge jewelry forms the connection between costume jewelry and fine jewelry.

Then I divided my selections into the three categories and started my listings. Having had a store on eBay for several years, I was used to writing product descriptions. EBay tells you to include pictures, but to describe the product as if there were no pictures. This bit of advice may come in handy for you.

I learned something recently about listing products. If you scroll to the bottom of the page showing an individual product, you will see "Product Data." This spot will show you several headings, and one in particular, inventory, is very helpful if you have more than one of the product.

I would recommend checking this product data and filling it out as you enter your product. Then you won't have to come back and do it later (as I do.)

Then, there are the pictures. You need good, clear pictures of what you are selling. Heads up: the pictures on the first page, which people see first, are all thumbnail size, so plan your picture accordingly. Once the customer clicks on the product picture, it will open to your description and a larger picture (up to 600 width) Therefore, you can include one larger picture here.

By the way, get used to using the "customize" feature of your website, as it can be very helpful.

Once you have selected products to sell and done pictures to your satisfaction, then the real fun begins!

Now, start with the set-up wizard, and do the whole thing. In fact, I would recommend you go through it twice. When you find information you think will be helpful later, make yourself a little chart telling how you got to that page.

I have become very frustrated with trying to find a page I'd viewed earlier. In fact, there's one page with general shop information that I have yet to find a second time.

Once you are through with the set-up wizard, you are well on your way forward. You can find all the pages in your WooCommerce site by going to "pages." This spot is a good place to start if you wish to edit any of them.

Here are a couple of mistakes I made. First, I looked at the heading, "my account," on the top navbar. I opened it and found clickable links such as orders; payment methods; account details.

I thought, "I don't want this information available to anyone who visits my boutique," and as it was on the top navbar as well as showing on pages, I removed it from the navbar. Then I discovered that the information was for your customer, not for you.

Dumb me! Now I cannot figure out how to get it back on there. Easy enough to put "my account" back on the navbar, but when you open it, there is nothing there... A problem I still have to solve.

My next big difficulty was with my three categories. I tried to link them to the proper shop page in several places, with no success. I even tried putting them on the top navbar, to link them there. It didn't work. I removed them all.

I finally found I could create links at the bottom of the homepage and on the shop page. In both places, I have a picture from each category and then a link to that category. It took me days to work through that.

You will come up with your own questions, I guarantee. It would be nice if there were a full WooCommerce tutorial somewhere, but I've yet to find it. Your process for answers includes searching, trying options, and asking questions. Here are some places to look for options:

WooCommerce.com: Lots of information plus FAQ available here

Google: Amazing source of research! Enter your question and you may find more than one answer available

YouTube: There are a number of instructional videos on YouTube that could be helpful.

You need to decide if you will use WooCommerce's system for taking payments or some other source. I'm using PayPal, and already had a business account, so that wasn't too bad. Just make sure you do the hookup on the WooCommerce end to get it on your site.

I'm also still working on Square, but haven't completely figured out how to get it on there. It's available through WooCommerce, but they don't make anything easy for us who are technologically challenged. It will get on there, eventually.

Another hint: I was told by a couple of folks who know what they are talking about not to add jet-pack, as it apparently really slows your system down.

If you want to sell digital products, this can be set up on the WooCommerce site as well, and might be a bit easier.

I'm sure you will come up with your own unique questions. If you can't find the answer through the options I've suggested, you are welcome to PM me, and I can try to answer. However, realize that it may then be a case of the blind leading the blind.

I would like to give special thanks to two members who helped me out a very great deal. One is 1Rudy1 and the other is DHind1. Both of these gentlemen were willing to help as much as they could. They have my eternal gratitude for their assistance. 1Rudy1, especially, even researched topics to try to find me answers.

Do be assured that if you need an online store, WooCommerce gives you a great opportunity to establish one. Best of luck -- hope your experience is easier than mine has been. However, I feel that the struggle will prove very worth-while.