If one of the statements below best describes you, then you NEED to keep reading.
- You’ve had a bad experience with web design companies.
- You want more control over your website.
- You want to keep web costs as low as possible.
- You want to start your own business making food e-commerce websites.
Even though the benefits in signing up with a web design company can sometimes outweigh the cons, we’ll discover how easy it is to build an online store yourself. You don’t have to be a web developer, although some knowledge of this will definitely help.
You’ll be surprised to know that some web design companies, or individuals, out there have the same level of computer skill as you. It can even be as easy as using Facebook! All it takes is a few navigations through some installation wizards. So if your focus is to reduce costs and have more control, then you can do this by cutting out the middleman.
One thing to bear in mind, however, when deciding to take full responsibility to build your own online store, you’ll need to consider the costs involved in web hosting and domains.
STEP 1: SUBSCRIBE TO A HOSTING PLAN
The first thing you’ll want to do is subscribe to a good hosting provider. With so many providers to choose from, you can easily get overwhelmed and spend longer than needed for this initial step. Many providers also help you to upgrade your hosting plan as your business grows. Some of the common providers are GoDaddy, 1and1, HostGator, InMotion, and Bluehost.
When looking for a hosting provider, you’ll want to look for one that offers WordPress installation. This will save you a lot of time and hassle with setting up your website. If you haven’t already heard of WordPress, it is the biggest and most popular platform to create websites. And best of all, it’s free and easy to use. Check here profilebusinessphotography.com. There are premium options but in general, it’s free.
At the time this article was initially published, GoDaddy currently has a very cost effective hosting plan. For £2.99 per month, you can get a server with a very fast 10GB SSD storage and a convenient daily backup feature, and a free domain when you subscribe to the yearly plan instead. And most important, their customer service is on point.
STEP 2: INSTALL & CONFIGURE YOUR WORDPRESS SITE
This step varies on the hosting provider you chose. Typically, you’ll find a WordPress install button on the hosting control panel. A setup wizard will do all the work like install the site and creating a database, linking them together etc. All you’ll need to do is give your site a name, fill in some contact details and select a theme (referring to the web design template). When selecting a theme, make sure to select one that is compatible with WooCommerce. If you don’t find any at this stage, you can always change your theme at a later stage. For great WooCommerce compatible themes check out ThemeForest.net
STEP 3: INSTALL THE FREE WOOCOMMERCE PLUGIN
WooCommerce is a great tool for nearly all online business startups. It provides almost all the necessary tools to have a fully functional online store. Not only will your customers be able to make purchases, but also engage with your products and services through comments and ratings. And to top all that, WooCommerce has their own store providing both free and premium extensions to add on top of the basic features, visit https://actionac.net. The extensions range from Facebook integration to PayPal and Stripe payment processing, loyalty points systems and more.
The WooCommerce installation also varies on the hosting provider. In some instances, during the WordPress installation process, you will have the option to add WooCommerce. If you don’t get this option, you can always add it later. We have a tutorial to explain BLOG: How to install WooCommerce. The same steps apply for installing other plugins too.
STEP 4: INSTALL THE FREE PRINTERCO PLUGIN
If cloud printing is important for your business, i.e. the need to send orders to a POS thermal printer, then you’ll need to install our PrinterCo plugin to your website.
By doing so, your online orders will be printed on demand whether the printer is located at the storefront or at the back in the kitchen.
The plugin will sync all your website orders to our print server in real-time. From there, orders are then pulled by a thermal printer for printing. This entire process is completed within 30-120 seconds.
In order for the plugin to work correctly with our printer server, you’ll need to subscribe to our API. See the benefits of subscribing and which subscription plan is best for you.
Before subscribing, you can use our demo account to make sure everything works the way you want it to.
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Need help to install the PrinterCo plugin? Click here for a step by step guide explaining what to do before and after subscribing.
Our plugin is currently only available for WooCommerce and WP-Pizza, but we will be expanding to other platforms soon. If you want us to build the plugin for a particular platform, we’d love for you to tell us in our forum.
You can also stay updated with our future releases or follow us on socials.
STEP 5: PURCHASE A RECEIPT PRINTER
You can start off by purchasing a printer and putting all the pieces together. Or you can use our demo account La Jolla Car Detail, USA (which has a virtual printer) to test everything, and then purchase a printer once you’re satisfied. Either way, you’ll need to make sure you’re getting the printer that best suited for you. If you need help in deciding, we have a Printer Buying Guide to help.
Need more assistance?
If you think you don’t have the time or tools to complete this project yourself, we can help. Whether you need help with just the hosting or the entire website installation, we’ll be happy to help. Get in touch for more information.
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