WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination.

WordPress can be used for blogging, sharing public information, sharing private information with staff, partners, shareholders, Government and other stakeholders via a protected intranet. It’s also possible to install addons plugin to add new features such as shopping cart capability (e.g. Woocommerce), social media sharing (twitter, facebook, instagram, pinterest, Linkedin share button), change theme among others.

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

WordPress is an Open Source project, which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it. (More than most commercial platforms.) It also means you are free to use it for anything from your recipe site to a Fortune 500 web site without paying anyone a license fee and a number of other important freedoms.

WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites as of January 2015. WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million websites. Infact, many reputable brands and websites are powered by WordPress, such as CNN, Bata, TechCrunch, BBC and Mashable. Even eBay, the company that owns Magento eCommerce platform, uses WordPress for their blogging purposes. There was a time when many people used to avoid using WordPress for creating an eCommerce store, but now things have changed completely. WordPress today is not limited to just blogging and is being used on a large scale to build profitable eCommerce sites.
Why You Should Use WordPress for Your Ecommerce Site

Ecommerce started to grow strongly in the last 5 years and it’s in a continuous ascent, as now powers 45.4% percentage of the entire web. It is obvious that most of the customers use the internet to make a purchase. Since 2012, an increasing number of people buy things online, and today, there are around $1,92 trillion ecommerce sales worldwide.

So is ecommerce the business to focus on in the future? There’s no doubt here.

The most popular Ecommerce platform

There are a few popular ecommerce platforms that rule the world when it comes to their frequency on the entire web.

The incontestable leader is WooCommerce, occupying 32% of the ecommerce market, followed by Magento (18%), OpenCart (11%), and Shopify (8%).

WooCommerce is used on 176,223 websites, whilst Magento and OpenCart are used on 102,514 and 60,133, respectively.

Why is WooCommerce the leader?

You’re probably asking now what’s so special about WooCommerce and why is it the first in the world. Well, WooCommerce is the ecommerce extension of WordPress, the most popular content management system, powering high percentage of all the websites worldwide.

This may obviously be the reason why WooCommerce is leading the ecommerce market. There are lots of WordPress users who have online shops, so WooCommerce is the most suitable solution for them.

But it’s not just that. WooCommerce provides great services, powerful features, it’s very easy to manage by everyone, and… it’s free. So, if you’re already on WordPress, you’re a winner, so to speak.

WooCommerce is at the top for its great and easy services, but it also comes with a couple of downsides. Well, nothing’s perfect. Below are some of the Woocommerces Pros and Cons:

Pros of using Woocommerce for Wordpress

• WordPress is free.
• Lets you add unlimited products and product attributes.
• WordPress is more like a bonus for people who already have their sites on WordPress.
• Compatible with all devices.
• Once installed, it’s all yours. It comes with a large variety of customization options that are easy to use. You can control everything the way you want.
• It’s very easy to install and use. Provides an intuitive interface and you don’t need any coding skills to manage it.
• It comes with user reviews and ratings, which means that you can give your customers the freedom to rate your products.

Cons of using WordPress Woocommerce

• It doesn’t come with free hosting and you need to pay for it.
• WooCommerce plugin require a WordPress to work.
• For a non-WordPress user, creating an online store can be a bit difficult because you need to take a host, install WordPress on it, choose a theme that is compatible with WooCommerce, and then install WooCommerce plugin.
• Even if the plugin is free, it can get a bit expensive to set the store eventually. Because developing custom plugins, buying specific feature plugins, tweaking existing system, re-configuring, payment gateways, themes and others can be quiet expensive to aquire overtime.

WordPress – What is it?

WordPress is a lot of thingsfeatures and abilities.

• An all-in-one website software. It allows you to build any kind of website, provided that you can handle the slightly technical setup – involving installing the software itself, installing plugins, installing a theme, and then installing an e-commerce plugin to handle the store operations.
• Some website building skills required. Depending on the customizations that you want to perform, you might need coding or design skills as well.
• The WordPress software is free. But in order to use it, you need to sign up for a web host and register a domain name.
• Great content management features.
• Thousands of themes/designs to choose from, both free and paid.
• Exceptional extension possibilities through plugins.
• No direct support, but a very helpful support community.
• WordPress is powerful, flexible and scalable.
• WordPress plugins adapt to the specific needs of eCommerce websites. There are free and premium plugins available for use.
• Your WordPress eCommerce site and visitor information will be secure.
• There is a wealth of resources for solving most WordPress problems.

Requirements for using WordPress as your e-commerce platform:

• First, you need to buy a domain and a web hosting account where you can have the default version of WordPress installed.
• You need to pick a theme (design) for your website, plus a handful of plugins to take care of things like SEO, social media integration and whatnots.
• After that, you need a plugin like WooCommerce to provide you with all the e-commerce features (those are not built into WordPress out the gate).
• Finally, you need to go through the configuration process of your e-commerce store (the store details, payment gateway integrations, products, and etc.). Those can take a while of its own too.

Reasons to Use WordPress for eCommerce
Over the years, WordPress has grown from a simple publishing platform to the world’s most powerful CMS. Below are reasons why WordPress has become the go-to choice for many shop owners.

1. Open-source with a Massive Community
   WordPress is open-source software, which means you can use and modify the source code in any way to fit your eCommerce requirements. With WordPress, not only you have full control over your online shop but also are free from various commercial restrictions and limitations imposed by a typical eCommerce company. On the other hand, the vibrant and supportive community behind WordPress is always there to help you – in case you get stuck somewhere. Honestly speaking, setting up an online store with WordPress costs virtually nothing. All you need is a relevant domain name, a reliable hosting and you’re good to go.

2. Incredibly Easy to Install, Configure, Use and Manage
   If you have ever set up a blog with WordPress, you probably already know how easy it is to use and learn. You don’t need to be a coding expert to get start with WordPress. With just a few hours of training, you can get your eCommerce site up and running in minutes. Be it product addition or order management or sales monitoring, WordPress makes everything a breeze. In most of the cases, you also don’t need to call a WordPress expert because with plenty of documentation provided, you can do almost everything yourself.

3. Offers a Wide Range of eCommerce Themes and Plug-ins
   WordPress works on the basis of its theme system and plug-in architecture. Theme controls the look while plug-in defines the functionality of your site. To help you easily turn your ordinary WordPress blog into a multi-million dollar shopping site, WordPress offers a variety of eCommerce themes and plug-ins. With a single click of mouse, not only you can give your WordPress site a complete makeover but also can add desired eCommerce functionality to it, absolutely without hiring any professional web developer. That’s the beauty of WordPress!

4. No Ongoing Fees
   Unlike other eCommerce platforms, which charge a flat monthly fee along with a transaction fee, WordPress requires you to only pay for what you really need. If you’re a small business owner, paying a monthly subscription fee may prove to be a big barrier in your success. WordPress understands it well and therefore offers a relatively cheaper way to start an online store. You just need to pay for your domain name and hostingcompany while WordPress eCommerce plug-ins and themes are sold with a one-time purchase price.

5. Content First Platform
   Since WordPress was initially started as a basic blogging tool, it has almost all features you need to get your eCommerce site ranked higher in search engine result pages. The SEO friendly nature of WordPress makes it easy for shop owners to generate massive amounts of organic traffic, which a newly created eCommerce site usually struggles to get. Unlike other eCommerce platforms, WordPress automatically solves a number of SEO-related issues. Just deliver high quality product information and leave the rest on WordPress.

6. Seamless eCommerce Integration
   Another reason to use WordPress for eCommerce is its easy integration with your existing blog or website. You’re not required to re-design the entire website, in case you suddenly decide to set up an online store without any prior planning. Instead, all you need to just install an eCommerce plug-in like WooCommerce and you’re good to go. WordPress seamlessly integrates all of your eCommerce elements with one another. That means your store has the same look and feel as other parts of your website.

7. Scalable, Flexible and Secure
   I have heard many people saying that WordPress isn’t secure enough to handle eCommerce vulnerabilities but actually, it isn’t so. In my opinion, the security of your shopping store depends on how you set up and use WordPress. There are a number of powerful security solutions – like Securi and Wordfence – which you can use to protect your WordPress eStore against today’s ultra-advanced cyber attacks. Apart from this, hostingplatforms like WP Engine, Pagely, Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure make it possible for WordPress to handle huge spikes in traffic.
8. Infinite Product Customization
   Products are one of the most crucial parts of an eCommerce site, which needed to be added and removed on a regular basis. To be successful, you’re required to update your online shop frequently. And if your store contains complex and variable products (like clothing), it becomes quite cumbersome and challenging to customize them. This is not the case with WordPress, which offers you a user-friendly dashboard to enable you take your online shop to a level of uniqueness. In WordPress, customizing a complex product is as easy as publishing a simple blog post.

9. Supports Multiple Payment Gateways
   A good eCommerce store is the one that offers customers multiple payment methods. Supporting a wide range of trusted payment gateways including UBA Ucollect, GTBank Gtpay, Interswitch Webpay, Perfectmoney, 2checkout, Zenith Globalpay, Bank Deposit, Stanbic IBTC Bluepay, Paypal, First Bank Firstpaylink, Skye, Simplepay, Voguepay and more, WordPress not only facilitates the entire payment process but also increases your chances of sales. Even, users can take advantage of Manual Payment option for Cash on Delivery (COD) type transactions which they usually love to use. For example, WooCommerce plug-in comes with five pre-installed gateways including Cheque Payment, Cash on Delivery, Direct Bank Transfer, PayPal and Simplify Commerce.

Conclusion
Since its release, there have been a number of updates and improvements made to WordPress. With the acquisition of WooCommerce, it has been proved that WordPress today focusing more on selling than publishing. The dedicated community of developers behind WordPress is continuously working hard to make it the world’s most powerful, multi-purpose CMS. That’s the reason; you today can create almost all kinds of websites – including eCommerce – with WordPress. Needless to say, WordPress will be ruling eCommerce arena in near future.

Engage A professional

Web design is simple to start, but can be complicated as time goes on, to engage a pro to handle your wordpress website design, web hosting and domain registration, contact ediaro.com webcentre team at info@ediaro.com or call 08095029999

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