The dropshipping business model is used to sell products online without dealing with inventory, shipping, or fulfillment. It’s a popular business model for entrepreneurs because of its low risk, high profitability, and easy setup.
One of the easiest ways to set up a dropshipping storefront is to use WordPress and the WooCommerce plug-in. WordPress is a customizable, easy-to-use platform that lets you list products for sale, create custom branding, generate traffic and sales, and view helpful analytics.
You can set up a WordPress dropshipping store in a few simple steps. We will explain how and give you some tips on promoting and growing your dropshipping business.
WordPress dropshipping refers to using WordPress and WooCommerce to display, manage, and host your dropshipping storefront. With WordPress dropshipping, the business owner creates a WordPress website and lists products for sale using WooCommerce. Customers can then buy the products, which are “dropshipped,” sent directly from the manufacturer to the customer.
WordPress dropshipping integrates WordPress with WooCommerce, a powerful and popular plug-in that adds e-commerce functionality to your website. WooCommerce dropshipping plug-ins make setting up product pages, shopping carts, checkout forms, and payment gateways easy.
How to Start a Dropshipping Business within WordPress
Starting a dropshipping business with WordPress is not difficult, but it does require some planning and preparation. Here are seven crucial steps for setting up your WordPress dropshipping business:
1. Set Up a WordPress Website.
The first step is to set up a WordPress website for your dropshipping store. To set up a WordPress website, you will need to:
- Create a WordPress account.
- Purchase a domain name.
- Purchase a web hosting service.
- Get an SSL certificate.
You can purchase a domain name and the address of your website on the internet (i.e., www.yourstore.com) on a registration site like GoDaddy for $6-25 per year or on WordPress for $10-20 a year.
A hosting service hosts your website’s location on the internet. Whether you use Dreamhost, Bluehost, or WordPress, hosting can be cheap at $10-15 monthly. All three hosting companies offer premium options with more backups and dedicated servers to use as your business grows. If you’re just starting, you should be fine at a lower price point.
If you use a third-party hosting service, like Bluehost, you must integrate your account with WordPress.
An SSL certificate is a security feature that encrypts the data exchanged between your website and your customers. It protects your customers’ personal and payment information from hackers and boosts your website’s trustworthiness in the eyes of customers and search engines.
You must contact your web hosting provider or domain registrar to get an SSL certificate for your website. Some providers offer free SSL certificates as part of their plans or as an add-on service. Others may charge you a fee or require you to purchase a premium plan.
2. Set up the WooCommerce Plug-in.
After you set up your WordPress website, you’ll need to install the WooCommerce plug-in on your site. WooCommerce is a free plug-in that lets you create product pages, shopping carts, checkout forms, payment gateways, and other aspects of a digital shop.
To install WooCommerce, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plug-ins > Add New. Search for WooCommerce and click on “Install Now.” Then, activate the plug-in and follow the guidance of the setup wizard.
Next, you will add:
- Your address
- Your industry
- Product types
- Number of products you want to display
- If you are selling anywhere else
Go to your dashboard and select “Settings” and then click on the “Payments” tab to set up the different payment methods you wish to use such as PayPal, direct bank transfer, check payments, and cash on delivery.
For the easiest option, PayPal Standard, you will need to add your PayPal email address and enable the settings.
In the “General” settings tab, you can enable or disable taxes and coupon codes, choose the accepted currency, choose measurement units, and allow product reviews and star ratings.
Under the “Emails” tab, you can go in and add all of the transaction emails you would like customers to receive and personalize them to your brand.
3. Adding Products to WooCommerce
Next, you will need to add products to your store. The easiest way to do this is to go to your dashboard and find the “Products” button on the left, then select “Add New.” It will lead you to where you can create your first product. You can either do this manually or import a .CSV or Excel file of items to import.
You’ll want to find the best, most profitable products in your niche and source a reliable wholesale provider who offers these products. To simplify listing products, use a dropshipping platform like Trendsi that connects you with hundreds of verified dropshipping suppliers who provide high-quality products at low prices.
To manually create a new product listing, you can add a product description, images, price and sale price, shipping price, inventory, etc. When you’ve finished adding the details, you can click “Publish” to have the product go live.
4. Choosing a WooCommerce Template and Theme.
Now, go back to your dashboard. Over on the left, you will select “Appearance” and then “Theme” to change themes or “Customize” to customize the preselected theme. In the customize section, you can change things such as the site title, site icon, background image, color scheme, fonts, etc.
None of your changes will be visible on your live site until you click publish. If you want to change the theme altogether, you can go to “Appearance” and “Theme.” You can choose one of the free WordPress themes or a premium (paid) theme. Pick the one closest to your brand identity and activate the theme.
If you want your home page to be something other than the most recent blog post, go to your dashboard and select “Settings” and then “Reading Settings.” Here you will see an option for your home page to be “a static page,” which you can set to your shop page. This way, when customers visit your site, they will be taken straight to your products.
You will want to set up a few other standard pages for your site. To do this, go to the left sidebar on your dashboard and select “Pages” and then “All Pages.” Click “Add New” to create a Contact Page, an About Us Page, and a Blog Page. For the Contact Page, create a contact form by selecting the plus sign button in the page editor and typing “WPforms” into the search bar. Select a form that you created in WPforms and publish the page.
Repeat the process of creating a new page to make an About Us Page and a Blog Page. To add pages to your navigation menu, go to “Appearance” on the left sidebar and click “Menus.” Title your menu, click “Create Menu” and then pick what pages you would like displayed.
You will need to create your contact form using WPforms. After installing WPforms you will want to select it on the left sidebar of your dashboard and select “Add New.” Click on the Simple Contact Form option and personalize it to your liking then save it.
Now, you will want to go back to your Contact Page and hit the dropdown button to select your new Simple Contact Form.
5. Installing WooCommerce Dropshipping Plug-in and Extensions
The WooCommerce Dropshipping Add-On is a premium extension that automates the dropshipping process for your store. It allows you to import product listings from your supplier, send them automated order notifications, and generate packing slips and invoices for your customers.
This add-on requires a payment of $6.59 per month for a single-site license. Once you buy your license, you can download it from your WooCommerce account and upload it to your plug-in directory. Next, activate the WordPress plug-in.
To configure the settings of the WooCommerce Dropshipping Add-On, you must add your supplier information, customize your order notifications, and set up your packing slips and invoices.
To configure your settings, go to WooCommerce > Products > Suppliers, and enter the supplier details. You will enter the supplier name, a description, your account number (if applicable), and the supplier’s email address for an alert when products are purchased. You can then import the supplier’s inventory via a .CSV file.
You will also be able to configure WooCommerce payment settings which can be found under Payments > Settings. You can set what forms of payment you want to accept such as credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link by Stripe, etc. You can also enable payments via a saved card and dictate how purchases will be shown in customers’ bank statements.
6. Installing Other Helpful WordPress Plugins
As a dropshipping business, there are a couple of other WordPress plug-ins that you may find useful. We will discuss these in more detail below.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is WordPress’s #1 SEO plug-in and for good reason. The plug-in is free and automatically takes care of your website’s technical SEO needs. It will help you rank higher in search engines and gain more organic traffic.
Yoast SEO’s introductory plug-in is free, however, there is a premium version with additional features for $99 per year.
Jetpack
Jetpack is another helpful WordPress plug-in you may consider installing. Jetpack is a security plug-in that does backups of your website, improves speed, stops spam, and helps your business grow. It does malware scans, has spam protection, logs all site changes, and more to ensure your website is safe and sound.
Jetpack’s basic plug-in is free. There is the option to upgrade for additional features.
How to Promote a WordPress Dropshipping Business
Setting up a WordPress dropshipping store is only half the battle. You also need to promote your store and attract customers to generate sales and revenue. Here are some cost-effective ways to market your store online:
Social Media
Building an audience on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc., is one of the best digital marketing methods for dropshipping stores. Use these platforms to showcase your products, share valuable content, build trust and loyalty, and drive traffic to your e-commerce store.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a form of word-of-mouth marketing that leverages the authority, credibility, and popularity of influential people in your niche. You can partner with influencers (i.e., Instagram influencers) who have large and engaged followings to promote your products.
SEO
SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” improving your website’s visibility and ranking on search engines like Google, Bing, etc. SEO helps you attract organic and relevant traffic to your store from people searching for your products or related topics.
To improve your SEO, you can:
- Conduct keyword research to find words and phrases your target audience is searching for.
- Optimize your website’s structure, speed, security, mobile-friendliness, etc.
- Optimize your website’s content, titles, headings, meta tags, URLs, and images.
- Build backlinks from other authoritative and relevant websites in your niche to boost your website’s credibility and popularity.
- Publish high-quality, engaging content on your website’s blog or other platforms that attract and retain users.
Now that you know how to create and manage a WordPress dropshipping site, you need to find the best supplier. Trendsi is a trusted dropshipping supplier that offers thousands of high-quality products.
Trendsi Is a Reliable WordPress Dropshipping Supplier
If you are looking for a reliable WordPress dropshipping supplier to help you source high-quality products at low prices, you should check out Trendsi.
Trendsi is a dropshipping platform that integrates with Shopify to connect you with hundreds of verified suppliers who offer trendy fashion, beauty, and jewelry wholesale products. Trendsi helps you seamlessly integrate products into your WordPress dropshipping website through WooCommerce, so you can watch orders come in while we handle the shipping. Get started selling with Trendsi for free today.