The print-on-demand business, like any other business today, requires an active working website. Moreover, a POD business also requires high-quality design, impeccable support, high page loading speed, and various customization tools needed to select, upload and edit the image or text related to your product or website content.
Often, startups choose the most optimal solution for newbies – ready-for-use platforms for hosting an online print-on-demand store (Shopify, Amazon, Ebay etc.) – hire developers or try to master coding skills on their own.
Build a Successful Print on Demand Store with WordPress
The first option can be very cost-effective in terms of saving time for web development and design, saving money on hiring customer support and customer service teams, you also do not have to worry about SEO – retail giants are already in the top positions of search engines.
The second option is not optimal for several reasons:
- The services of professional website developers and designers are not cheap,
- You may not like the result, and you will have to fix it a lot and for a long time, which will also require additional resources,
- Technical support of the website and updates require constant monitoring and in case of problems you will also have to hire a specialist.
The third option is the least common, because it is not cost-effective in terms of budget or time.
As you probably guessed, the last option is the website builders. Although this decision is obvious, it remains invisible for many entrepreneurs, because specialists who are not very well versed in the basics of coding may decide that using constructors you can create only classic informational websites or blogs, but in no way online store. And therein lies the key mistake.
So, below, we provide a guide on how to create an online store from scratch using a website constructor. So, here is WordPress for Print on Demand.
Note: you can use other constructors as well, however, before you start, explore the functionality and capabilities they offer (especially for the presence of an interface for carrying out two-way transactions – payment and refund, order tracking, certificates and licenses on the guarantee of the protection of users personal information such as credit cards numbers, phone numbers and addresses).
Advantages of WordPress
First, it’s the most well-known tool among online store owners, and it’s the most successful one in terms of the huge number of useful features, speed of page uploading, different plugins and extension, incl. these for POD store. About 40% of online stores are created on base of WordPress, so there is no need to doubt about is it worth to choose or no.
1. Setting up an Online Platform
Since your print-on-demand website will be an online store, it will be categorized as e-commerce, so it needs to be integrated with the WooCommerce platform right away. It is one of the most successful e-commerce platforms out there today, and works in tandem with WordPress to help you to succeed in your business.
In order to run a website with WooCommerce integration, you need to obtain a domain name (actually, the name of the website), web hosting (the space of your website on the Internet) and an SSL certificate (to ensure data security). You can purchase them independently or as a package. The latter option will be significantly cheaper and often includes additional features such as background themes, storage and other necessities.
For example, Bluehost offers all of it and more for just $2.75/month.
2. Setting up a WordPress account
The settings, as the entire constructor interface, are intuitive, so we will not dwell on each of them, but will only note the key ones. Once you are logged into your WordPress account:
- Go to the Settings🡪 General.
- Change the default title (WordPress) and your website name, so that it loads as https instead of http.
- Click Save Settings.
3. Setting up a WooCommerce integration
WordPress works together with WooCommerce, so all you need is to add the plugin.
- Go to
- Click to Add new page.
- Search for WooCommerce.
- Click on Install now button, next to the WooCommerce search result.
4. Setting up Payments section
Everything is simple here too thanks to the integration with WooCommerce. You just:
- Go to the WooCommerce 🡪
- Click on Payments.
- You can choose standard methods of accepting and refunding payments, such as PayPal Standard, Cash on Delivery, Checks, and Bank Transfers, or select individual ones for your region (if available).
- Click Save Settings.
5. Adding Products
This is one of the easiest step because of its simplicity and widespread prevalence among features people everyday use. As you upload any file from your device to any social media or other platform, you have to:
- Go to Products 🡪 Add New.
- Give a title and description of your product.
- Add product categories.
- Add product photo(s).
- Click to
6. Customization
This step is not mandatory, but recommended. With special theme and background of your website, you provide an unforgettable visual presence of your POD-store. This can be a great chance to attract new customers, what is especially important at first days of your business. To choose design that is right for you:
- Go to Appearance 🡪 Customize
- Choose and set the theme, background, colors, etc.
7. Adding Extensions and Plugins
Such as in the step #3 you can search among dozens of plugins for different aims:
- CRM integration
- Traffic tracking
- SEO settings
- Analytics
- Form builders
- Landing page builders
- Affiliate program features and much more.
Don’t forget about a special print-on-demand automation tool – PodZa – as well. It will make your processes much faster and easier.
Conclusion
So you’ve got a quick guide on how to set up your print-on-demand store using WordPress. You can go beyond the settings mentioned in this guide and go further. The intuitive interface will allow you to do it yourself in a short time, even if you are working with the constructor for the first time.
You can also integrate with aggregators such as Amazon or Etsy, and remember that you will have much more opportunities and fewer restrictions than if you opened a store directly on these websites.
Explore the power of the tools covered in this and other “how to build” guides for print-on-demand online shops, explore competitor websites, and improve your business every single day.
