ECOMMERCE STORE

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SETTING UP AN ECOMMERCE STOREA beginner’s guide to crea�ng a shopping cart website

E-Commerce and Online Marke�ng Accelerator Program - 2018Level - 1, Workshop Manual

Table of Content

Chapter 1

2Register a Domain

Chapter 2

13Plan Your Website Approach

Chapter 3

22Know Your WordPress CMS

Chapter 4

32Create an E-commerce Store

Chapter 5

43Introduc�on to Online Marke�ng

Chapter 6

51Online Marke�ng Toolkit

ONLINE MARKETING TOOLKIT

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Chapter 1

7 Tips to Choose a Domain Name

The first step you should take toward establishing your business online

is to obtain a website address, also called a domain name or URL. If

your obvious choice is not available, you may need to be crea�ve in

coming up with an alterna�ve domain name. Be careful, however, to

avoid confusion with similarly named companies.

Domain registra�on sites allow you to register your domain from one

year to 10 years.

Domain names comprise your unique name and a top-level domain

(TLD), which are the three le�ers that follow the final period in any

URL. The most common TLDs for domes�c businesses are .com, .net,

and .biz, while non-profit organiza�ons typically use .org. In order to

further protect the exclusivity of your website address, you may want

to consider registering your unique name for each TLD.

5. Use keywords where possible. If there are relevant keywords that

match your brand and what your business offers, this is a great

opportunity for an SEO boost. Local pain�ng business?

KumarPain�ng.in is a solid keyword domain name.

4. Make it easy to pronounce. People remember (and have more

posi�ve associa�ons with) things that they can easily say and think

about. If you can't easily say the name, you're going to lose

memorability.

2. Make it memorable. This is all about impact and recall. Remember

that longer domains are o�en harder to remember.

Your domain is your business's nameplate on the web, so take care to

choose a domain name that represents your business and is easy to

remember. Here are 7 �ps for picking a domain that s�cks:

1. Keep it short. Get straight to the point. This is not the �me to get

clever, you want your domain name to be you brand. Make it short

and simple.

3. Make it easy to type. Your customers need to type your domain into

the address bar. Even if they're clicking a link, that link needs to be

typed in by someone.

Register a Domain

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A�er choosing a domain name, selec�ng reliable hos�ng services will

be one of the most important decisions you make. To a great extent,

the func�onality and performance of your website will depend on your

hos�ng provider. The host makes sure your website is available 24/7 to

poten�al readers and it's where your files are stored online.

6. Check for trademarks. Make sure your domain isn't easily confused

with other businesses in the market. A company might take legal ac�on

against you, if they consider your domain name is infringing on their

trademark. Get legal advice when in doubt.

The wrong web host can cause many problems with your website. Just

imagine choosing a mobile company that has no recep�on. Your web

host is a major piece of the puzzle to maintaining a successful website,

therefore, it's crucial that you choose a reliable provider. Pick a web

hos�ng providers, such as the following:

Most hos�ng companies also offer domain registra�on services. Some

people keep their domain name with the registrar company, separate

from the hos�ng account. We recommend keeping it all under your

hos�ng account for hassle-free management and maintenance.

Ÿ Znetlive

Web hos�ng is like paying for rent for your website. Web hos�ng

services use a web server to store your website resources so people

can find you through the web. Consider the following with your web

hos�ng op�ons:

Ÿ GoDaddy

Ÿ GreenGeeks

Ÿ A2Hos�ng

7. Avoid numbers, hyphens and other symbols. When trying to get

around limited domain name availability, some people choose to

include hyphens between words to create a more unique combina�on.

While this strategy is understandable, the main difficulty with

hyphenated web addresses is customer recall. They're trickier to say

aloud and add an extra piece of informa�on for customers to

remember.

Research Web Hos�ng Providers

Get a web hos�ng account

Ÿ Hostpapa India

Limita�ons: bandwidth, storage, up�me percentage, number of

domains, etc.

Ÿ DreamHost

Pros: Prevents poten�al site crashes if your hos�ng neighbors bring

your site down

Reseller Web Hos�ng: Shared hos�ng with tools to help you resell the

hos�ng space.

Cons: Pricing structures vary, depending on how much you use

Pros: Low cost, simple

Bo�om Line: Only good if you're planning to sell hos�ng as a business

Cons: Your performance relies on other websites on the server

Pros: Free templates, tech support, private name servers

Cons: More elaborate

Cloud-Based Web Hos�ng: Hundreds of single servers working

together as if they're one big server.

Bo�om Line: Great for star�ng out

Virtual Private Server (VPS): Shares one physical server while ac�ng

like separate servers.

Dedicated Private Server: Rent one physical server from hos�ng

company.

Pros: Handles unusually high spikes in traffic

Pros: Full control, no concerns of other sites slowing you down or

crashing your site

Cons: Pricing is higher, though not as high as a dedicated server

Cons: Super pricey, complex

Other types

Bo�om Line: Great for when your online business brings in high

volume of traffic

Bo�om Line: The stepping stone op�on between shared hos�ng and

your own dedicated machine

Pricing: free trial periods, total price for each package, available

upgrades, addi�onal costs, etc.

Company: level of support available, reviews/tes�monials, length of

existence, etc.

Your hos�ng provider handles the func�onality and performance of

your website, so finding the right provider is very important to the

long-term success of your website.

Select the type of web hos�ng you want

Web hos�ng types include the following:

Shared Web Hos�ng: Website hosted on a server shared by other

websites.

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Bo�om Line: A perfect op�on if you're driving more traffic and need

to upgrade beyond shared hos�ng

Cons: You're responsible for server so�ware, data storage, backup,

etc., costly

Co-loca�on Web Hos�ng: Rent rack space from a data center, but you

provides server hardware.

Pros: Control over your assets

To pivot for growth. If you have a domain name with a tradi�onal

extension, like yourbusinessname.com, you can register addi�onal

domains that represent specific products or services you offer, or

markets you serve, as your business grows.

§ Windows web hos�ng is always more expensive than Linux because

Linux servers use open source so�ware.

Bo�om Line: Find a managed hos�ng service that manages your

specific pla�orm. For example, WP Engine for WordPress, Rackspace

for Drupal, etc.

Windows or Linux?

§ Some hosts offer the choice of Windows or Linux hos�ng.

§ While it may seem sensible to s�ck with an opera�ng system that

you are familiar with, it's o�en not the best choice.

Cons: Specific to pla�orms

Pros: Low cost, easy to manage

§ For this reason alone, Linux is a be�er choice but there are other

factors to consider.

Managed Web Hos�ng: Web hos�ng provider keeps your specific

pla�orm installa�on protected and up to date.

Bo�om Line: A good fit for those who know the ins and outs of servers

and who are willing to invest the �me

Ÿ This enables mul�ple domains to be hosted at a single physical IP

address.

Some�mes, it's smart to register more than than one domain name to

represent your business. Here's why:

Ÿ In prac�ce, domain names are usually associated with nameservers

(or "DNS Hosts") rather than IP addresses and it is the nameservers

that resolve to IP addresses.

Ÿ The domain name system requires that for full func�onality, each

domain must be served by at least 2 nameservers.

Ÿ Each web server has a unique IP address, not each domain name.

Why register mul�ple domains?

Nameservers

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WordPress Setup on GoDaddy >

Think of your website as a real business

Web hos�ng sounds like something virtual and you are probably

never going to visit one of the data centers to see what is going on

behind the closed doors. To make things easier we'll look at each

func�on of the web host in the analogy of opening and running a

real business. Just like when opening your new business, you will

need: name, loca�on, staff, and product. The same is true for

star�ng a new website, you will need the following: name (domain

name), loca�on (web server), staff (you or webmaster), and product

(website content).

To iden�fy with a specific industry. There's a good chance people

will search for products and services by industry — like “wedding

photographer in chennai” — so including your industry in your

domain can make you stand out in search results.

Pro �p. If you register more than one domain, a�ach your website

to your primary domain and point any secondary domains to that

address. It's really easy.

To protect your brand. If you own a domain, your compe��on

doesn't. This is one easy way to help protect your brand online.

To iden�fy with a local market. If you serve customers in a specific

geographic area, it's important to make that local connec�on clear

in your website address.

1. Open cPanel

2. Add your Domain Name to your GoDaddy Hos�ng Account (if you

have more than one)

This Step by Step tutorial is on Se�ng up WordPress properly on an

exis�ng GoDaddy account with an exis�ng hos�ng plan like:

Economy (or Deluxe) Linux Hos�ng with cPanel. The appearance of

the screenshots change fairly o�en on GoDaddy, but the overall

concept stays the same.

Step by Step Procedure To Install WordPress on a GoDaddy Hosted Website

3. Install WordPress on Your Hos�ng Account

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If you have not registered your domain name, do that first. It’s very

straight forward. Just go to the Home page and type in the name to

search and GoDaddy will tell you that if it’s available. Then just follow

the screen prompts for payment.

If you have not signed up for a hos�ng account do that as well. For

this example we are using GoDaddy’d Hos�ng Plan: Deluxe Linux

Hos�ng with cPanel

Logging on to GoDaddy

3. You have already signed up for a hos�ng program (on GoDaddy)

1. You have already signed up for a GoDaddy account. If you have not

already set up an account, do so – ( you’ll need a credit card / debit

card and make a note of your user ID, password and four digit call in

PIN number)

Three things are assumed, therefore we will not be going into much

detail on these in this sec�on:

2. You have already registered your domain name (on GoDaddy)

Opening cPanel

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Onward with - Opening C-Panel

To get to your Hos�ng plan to manage it and ul�mately open C-Panel.

Click the arrow drop down under your Account Name (Greg - Top

Right) and click “My Products”

Click “Manage” next to “Web Hos�ng”

This opens C-Panel

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The “loca�on” is a combina�on of a domain and a directory that

together determine where the files will be installed and where the

applica�on will be viewed in a web browser a�er installa�on.

If you only have one domain, it automa�cally appears in the Domain

field. If you own other domains or have created subdomains, they

would appear in the drop-down menu.

If you have one than one domain, click the down arrow to select the

correct one. Note, if your domain is not showing up – You must have

already added the domain to your hois�ng account as discussed in

the previous step.

First, in the Loca�on sec�on, be sure the domain you want to install

WordPress on appears in the Domain field.

Install WordPress on Your Hos�ng Account

Under Web applica�ons, click WordPress

Next Click “Install this applica�on”

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*Big Note – Leave the “Directory” field blank

If you want to use WordPress as the website for the domain you

selected in the Domain field, make sure the Directory field is empty. If

you enter a word in the field, that is where WordPress will be

installed, and the web address (URL) for the site you create will

include the directory name. For example, if you type blog in the

Directory field, the web address for your WordPress website will be

www.yourwebaddress.com/blog/contact which looks strange. You

want all pages on your Website to have the standard format:

www.yourwebaddress.com/contact

The “Directory” field should be blank like this:

Leave most of the default checked boxes the same, unless you know

what you want. These se�ngs allow you to customize and

personalize this installed applica�on. The values set can be modified

later within Installatron or within the installed applica�on.

Note: The username and the password that you enter here, will be

the ones you use to log onto your WordPress website to make

changes . The easiest way to do that is directly from any browser on

the web, by typing www.yourwebaddress.com/wp-admin

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Click Install. It will say “Processing” below the Install Bu�on for a

while.

A�er a while, you will be able to see that your new WordPress

applica�on has been applied to your domain, by opening WordPress

again form cPanel and clicking the “My Applica�ons” Tab.

And here’s your brand new website – Not too pre�y, because we

have not added a Theme (template), color scheme, or any content

yet (Text, Images, and Video).

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ConclusionCongratula�ons! Now you have your own domain name, hos�ng, space and your website is set up. Next, you will need to get familiar with website design concepts, the Wordpress dashboard, learn how to make desired changes to yourWordPress website, crea�ng an eCommerce store and start your content crea�on and promo�on in order to become a eCommerce entrepreneur.

Start with the end in the mind

Like most everything else in business and life, a bit of planning goes a

long way toward ensuring that your site will do all the things you want it

to do for your business.

Is it enough for your website to showcase your products and services, or

do you want visitors to be able to buy them directly from the site? If so,

you’ll want an eCommerce website (more on that later). When you

figure out what you want your site to do for your business, you can

Do you want your website to inform? To inspire? To generate sales

leads? To actually sell products or services? The nature of most business

website is either informa�onal or sales-driven.

begin building the type of site that will achieve those objec�ves.

Start withthe end

1. Be Narrow2. Be Different3. Be Casual4. Be Picky

Ten Rules For Web Startups

6. Be Self-centered7. Be Greedy

5. Be User-centric

8. Be Tiny

10. Be Balanced 9. Be Agile

Chapter 2

Plan Your Website Approach

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Before you can begin to design or develop your website, you must

start with the strategy. A well-cra�ed digital strategy involves

framing the problem and iden�fying the high-level approach you'll

take to solving it. While every business's star�ng point may differ,

the approach is always the same.

1. Strategy

You wouldn't begin to sketch the blueprints of your house without

knowing how many bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets you'll need,

would you? You'd need to know who will live in the house. What

needs do the residents have to get the most out of their home?

Every Successful Website Design Begins With Though�ul Research

Web development is a complex, mul�faceted process with a lot of

moving parts. Much like building a house, the process requires

exper�se in different fields to come together to produce a website

that strategically meets your business's goals and needs.

If you're beginning to think about a website design for your business

or are just interested in how some smart interac�ve / digital

agencies develop award-winning, revenue-genera�ng website,

you'll find this in-depth guide both instruc�ve and informa�ve.

In this sec�on, we'll cover the four major components that bring a

website to life:

Strategy / User Experience / Design / Development

Likewise, though�ul research is the founda�on of a user-centric

website design and an essen�al part of crea�ng a design that

supports your site's users. This research is about digging in and

discovering what's important to your business and to your users.

For instance, are ramps required for someone with a wheelchair?

Compe�tors

A buyer persona is a semi-fic�onal representa�on of your ideal

The Discovery Process

Are your compe�tors showing up above you on Google SERP? Check

out the structure of their websites and the text and keywords they

are using. Maybe you will get some good ideas.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders include your en�re company as well as your

customers. Pick one or two people from each department, as well as

a few customers, and schedule a 30 minute mee�ng to understand

if their needs and sugges�ons for the redesign.

For example, the engineering team might need a new FAQ sec�on

to help save �me answering common ques�ons asked by customers.

A good discovery is about examining your business, your audiences,

your compe�tors, your search engine op�miza�on opportunity, and

more. During this stage, you'll want to conduct interviews with the

key stakeholders in your business. The input you gather will shine a

light on their unique perspec�ves and challenges.

Stakeholders also include the customers and poten�al customers

visi�ng your site. The expecta�ons these users have of your site,

along with the goals they hope to achieve by visi�ng it, are the

building blocks of your site's structure and design.

Compe�tors can be a source of inspira�on, so start your research

with compe�tors in your market. Do you think that a compe�tor is

capturing leads be�er than you? What are they doing that you are

not doing? Perhaps it is �me to add that newsle�er sign up form to

your blog?

Personas

When embarking on a website redesign one of the first things to

consider is your business's buyer persona. A successful website

knows whom they are selling to.

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customer. They are based on market research, real data about

customer demographics and online behavior along with specula�on

about what mo�vates them.

§ What is their job and level of seniority?

A website approach that directly addresses the par�cular needs of

each individual persona will contribute to a much more successful

website.

§ What is their demographic informa�on?

§ What does a day in their life look like?

§ What are their goals?

§ Where do they go for informa�on?

Having “a be�er website” is also not a good way to meet a business

goal. You need to specify what it means. To have effec�ve website

flows you need to priori�ze your goals in two categories:

§ What experiences are they looking for when shopping for your

products and services?

§ How do you iden�fy the buyer persona?

§ What are their most common objec�ons to your product or

service?

§ What are their pain points?

Website Goals

To truly cater your website to your various marke�ng personas,

you'll need to take things a step further by crea�ng targeted landing

pages and content to go with them for each persona.

Primary

Secondary

These are the goals that capture people at earlier stages of the

marke�ng funnel. For example, whitepaper download, newsle�er or

webinar sign up. The goals categorized should be reflected in the

design of your website. A common technique is to give the 'call to

ac�on' bu�ons for primary goals brighter colors, so that they stand

out and encourage the visitors to take ac�on.

Presen�ng the right content, to the right people, at the right �me

will give your website the best chance of being successful.

This is your most important goal. As a rule of thumb, the primary

website goal is the conversion that brings your prospects closest to

purchase of your products or services. Depending on the website

business goal it can differ, but for tradi�onal marke�ng website a

typical primary goal would be downloaded trial or submi�ed

“contact us” form.

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2. User Experience

Once an architect iden�fies the needs and requirements of the

house's residents, she can begin conceptualizing how the house will

conform to their desires. The same holds true for the user

experience (UX) process of a website.

It all begins with content—understanding who needs it, where they

look for it, and how they think about it. Organizing your content (the

words, paragraphs, headlines, and labels) is part of an Informa�on

Architecture and is a vital step in moving the process from theory to

prac�ce. To succeed, the UX process needs to ar�culate your design

decisions in the form of taxonomy and deliver a sitemap that is a

high-level vision of the website naviga�on.

Sitemap

Content

At its basic, user experience centers on mee�ng the exact needs of

your targeted users and crea�ng a memorable and pleasing

interac�ve experience. To do this, you must convert your strategic

goals into executable, meaningful tac�cs and interac�ons that will

create an enjoyable digital experience and give people what they

want from your website.

Take care to limit the number of top-level naviga�on items,

remembering to filter everything through the lens of your primary

audience.

The hierarchy of each page will be shown with a parent/child

rela�onship. Not every page will have a child, but every page will

have a parent.

When crea�ng your site-map you should consider:

Use the content groups you've created and create a site map that

shows the hierarchical rela�onship of all the content on your site.

3. Use cases — who is using the site and how will they perform a

specific task?

2. Informa�on Hierarchy — is your content of primary, secondary, or

ter�ary importance?

1. Labels — will the user understand the naviga�on labels and how

should the labels be posi�oned?

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The tes�ng of your wireframe is essen�al to the success of your site.

Once finished, a sample of users who represent the main audience

types of your business and website will view and work with your

wireframes. To validate the wireframes, the test subjects will

complete tasks that your site is designed to support.

§ What photo needs to appear as the header photo?

Low Fidelity: digital or hand-drawn wireframe, which consist of lines

on a plain background and some labels.

Wireframe can take many forms including:

High Fidelity: wireframe that begin to convey what your website will

look like by using logos, color schemes, and other basic graphics.

Clickable Prototypes: semi-func�onal web page layouts that offer a

high-level preview of the actual site by giving the users the ability to

click around.

§ What is the content for the callout?

Wireframes are blueprints of a page, a way to visualize the

organiza�on of content on a single page. While your site map shows

you the layout of the site and required content areas, your

wireframes indicate page types and what content goes where on

each page.

§ What is the main content of the page? Is there a callout?

Paper: hand-drawn wireframe.

The Wireframe

Usability Tes�ng

What to look for during the tes�ng session:

1. Did the user accomplish the task easily?

3. Was it easy to navigate?

5. Were the calls to ac�on in the right place?

The answers to these ques�ons will help revise the prototype and

refine the system as you move forward into visual design.

4. Was content where it was expected to be or was informa�on hard

to find?

2. Did they understand the content and labels?

§ To Build the Colors Inventory

§ To Build the Space Inventory

§ To Build the Typography Inventory

When you are dealing with a complex website with a lot of content

and/or func�onali�es, it can become hard to achieve consistency in

visual design. A bigger and more complex project almost always

means a bigger team working on it.

§ To Build the Icons Inventory

The mockups show the layout of each page, the typography (fonts),

the images and graphics for all elements on each page. Note that

similar to wireframes, mockups are sta�c and are not meant to

demonstrate any func�onality.

Web Style Guide

A Web Style Guide is a collec�on of the individual visual elements

and modules used to build the website

In many cases, mockups are the final step before the start of the

development. Front-end developers use the mockups as a reference

to create the HTML & CSS code for each page. Once all pages are

approved and coded, they are implemented into the back-end code

of the website.

The best solu�on to maintaining consistency is to create a Web Style

Guide that includes all visual elements, so that both designers and

developers can reference the style guide when working on the

website design project. The best way to start is by building an

inventory of all the different pa�erns, colors, text styles and assets

used in the style guide.

§ To Build the Pa�erns Inventory

The design phase is where you finally get to see your project come

to life. Like building a small-scale model of your house, the design

phase puts user experience concepts into tangible composi�ons to

which your audience can relate.

Visual Design And Mockups

Using your wireframes as a founda�on, web designers create the full

graphic composi�on (also referred to as “mockups”) for all the

pages in the website. The idea of the mockup is to include all visual

styles and elements, so that you can see how the final website will

look and feel.

3. Design

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4. Mobile first

Here are 9 web design trends you need to know about in 2018:

2. Color schemes 1. Drop shadows & depth

3. Par�cle backgrounds

5. Custom illustra�ons 6. Big, bold typography 7. Grid layouts

h�ps://99designs.com/blog/trends/web-design-trends-2018/

8. Integrated anima�ons 9. Dynamic gradient

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4. Development

A�er you have completed the design phase, it is �me to work on the

technical implementa�on of the website. An important aspect of

development to understand is that there are always mul�ple

solu�ons for a single problem.

Does the CMS have a good reputa�on? Look at ra�ngs and reviews

on review websites such as www.capterra.com.

Can the CMS be easily integrated with other 3rd party pla�orms?

One of the most important integra�ons to be looking for is with your

CRM and Automa�on pla�orms.

Spend �me at the beginning of a website design to determine the

complexity of the integra�on and what steps need to be taken to

properly integrate the website with the third-party API (applica�on

program interface) or internal system.

Does the CMS have good backend and frontend performance? You

don't want your website to go down under higher loads.

Integra�ng your website with third-party vendors or internal

systems is a step that needs to be carefully evaluated. All

integra�ons present different complexi�es, whether you're

integra�ng a CRM or capturing a user's order informa�on.

Is the CMS SEO-friendly? Does it allow easy URL and metadata

management?

Some important factors to consider when choosing a CMS are:

Integra�ons

For your website, a CMS will provide you simple tools such as

crea�ng, modifying, and publishing content, but can also provide

powerful marke�ng/sales support including campaign development,

analy�cs, workflows, and CRM (customer rela�onship management)

integra�ons.

How To Choose A CMS

Whether your website is ten pages or ten thousand pages, selec�ng

the proper content management system (CMS) is a key component

to ensuring your website's success. The CMS acts as the backbone

of your site.

Does the CMS allow easy management of content by business

users? Some CMSs offer a feature called “inline edi�ng” which is a

great �me saver.

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Here is a list of things you should go through:

Test Site Speed - Test to check how long it takes for your website to

load. A slow loading website will have a nega�ve effect on your

users and will also hurt your SEO rankings.

A�er the development is over and the final website before you

launch it you need to do thorough quality tes�ng to ensure

everything works as expected.

Verify Quality

Test Your Forms - Test to see all forms work correctly. Do the forms

pipe informa�on into the CRM or automa�on pla�orms correctly?

Does your analy�cs so�ware record the submissions? Do the thank

you pages load properly?

Check Forma�ng - Some�mes there might be bugs in the HTML

which affect forma�ng. Check your pages to make sure everything

looks okay.

Test Mobile Device Friendliness - Mobile Device friendliness

influences both user experience and SEO ranking.

Check Your Images - Check to see that all your images load in the

correct format. Make sure all images have 'alt text' as it is indexed by

search engines and helps SEO.

Check the SEO of Your Content - Make sure all your pages have

meta �tle and descrip�on. Also check to see the keywords you are

op�mizing for are included in the URL and H1 �tles.

Test Your Links - Check for broken links and missing redirects. Check

Content for Spelling Errors and Grammar Mistakes. This one speaks

for itself!

Your Best Friend A/B tes�ng is a method of comparing the

performance of two versions of the same webpage. It allows you to

make specific changes to the user experience while collec�ng data

on the results and determining what is working and what isn't. A/B

Tes�ng is the best way to determine if changing an element on a

webpage will increase conversions.

Make A/B Tes�ng

¡

§ Product or service value proposi�on statements

§ Lead genera�on forms, shopping cart and checkout

§ Home page design, eyeflow, merchandising

§ Landing page design and content

§ Product page templates

§ Imagery, copywri�ng, ads, calls to ac�on, and offers

§ Site-wide design styles

Here are some ideas of elements that can be tested:

§ Logo, header and tagline

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ConclusionAccording to recent research by Gartner, 98% of marke�ng execu�ves affirm that online and offline marke�ng are merging, so it is safe to say that online marke�ng is now mainstream. Sono ma�er what industry you are in, you cannot afford to neglect your digital assets as they are now more representa�ve of the quality of your business than ever before.

Know Your WordPress CMS

Chapter 3

22

Know Your WordPress CMS

In this sec�on, we will take a closer look at managing your

WordPress site. You will learn how to customize your website, make

design and layout changes, create your first post or page and much

more.

The back end, known as the WordPress dashboard, allows you to

fully manage your website's content, community, func�onality and

design. It is accessible only by users who you designate and assign

an account on your website. In order to access your WordPress

dashboard, you need to type: www.domainname.com/wp-admin in

the address bar of your browser and log in using your WordPress

username and password.

Naviga�ng the dashboard

The WordPress pla�orm consists of two areas: your website's front

end and back end. The front end is what your visitors will see when

they come to your website. Many of the tasks performed in the back

end will be visible on the front end, such as theme customiza�on,

plugin func�onality enhancements and content publica�on. There

are also ac�ons that can be performed by you and your visitors

directly from the front end of the website, including commen�ng

and social sharing.

The Dashboard is the center of website administra�on. It consists of

three main parts: le� side menu, top toolbar and middle sec�on.

The WordPress front and back ends

Pages: View and add new sta�c pages to your website.

Comments: Comment manager where you will approve or delete

new comments on blog/news posts and pages.

Se�ngs: Edit general website se�ngs, wri�ng se�ngs, reading

se�ngs, discussion (comment) se�ngs, media se�ngs and

permalinks (URL forma�ng for your website).

Appearance: Manage themes, customize your blog design

(dependent upon theme), manage widgets, manage menu items

and edit your blog's header (dependent upon theme).

Users: Manage users, add new users and update your WordPress

profile (name, password, and details).

Media: View your media library (images, documents and file

uploads) and upload new files.

Posts: View all posts (blog/news content), add a new post, view and

create categories, view and create tags.

WordPress, like any popular CMS, releases both minor and major

updates to their pla�orm in order to introduce new features, fix

bugs and increase security. In the past, you would be given the

Tools: Tools to import and export content to and from your

WordPress website.

Updates

A closer look at each area of a dashboard

Plugins: Find updates to the WordPress pla�orm along with plugins

and themes you have installed.

In addi�on to the general menu items in the le� hand column

men�oned above, you'll also find menu op�ons for plugins you have

installed. Depending on the plugin's purpose and coding, it's se�ngs

can be added to any standard menu (posts, pages, comments,

appearance, plugins, users, tools or se�ngs) or as a new menu item

anywhere in the le�-hand column.

The le�-hand column of your WordPress dashboard is where you'll

find all of your admin op�ons and where most of your crea�ve effort

will be focused. This column includes menu op�ons for each of the

following func�onal areas:

Updates: Find updates to the WordPress pla�orm along with plugins

and themes you have installed.

23

Demo Account

password: Demo_2018

username: wordpress

h�p://wp.elandigital.in/wp-admin

Pages provide sta�c content or informa�on to the readers. Standard

pages that WordPress website include: About, Contact, Adver�se,

Products, Services and Resources. The following op�ons are

available on the Pages menu, you will find the following op�ons:

All Pages: A list of all pages in the dashboard. You can use the lis�ng

The Media menu allows you to control the new content you add to

your media. Media are published on your website in descending

order (newest first). In the Posts menu, you will find the following

op�ons:

choice to update to the latest version of WordPress through your

Dashboard using a one click install process or by downloading the

latest version and installing it yourself.

All Posts: A lists all of your posts in the dashboard. You can use the

lis�ng to quickly edit single or mul�ple post categories, tags, status,

author and ability to comment.

Tags: View all of the keywords your posts are tagged with, edit them

and add new.

The Posts menu allows you to control the new content you add to

your blog/news sec�on. Posts are published on your website in

descending order (newest first). In the Posts menu, you will find the

following op�ons:

Categories: View all of the categories your posts are listed under,

edit them and add new categories.

Media

Library: View all of the media uploaded to your WordPress website.

Posts

Add New: Add new media to your WordPress website.

Pages

For anyone who has WordPress 4.3 or above, updates to the core

WordPress pla�orm are automa�cally installed on your website. You

are s�ll responsible for upda�ng your plugins and themes when

updates become available. If you don't want WordPress to

automa�cally update the core of their pla�orm, you can find

direc�ons on how to configure automa�c updates in the WordPress

Codex.

Add New: This is where you go to add a new post to your site.

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§ They can contain anything from plain text to media-rich content

(video, audio, photo, links, etc.).

Ÿ Posts are part of your main blog/news content. They will show

up as new entries within your blog/news and your RSS feed (Rich

Site Summary is a web feed used to distribute informa�on from

your website to subscribers.) Pages will only be displayed when

you link to them directly and never within your RSS feed.

Your website content will be displayed in pages and posts. While

they have similari�es, they serve different purposes and have

different behaviors.

Ÿ Pages are generally not a part of your main website's content.

For example, if you have a travel website, you would write posts

about your latest travels. You would reserve pages for things that

relate to you and the website, such as a page with informa�on

about you or a page with a contact form to contact you.

Comments

to quickly edit single or mul�ple pages' status, author, parent,

template and ability to comment.

Add New: Add new pages to your website.

§ They will be available for everyone or only a limited number of

users based on your choice of se�ngs.

§ They can be altered or extended via plugins.

Post Vs Pages

§ They can be added, deleted, updated or edited.

§ Meta informa�on (author, date of publishing, etc.).

They both have the following in common:

§ A �tle/headline and specific content.

What sets posts and pages apart:

Both blog posts and pages can accept comments. Most WordPress

themes come equipped with comment layout func�onality.

However, it is up to you to engage with your readers and encourage

them to leave comments on your blog. Check for new comments

regularly. Approve them promptly and reply to them as needed.

The Comments feature is the best way to manage reader

interac�on. It allows readers to add comments on the topic ask

ques�ons and provide feedback. It allows you and your readers to

stay engaged with the community and interact around your specific

niche market.

In the Comments sec�on, you will have the ability to moderate

25

26

In the Appearance menu, you will find the following op�ons: (We're

presen�ng op�ons that are commonly available. Keep in mind that

op�ons will vary, depending on the theme you choose.)

Customize: Depending on the theme you have chosen, you will be

able to use the Customize sec�on to make changes to the theme's

design in a visual editor. Things that can be customized include: Title

comments, including approving them, marking them as spam or

dele�ng them en�rely.

Menus: Depending on the theme you have chosen, you can create

one or more menus that will appear horizontally in your header.

Background: Depending on the theme you have chosen, you can

change background colors or upload your own background image.

Appearance

Editor: The editor is for advanced users and involves code

knowledge. It gives you the op�on of edi�ng theme code for specific

func�onality and design changes. Because visitors will be able to

immediately see any changes that you save in your theme's code,

it's usually safer to edit copies of your files offline, test, and upload

your changes when they are verified. If you are going to use editor,

always make sure you backup current version of your website before

edi�ng your files.

Themes: this is where you can search for themes on the WordPress

network or install themes you have downloaded from elsewhere.

We will talk about theme selec�on momentarily.

Widgets: Widgets are boxes you can add to various areas of your

WordPress website. Depending on the theme you have chosen, this

can include the homepage, header, sidebar and footer. Adding

widgets is a simple task, and it works using a drag & drop building

experience. Widgets can showcase a social media links, a search bar,

subscrip�on links, about text for the website, most recent posts,

most recent comments, links to other blog/news you like, and more.

Header: Depending on the theme you has chosen, you can upload a

graphic at a specific size (determined by your theme) which will be

displayed at the top of your website.

and Tagline, Color, Background Image, Sta�c Front Page, and

Featured Content.

This menu is where most of the ac�vity of changing the design and

layout of your website will take place. Here you can search for and

install new themes and make addi�onal customiza�on to your

website's header image, colors and background.

Aim for a responsive design that will work on desktop browsers and

mobile devices. This is recommended by Google.

If you find a theme that takes your breath away, cool down. Once

you install a theme you like, don't be surprised if it doesn't look

quite right. Your theme is just a skeleton of your website. To make it

appealing, you'll have to fill in content (text, photos, videos, etc.).

Earlier, we showed you how to add content to your website.

1. Read the descrip�on

Here's a quick checklist for choosing your theme by searching within

website dashboard:

Most themes come with a short descrip�on of features and

func�onality. By reading it, you should have a rough idea if the

theme matches your needs and how customizable it is.

2. Check the ra�ngs

3. Preview the theme

Start your search for a theme as soon as your WordPress pla�orm is

installed. The look and feel of your website relies on the theme you

choose. Your readers will first no�ce the overall appearance of the

website, before even taking a look at the content. Choose a theme

that looks great, but also works for your unique content needs. The

default theme that comes with your WordPress website installed is

Twenty Sixteen — while it's a good starter theme, you'll want to

choose a theme that is more unique to your website and compa�ble

with your niche.

The first thing your website's front end needs is a face (design and

layout). You want to create an environment that is both eye-catching

and prac�cal. In the long run, you want your visitors to easily find

informa�on on your website. You don't want visitors to be

discouraged by the colors you choose or the non-intui�ve and

unprac�cal way in which informa�on is displayed. Your design can

cause instant distrust of your website or instant acceptance.

Popular themes will have star ra�ngs that are visible in the preview

and under theme details. They should give you a clear idea how

good the theme is.

4. Check for responsiveness

Preview the theme to get an idea of the overall look and layout.

More on themes (website's design and layout)

27

You can find different premium themes online from the resources

Custom themes are created by an individual developer (coder and

designer, or agency) who will either customize an exis�ng theme or

create a brand new theme for you. While coming with clear-cut

advantages, they are not the ideal choice for beginners due to their

high cost. Prices to customize a theme range from $500 to $2,000,

depending on the features you want.

For many visionary novice web developers, the world is not enough.

The stash of free themes (more than two thousand themes are

available on wordpress.org) does not sa�sfy their par�cular desire

for look and feel. There are two other op�ons you can take a look at,

premium and custom themes. But they incur a cost, some�mes a

�ny one, at other �mes a huge amount.

Examples of good free and premium themes

Free, premium, and custom themes

For the most part, it's hard to choose the right theme from such a

wide variety. We're doing our best to make that process easier for

you.

Based on our experience, we recommend the following free and

premium themes for new website designers.

Free themes

Premium themes are created by both single developers and

dedicated showcase websites. Top sources for premium themes that

are worth checking include StudioPress, Elegant Themes,

Themefuse, Thesis, WooThemes, CSSigniter Themes and

ThemeForest. The price range for a single-use licenses ranges from

$30 to $500, depending on which premium theme you choose.

Decode is a top choice for website developers who are a�er a

minimal look. Customiza�on include different colors and sidebar

items accessible from the menu.

Supernova, despite its classical website look and feel, is a true gem.

With color pale�es, full-width sliders and custom headers, it has

been designed to meet the needs of website designers.

Clean Re�na is a simple, clean, and responsive theme that adapts

automa�cally to any browser size. Along with the elegant design,

the theme is easily customizable.

Premium themes

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29

To save you �me, we've selected some important plugins for your

immediate website needs. They cover many aspects of your website

experience, enhance the func�onality of your website and make it

more professional and a�rac�ve to your readers.

List of recommended plugins for new website developers

WP Super Cache: Helps with the load �me of your WordPress site.

Akismet: Protec�on from comment spam (you won't need this if you

go with Disqus for comments).

Modern Studio theme is bold, sleek and colorful. With a

contemporary look that meets the needs of the passionate designer.

Beau�ful is a theme that shows a lot of a�en�on to details — details

you can customize to give your website a unique look.

Wintersong is a theme that carries an air of the bare essen�als.

Calm, minimal, and outstanding, it's versa�le enough to work for all

types of sites.

Google Analy�cs: The top choice when it comes to monitoring and

analyzing your website traffic.

Contact Form 7: A contact form with flexible email op�ons.

Yoast SEO: A comprehensive SEO plugin for your website. The best

out there for free.

Disqus Commen�ng System: An alterna�ve to the basic WordPress

comment system with advanced administra�ve and comment

capabili�es.

men�oned earlier. We recommend you to check the themes series

from StudioPress. Their services and support is top notch and all of

their themes are highly customizable. Here are three themes that

are suited for the website:

YARPP: Creates a related posts list at the end of each of your posts

automa�cally to encourage people to con�nue browsing your site.

Authors Widget: A great way to display mul�ple authors and their

ac�vity on-site

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Export tool

Contributor: Write and edit own posts, but is not able to publish

without consent.

Tools

Enables to export website content which can later be imported into

new WordPress installa�on. It is a very useful way to backup your

website content.

Users

Import tool

Editor: Access and edit all posts, pages, comments, categories, tags,

and links.

Author: Publish and edit ar�cles, posts, and upload media.

Subscriber: Can only read and comment on posts or pages

With tools you are able to execute some extended tasks on your

WordPress website.

Available tools

This sec�on comes with pre-installed op�on called “Press This” that

provides a quick and easy way to clip text, images and videos from

any site and share them on your website. Under “Press This,” there

is also a categories-to-tags converter.

Enables to import data from other web pla�orms into WordPress.

This sec�on allows you to add new users to your WordPress site,

customize your own user profile, and edit users you have added to

your WordPress site. You can assign each user the following roles:

analyzing your website traffic.

Administrator: Able to perform all ac�ons on the website. This

should be reserved for you as the site owner and only those you

trust highly with your website as they have the power to do

anything, including lock you out of your own site.

Addi�onal menu op�ons

31

Reading: Set the home page for your site (either a sta�c page or the

latest blog posts), the number of blog posts on your homepage and

archives, the number of items in your RSS feed, and whether you

want to show your full post or a summary in your RSS feed.

General: Configure basic op�ons for your WordPress site,

Media: Customize the default sizes for images uploaded to your

website.

This menu contains all of the se�ngs op�ons for your WordPress

site.

Wri�ng: Enables to import data from other web pla�orms into

WordPress.

Se�ngs

Discussion: Control how comments are received on your website.

The op�mum se�ng is to moderate all new-comment authors and

automa�cally approve comments by previously approved comment

authors. Also hold in modera�on comments with mul�ple links as

this is a sign of a spammer.

Permalinks: Customize the URL structure for your website. The best

op�on is to have a structure that allows keywords from your

post/page �tles to be implemented into your URL, also known as the

post name structure.

including the site name, descrip�on, URL, �me zone, date format

and main administrator email.

Remember you will need to visit and learn about each sec�on of your Dashboard and get comfortable with the management op�ons. Doing so will allow you to improve your website’s design, func�onality, and personality. Once you know what it takes to customize your website, make the necessary tweaks to make it stand out and please your visitors.

Conclusion

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Chapter 4

Crea�ng an Ecommerce Store

Scalability: WooCommerce can scale with you as you grow your

business. From selling one product to thousands, and from your first

order to your millionth, WooCommerce will be able to scale and ride

the wave with you.

WooCommerce Is Simple, Free And Open-source

WooCommerce Features

Built for WordPress: WooCommerce is built to integrate seamlessly

with WordPress, making it the obvious eCommerce choice for

exis�ng WordPress users, and connec�ng you to the fast-growing

WordPress ecosystem.

Sell anything, anywhere: From real products and digital downloads

to subscrip�ons, content and even your �me, you'll be able to set up

a WooCommerce store to sell worldwide (or by country, as you

wish).

Mobile friendly: WooCommerce is designed to ensure your store

and products look as good on a desktop computer as they do on

your customers' mobile phones. You can even turn your exis�ng

WooCommerce store into a mobile app with no custom coding by

using a few third party tools/services.

Own your data: Keeping your data independent of any third party

so�ware pla�orm gives you complete control of your business and

future. It's also a safer experience for your customers, as the only

person they share their personal informa�on with is you.

Secure code: WooCommerce is audited by Sucuri, the industry

leader in plugin security, to ensure that it adheres to WordPress best

prac�ces and coding standards, and is kept secure and up-to-date.

A successful sale starts long before someone clicks buy. The journey

towards the des�na�on is vital and in the world of the web and

eCommerce the look, feel and experience of naviga�ng your

products, content and site says everything.

Modern and clean interface: WooCommerce is designed to mesh

fluidly with the current trends of the default WordPress themes -

keeping your store design modern and in-line with current design

trends.

Core Features

Integrates with WordPress content: Great brands are built on

publishing and content. WooCommerce is built on WordPress which

means you can integrate eCommerce seamlessly with the world's

favourite blogging pla�orm.

Sell Anything. Beau�fully - Design

Improved experience for store owners: Back-end admin se�ngs are

structured to be used easily on hand-held devices, offering you a

superior user experience to update your store on the move.

Open source: WooCommerce is 100% open source which allows you

to benefit from an ac�ve and growing community of contributors.

With WooCommerce meet-ups taking place around the world now

you can meet fellow WooCommerce users in real life.

Worldwide community: With more than 350 contributors to

WooCommerce and over 7 million downloads to date, you'll be

joining one of the fastest-growing open source communi�es on the

web.

Intelligent Shopping UX - Cart

If a sale is the des�na�on, the cart is the checkout queue where

customers can either bail on you & abandon things in the aisles, or

add more and finish strong. WooCommerce core that make for a

slick, seamless and intelligent cart.

Core Features

Pre-installed payment gateways: Choose from five pre-installed

gateways including: Direct Bank Transfer, Cheque Payment, Cash on

SHOPPINGLIST

CHECKOUT

PAYMENTPAYMENTPAYMENT

33

34

Product types: Simple Product, Grouped Product, External/Affiliate

Product, Variable Product and Virtual/Downloadable Product.

Unlimited possibili�es! WooCommerce can handle anything from

one product to thousands with effec�veness cri�cally dependant on

the hos�ng solu�on you choose.

Reduce page loading: WooCommerce op�onally uses AJAX on add

to cart bu�ons, which means your store won't need to reload each

�me a customer adds a product to or edits their cart.

Core Features

Add and manage products: Quickly add products to your store,

select images sizes for catalog, single product and thumbnails.

Selec�vely enable a lightbox for product images.

Whatever you can think of selling is doable through WooCommerce.

As part of the free WooCommerce plugin, a wide range of op�ons

available and have extensions for pre�y much everything under the

sun when it comes to product type, and the flexibility thereof.

Wide Variety & Capacity - Product

Cart behaviour: Selec�vely choose to redirect to cart page a�er the

successful addi�on of a product.

Set the default currency: Choose from a range of currencies as your

default currency.

Delivery, Credit card payments with PayPal or Credit card payment

with Simplify Commerce (available for US only) which supports

Hosted Payments (a PCI Compliant hosted payment pla�orm). Drag

and drop them to display your preferred order on the front-end.

Automa�c taxes: Geo-loca�ng the “Default Customer Loca�on”

coupled with the ability to show taxes in your store based on their

loca�on allows you to show relevant prices store-wide.

Take control of the checkout process: Enable or disable guest

checkout and force secure all checkout processes on your store. Sell

to specific countries or anyone in the world and set specific page

URLs to handle specific ac�ons during the checkout process.

Geo-loca�on support: Built-in geo-loca�on support (with a page

caching support op�on) allows your store to auto-detect your

customers address - making shipping and tax calcula�ons simpler.

35

Product variables: WooCommerce lets you offer a set of varia�ons

on a product with control over prices, stock, image and more for

each varia�on (i.e. for a product like a shirt, you can offer a large,

small, etc).

Flexible Shipping Op�ons - Shipping

Handwri�ng labels, packing boxes and making trips to the post

office is part and parcel of every start-up story but at some point,

you need to spend your �me wisely on other aspects of your

business. WooCommerce makes shipping, payments, postage and

interna�onal delivery easier with a impressive features built into

core and more available via paid and free extensions.

Core Features

Shipping Calcula�ons: Enable shipping op�on choices within your

store.

Cart Calculator: You can enable a shipping calculator on the cart

page.

Inventory management: You can manage your store's inventory

easily, track stock levels, hold stock for a period if an order is

cancelled, receive no�fica�ons to a custom email address (for both

low and out of stock items), hide out-of-stock items and more.

Shipping prices: Op�onally hide shipping costs un�l an address is

entered.

Tax for eCommerce can be a nightmare. As an online retailer, we

know this. So WooCommerce core comes with built-in tax features

to help storeowners get it right the first �me.

Flexible shipping des�na�ons: Select from shipping address and

billing address, or only ship to users billing address.

Tax? Taken Care Of - Tax

Mul�ple Shipping Zones: Create mul�ple shipping zones and add

any combina�on of shipping methods to any single zone.

Mul�ple Shipping Methods: Flat rate, Interna�onal Shipping, Local

delivery, Local pickup or Automa�c, which chooses the cheapest

method available. Or even offer free shipping.

Restrict sales: Restrict shipping loca�ons by country.

36

Core Features

Control tax classes: Op�onally control which tax class shipping gets,

or leave it so shipping tax is based on the cart items themselves.

Custom tax calcula�ons: Taxes can be calculated based on your

customer's shipping address, billing address or your stores base

address.

Geo-loca�on enabled taxes: Based on your loca�on, WooCommerce

can automa�cally calculate major country and state tax rates.

Control your taxes: Taxes are the last thing you want to think about

when se�ng up your shop and one of the last things your customer

wants to think about when buying online. WooCommerce have

made it simple, included in core.

Select customer address: Allow your store to select your customers

address from either none as default, your stores base address or by

geo-loca�ng the customers address.

Search Engine Op�misa�on: WooCommerce runs on WordPress,

recognised in the industry as one of the best pla�orms for SEO

prac�ces. Woo!

Control the display of taxes in your store: Select if prices are

displayed in the shop excluding or including tax. Select if prices are

displayed during cart and check excluding or including tax and select

if tax totals are displayed itemised or totalled.

Core Features

Define tax rates: Choose from standard rates, reduced rate rates or

zero tax rates.

Simplified Coupon System: Simplified coupons ensure discounts are

never applied to taxes, and improved support for discoun�ng

products inclusive of tax.

Discount Coupons and codes: Choose to enable or disable the use

Integrated Marke�ng & SEO Marke�ng

If only it were as simple as star�ng a store and the customers would

come to you. Marke�ng is vital and WooCommerce core is bundled

with features that will help you reach people, including SEO,

coupons, product reviews and more. Plus there are extensions for

when you're ready to take things up a notch, like intelligent product

recommenda�ons.

37

Owner verifica�on: Choose to allow reviews from verified

customers only and show a verified customer label for reviews.

of coupons to run sales and promo�ons within your store.

There are a number of features built into WooCommerce core that

make managing rela�onships with your customers easier. Much

more is possible with extensions, so that you can have the best CRM

under the sun and invest your �me in the right direc�on (i.e. not

needless admin and processes).

Core Features

Built-in Analy�cs & Repor�ng

Customer accounts: Allow customers to generate their username

from their customer email easing the account crea�on process.

Control customer account registra�on: Choose to allow customers

to register on the checkout page or account page and/or display a

returning customer login reminder on the checkout page.

Product reviews: Enable or disable the ability for people to leave

product reviews on your store.

Dashboard: WooCommerce is working hard to make the store-

owner dashboard helpful. It includes sales orders, traffic and an at-a-

glance status summary window.

Automa�c passwords: Decide if you want WooCommerce to

automa�cally generate customer passwords for customers.

Core Features

Repor�ng: Sales reports can show both net and gross amounts

you've earned. It has added a print style sheet, and added extra data

on refunds to reports.

Love to crunch the numbers? Google Analy�cs makes a lot possible

but WooCommerce has included some basic repor�ng and analysis

capability in core to help you understand how your customers are

faring. WooCommerce also got a growing number of integra�ons

with leading 3rd party services.

Analyse products and orders: Gain insight into your products and

orders. Track sales and growth trends.

Be�er CRM - Store Management

38

While using the quick setup you will be asked a series of ques�ons

about your store to help WooCommerce automa�cally configure

your se�ngs based on your shop. These ques�ons will include

where your store base is located (for shipping & tax calcula�ons). It

will ask you if you want to go ahead and set up tax rates based on

your locali�es. it will also ask you if you would like to go ahead and

set up shipping rates or if you would like to install a shipping plugin

skip this.

Download and install WooCommerce

The first things you will want to do is head over to the repository

and download the free plugin WooCommerce. Simply log into your

website and while on the dashboard go to Plugins > Add New and

search for “WooCommerce”. Once you install WooCommerce go

ahead and ac�vate the plugin and follow the quick set-up guide. If

you choose you can go ahead and skip the set-up guide as you can

always modify the se�ngs later on your installa�on.

Product variables: Select unit weight and dimensions.

One-click refunds: By using the Simplify Commerce gateway, PayPal

payment gateway or any other supported gateway, you can offer

pain-free refunds to customers.

iOS app: Keep your finger on the pulse of your online shop. With

WooCommerce iOS, your shop catalog and performance reports are

readily available on your iPhone. Quickly accessible and beau�fully

presented.

Using the quick setup

Tax rates are going to depend on where you live. The best place to

start would be to go to your favourite search engine and search for

your state's tax rates. Most of the �me you'll find a combined tax

rate for city tax and county tax, based on where you live. Generally

this will be in some sort of table that you can easily copy and paste

into a CSV file which can then be imported into WooCommerce. If

you have ques�ons about the format of the CSV WooCommerce

provides a sample download on the tax sec�on of WooCommerce

se�ngs.

Se�ng Up Tax Rates (Manually)

In the WooCommerce se�ngs you'll see a tab for shipping. Within

the shipping se�ngs you have various op�ons for how you would

Se�ng up Shipping Op�ons

39

There are a number of great extensions available on various

commercial plugin websites. Some of the most popular services

would of course be USPS, UPS, FedEx, and Shipsta�on just to name a

few. When it comes to selec�ng the extension you will use for your

website it's really going to depend on your preferred shipping

method. These extensions generally grab real-�me data from the

appropriate vendor and generate the cost to the user in real �me.

The final cost can include some sort of handling fee which you can

set in the se�ngs of the plugin once installed and ac�vated.

So you’ve just setup your new WooCommerce site, setup your

store’s theme – what’s next? adding your products. In this sec�on

we will help you through adding new products to your

WooCommerce Store

First Data: First Data in our opinion is more or less a “customized”

solu�on depending on the size of your business. The monthly fees

and transac�on fees are going to depend on the scale of your

business and purchases. First Data is generally used when you want

a solu�on that will partner directly with your bank. The service is

supported in 50+ countries, 140 currencies and 5 different card

types. If you are interested in the rates First Data can provide to you

then contact them from their website. First Data also supports

recurring and mobile payments. An SSL will need to be installed in

order to take payments directly on your website.

PayPal: PayPal is one of the most recognized names as far as

payment gateways are concerned. PayPal has different levels of

op�ons for merchants depending on your needs. The most

commonly used op�on would of course be PayPal Standard. Which

by default comes integrated with WooCommerce upon ac�va�ng

the WooCommerce plugin? If you do not have an SSL cer�ficate on

your website and you are using PayPal Standard your customers will

be redirected to their checkout page once they are ready to check

out and then redirected back to your website depending on

whether they cancel or complete the checkout process.

Choosing your payment gateways

like to handle shipping. These would include charging a flat rate

within your country, interna�onal flat rates, free shipping, delivery

op�ons and pick up. Which ones you decide to use will depend on

your shop and how you will manage shipping.

Create Products

Tip: Make sure to get organized in the very beginning and verify that

your products always have the weight and the dimensions filled out.

Using Shipping Extensions

40

Variable products: Variable products are products that may have

several varia�ons. An example of a variable product would be a t-

shirt. Shirts come in many sizes and colours, so in this case “Sizes”

would be an a�ribute as well as “Colours”. The values would be

something similar to S, M, L, XL and any colour variants for this

par�cular product. You will various op�ons available to you once you

create your variable product.

Variable products - Create Varia�ons: The next step would be to

click on the Varia�ons tab and generate your varia�ons. From the

dropdown menu select “Create varia�ons from all a�ribute” and

click Go. This will create all of the possible combina�ons based on

your a�ributes. Note: You can only do 50 combina�ons “per run”

meaning if you have more that are not listed, just repeat this

Affiliate products: Affiliate products are pre�y self explanatory.

Maybe you have an affiliate rela�onship with Amazon, or you would

like to list your ebay items on your website for sale. This product

type allows you to plug in a unique URL and bu�on that once the

user clicks they will be redirected to so they can complete their

purchase

Variable products - A�ributes: The first thing you will want to do is

create the A�ributes. You can do this globally by going to Products

(on the le� admin menu) > A�ributes or make it specific to this

product. Following our example on shirts. I would first click the Add

bu�on next to Custom product a�ribute. Then for Name I would

choose Sizes, for the values I would list each op�on separated by the

pipe sign “|” such as Large | Med | Small. Now you can click the

Add bu�on again and do the same thing for colors. Make sure to

select both “Visible on Product Page” (customer can see available

op�ons in the tabs sec�on of the page) and Used for Varia�ons

(these are op�ons the customer can choose from) to make these

selectable and click Save A�ributes.

Simple products: Simple Products mean there are essen�ally no

varia�ons of this product. For instance, a simple product may be a

paperback book, a picture frame, even your digital services or

eBooks. You can op�onally choose to keep track of inventory for this

product if you have the “Manage Stock” op�on selected in

WooCommerce se�ngs. A�ributes in this case will create separate

tabs on the front end for more informa�on

Grouped products: Grouped products are a way for you to “group”

several products together to be purchased as one product. Think of

this as something similar to you have an apparel website and you

have create a product for a specific shirt, a specific hat and some

shoes. You can create a Grouped Product that will include all three

of these items to be purchased for maybe a discounted price.

41

Now that your varia�ons are created you will see a collapsed version

of each varia�on. To edit that varia�ons informa�on such as price,

weight, dimensions and other informa�on simply click on the

varia�on to expand/collapse or click the “Expand/Collapse All” link

toward the top of your first varia�on.

You can also add an image for each varia�on if you wish which the

user will see depending on the varia�on they select. Don't forget to

Publish the product ;-)

§ Orders are your transac�on records

§ Guest checkout is the BANE of orders.

Orders

Processing is the Default status a�er an item is ordered. The

Customer will not get an Order Confirma�on un�l the Order is

Completed.

If any item in the cart isn't Virtual, the status will go to Processing.

WooCommerce doesn't know 'some' of the items are virtual or

Downloadable. If you sell a PDF

From this page it is almost like each varia�on is it's own simple

product. So now you can choose if this is a virtual product,

downloadable product, set price and sale price, stock management

as well as the dimensions.

process to finish crea�ng all possible varia�ons of your product.

§ Make sure to test every possible checkout op�on.

Tes�ng your Store

You Setup, Configured and Added Products, now Test, Test, Test.

Then do some Tes�ng.

§ If you have variable products, check each op�on is selectable and

the correct price.

§ It is a great idea to send the customer a Thank You a�er an order,

perhaps a couple days later. (Hey, someone write a plugin for

that!)

Non-intui�ve 'feature': click the word 'Guest' to type and search for

a user. Then you can load their billing address

§ Make sure your confirma�on emails at each step are correct.

§ Make sure someone gets no�fied of New Orders!

○ OpenTickets Enterprise w/Italian transla�on file, 2 WC Extensions

Examples of WooCommerce Sites

○ Variable Products

○ Simple So�ware Product

h�ps://woocommerce.com/showcase/?country=all#wc-showcase

● Sell An�que Furniture - h�p://AngelandIzzy.com

● Sell in Italian and Euros - h�p://tedxtrento.com

○ Uses every product type, customized repor�ng and OpenTickets

● Sell Tickets, Merch and Season Passes for a Theater -

h�p://ar�sanct.com

● Sell Athle�c Energy Drinks - h�p://LivePurePak.com

○ Uses Subscrip�on Extension, Variable Products

● Selling Clothing - h�p://LouisJane.com

○ Display Inventory, Sell Online and Direct Ship

● Sell So�ware - h�p://OpenTickets.com

42

Conclusion

Let's quickly recap what you need in order to make sure your eCommerce site starts pushing products off of its virtual shelves:

If your new ecommerce store is lacking in sales, the fault might not be in your products but in the way you're presen�ng them. Ul�mately, the way you market your products to poten�al customers is absolutely vital, and if your site isn't conver�ng as you'd like out of the gate, it's �me to get to work.

3. Publish content that delivers value. 4. Make sure your products are accessible.

1. Target the right market. 2. Market your products correctly.

Chapter 5

Introduc�on to Online Marke�ng

Introduc�on to Online Marke�ng

There are many ways to find what you want online & understanding

how your audience searches is a key way to op�mize your marke�ng

campaigns online

Mobile

There are about 650 million mobile phone users in India, and just

over 300 million of them have a smart phone. This is why Google is

pu�ng mobile first and looking for your site and adver�sing to be

op�mized for the mobile journey. People use mobile differently to

desktop, and you should take that into account when considering

the user journey.

With 270 million ac�ve Facebook users per month in India, the role

social media plays in everyday life and business are clear evidence of

the love affair that consumers have with being ingrained and

connected to each other. Indians used to spend 2.25 hours per day

on all social media net works and 60% of Indian Social Media users

follow brands and businesses on Social Media. To use social media

effec�vely you need to understand where your brand and audience

fit in the social world.

Social Media

Think about the last �me you shopped online. How did you find out

about it? Did you search for it on Google? Did you find it on social

media? Did you search for it on your mobile? Did you hear about it

through word of mouth?

43

44

Google

Approximately 96%+ of visitors that come to the typical website are

not ready to buy. By collec�ng their email, you can gradually bypass

the search process and use email to give your customers what they

need before they realize they need it.

§ You can tailor your adverts to specifically talk to segments of

your audience.

Content

More than 97% of Indian searchers use Google. Worldwide, Google

processes over 40,000 search queries every second, which

translates to 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per

year worldwide.

Targeted content can a�ract audiences that search looking for

solu�ons to their problems as well as by brand or product name. By

providing content designed to their needs and pain points you are

introducing your brand and how your buying experience is unique to

poten�al customers with an immediate need.

Adwords is a Google online adver�sing service where adver�sers bid

to display ads to web users depending on the keywords they search.

PPC stands for pay-per-click as you are only charged if your audience

clicks on your ads. These ads can appear at the top of Google search

and have a li�le box on the le� saying “ad”.

Why Should You Use PPC

Adwords And Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

§ You can make improvements on campaigns and trial ideas very

quickly – immediately in some cases.

§ You can create different call-to-ac�ons ensuring your business is

a flexible fit for poten�al customers with specific needs.

§ You can turn on and off an ad immediately giving you total

control over your adver�sing budget.

§ PPC is the fastest digital marke�ng tool you can use to get your

brand in front of your desired audience.

§ You can promote specific services by targe�ng clients on a

number of industry-relevant keywords at different �mes of the

research path.

§ PPC works well re-engaging with customers when they have le�

your site without contac�ng you.

§ You can target your audience by geographic loca�on.

Email

45

How Can You Use Social Media To Get Sales

Bid On Your Own Brand Terms: Though you should be top of Google

search for your own brand terms that's not always the case. You

can't prevent compe�tors from adver�sing on your brand term, but

you can make sure your ad is up there, se�ng the benchmark.

Indians used to spend 2.25 hours per day on all social media net

works.

What You Can Do Right Now

Figure Out Your Budget: Se�ng a Rs.2000 campaign budget might

seem like a good idea but prices may rack up if you have five or six

campaigns running at the same �me. By se�ng a daily, weekly and

monthly campaign limit you can keep your costs under control.

Why Should You Use Social Media

Retailers who engage and learn from social communi�es through

personalized interac�ons find the greatest success in the

marketplace.

Keyword Research: Figure out which are the keywords that best

describe your firm, and special�es. Group these according to the

buying behavior they demonstrate - for example research versus

ready-to-buy. If you collect your keywords you can also use them

across a number of digital marke�ng tools.

The most efficient Adwords campaigns are aggressive and smart.

With strong planning and smart metrics, you will get a strong return.

§ Roughly 2% of all e-commerce traffic in the US now comes from

social media networks.

§ Nearly 60% of Indian Social Media user follows brands that they

like online.

§ 30% of Pinterest users made online purchases a�er browsing

Pinterest content.

§ On average Pinterest has driven circa 16% of social revenue

despite a audience smaller than Twi�er.

§ YouTube reaches about 60 million more people than Facebook

video does on PCs, but the gap on mobile is narrower.

§ Facebook's changing demographics could make older consumers

a strong target for retailers on this pla�orm.

§ 75% of consumers change their percep�on of a brand a�er

seeing a posi�ve response to a review on social media.

§ 74% of consumers use social networks to make a purchasing

decision.

46

§ Pinterest users are interested in shopping and fashion.

Create A Content Plan For Your Social Media Channels: Publishing

con�nuous transac�onal messages on social media is not going to

create brand affinity. This is akin to a sales person who only wants to

talk to you about sales. Create a balanced content strategy for your

social media pla�orms that brings to life your brand and its culture -

your products and transac�onal messages should be an extension of

this.

What You Can Do Right Now

§ India with 270 million ac�ve monthly Facebook users tops the

World.

An ac�ve website with a strong content plan increases your

reputa�on, and its engagement. 70% of online audiences say they

prefer to learn about a company in a collec�on of ar�cles rather

than in an ad. By building regular content about your business you

give the audience an opportunity to get to know you on their own

terms.

Content And Why It Is Important

You can drive quality traffic to your website with content marke�ng.

§ Stay away from overused ideas and brand yourself in a clever and

fresh way.

§ Choose unique �tles and descrip�ons that evoke special feelings

and a�tudes.

Make Sure You Have Something Worth Saying: Personalize your

content and content types to suit the social media channel and its

audience. Sta�s�cs show that 54% of consumers would turn away

from a retailer that fails to deliver content geared towards their

needs.

Targeted Ads: These days' social media pla�orms require you to

spend. You can increase the reach of your message, content and

brand by spending on adver�sing campaigns targe�ng specific

demographic and sociographic audiences.

Why Should You Plan Your Content

Content planning is looking at the content you have or need to have

and matching this with the audience's needs. Content can be

delivered in many ways including how-to guides, video,

downloadable e-books, blog posts, images, and more.

§ You can create content that converts traffic to sales.

47

§ Content marke�ng enables you to engage with the target

consumer and figure out their needs and how you can cater to

them.

§ Create high quality content that answers ques�ons or shares

informa�on in short and meaningful snippets.

§ Get to the point and make sure it is accurate.

Using Email To Keep Your Clients Happy

Keywords: Remember the Keywords we were already talking about

in PPC and SEO? They can come in handy for when you're wri�ng

content. You have to match your keywords to content so Google

knows it is relevant, and it helps your rankings.

Inbound Links: Get current clients to link to your website. Google

likes proof of your self-declared reputa�on, and judges this

reputa�on through the links other reputable sites add which link to

you. Asking your clients to link to your website is a great way to

start.

§ Using email to personalize interac�ons with customers has a

direct impact on your return on investment.

Why Should You Use Email Marke�ng

Consider email marke�ng as a tac�c to remind clients of the up and

coming busy periods, or your latest offers. By having a developed

and automated email campaign, you can minimize the painful calls

at the wrong �me.

§ The key to success lies in remaining visible and present in the

consumer's thought process.

§ The best email marke�ng campaigns provide the reader with

valuable informa�on before they realize they need it.

Knowledge Mastery: By showcasing how you understand your

consumer you can help them to have a be�er understanding of your

products and of the par�cular services your business offers. This

also gives your brand a living, breathing aspect to it encouraging

customers to engage.

§ Strong email content and design encourages them to click

through to your desired landing page.

§ Include reviews and tes�monials that give credibility to your

brand and help build integrity. Reviews and tes�monials add a

personal touch, so that the consumer can relate to others.

§ By planning content, you can prepare ar�cles designed to help

par�cular personas and assert yourself as a knowledge master in

your industry.

What You Can Do Right Now

48

§ You can increase engagement if you move beyond the newsle�er

and provide relevant content to par�cular segments of your

audience.

§ You can personalize emails and automate responses for a

number of different outcomes. Personaliza�on shows care and

a�en�on, and speaks to consumer segments.

§ By building your customer base you can stay in touch with

current consumers while collec�ng new leads.

§ Visualize the consumer's daily life through tracking and loca�on-

based emails keeping yourself current and relevant.

What You Can Do Right Now

§ SEO is cost effec�ve when done right.

Use A User-friendly Email Pla�orm: Email pla�orms such as

Mailchimp offer free packages and integrate their technology so

your emails work well both on desktop and mobile. They also help

you see who is interac�ng with your emails and who isn't.

WHY SHOULD YOU USE SEO

§ You can make your brand the knowledge leader in your category.

SEO, or the process of Search Engine Op�miza�on, is a set of “best

prac�ce” rules to follow in order to get your website to the top of

Google's natural rankings (not paid for).

§ Google loves good SEO techniques.

§ The correct SEO strategy makes your site the “go to” website for

clients for informa�on, building your online reputa�on.

Get Your Database Together: Make sure your database is fresh.

There are a number of legal requirements when sending emails to

consumers. You can normally segment these by the email pla�orm

they use – for example Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and so on. It is good

business ethics with consumer emails to segment the relevance of

content to the reader before sending. This could be focused around

type of customer of purchasing behaviors.

§ In the medium to long term SEO strategy has a be�er cost

margin than PPC. You can have strong long term results.

Set Up Call To Ac�ons: Set up Call-to-Ac�ons (CTAS) specific to

emails. Collect emails on your website in as many places as possible.

Set up a simple “Sign Up for more updates” plugin, giving visitors to

your website the opportunity to engage.

What Is SEO

§ Great content can get you to the top of Google organically.

49

§ Your website is an important first point of contact for most

customers, and key to the decision making phase.

Why Is Your Website Important

§ Good content performs in the long term, keeping you at the top

of Google for longer.

Website Op�misa�on

§ Not all people trust ads, and can favor top ranking natural

results.

Inbound Links: Get current clients to link to your website. Google

likes proof of your self-declared reputa�on, and judges this

reputa�on through the links other reputable sites add which link to

you. It is a form of computerized word of mouth if you like. Asking

your clients to link to your website is a great way to start.

What You Can Do Right Now

Keywords: Remember the Keywords we were talking about with

PPC? They can come in handy for when you're wri�ng content. You

have to match your keywords to content so Google knows it is

relevant, and it helps your rankings.

Op�mizing your site to create the right language and visual impact

increases the chances of having the desired effect on the consumer.

A strong website that is user-friendly, personalized and mobile

op�mized if the founda�on of today's retail experience.

§ For many businesses their website is the hub of all ac�vity.

Though purchasing may not necessarily be the purpose of your

website it is s�ll the first point of contact for most target

audiences.

§ A strong website helps you talk to your consumer effec�vely at

different micro-moments in the purchasing path.

§ This is your shop front online and must be kept current and

looking good.

§ In fact, there is an en�re type of user that will never interact with

ads. By using SEO, you can reach this user in a way they are open

to engage with.

Knowledge Mastery: By showcasing how you understand your

audience you can help them to have a be�er understanding of

accountancy, and of the par�cular services your firm offers. This also

gives your brand a living, breathing aspect to it which encourages

your audience to engage.

50

Offer Your Consumer What They Want: You need to make an offer

that resonates with them. When engaging with an audience that has

already become a consumer, further content such as how-to guides,

offers, and seasonal content increases brand affinity.

You can showcase reviews and tes�monials on your website. These

are a powerful marke�ng tool and bring your brand to life.

Many studies have concluded that content marke�ng is one of the

most effec�ve tools for conversion op�miza�on. Strong, relevant

content gives your audience an opportunity to have a be�er

understanding of who you are as a brand and the passion behind

your brand. Well wri�en content has a direct influence the buying

process.

Make It Personal: It helps to get personal with 74% of marketers

saying targeted personaliza�on increases engagement. Personalizing

your website builds trust, engagement and gives a human face to

your brand.

Include a Contact Number: It increases client trust and enables you

to give them personalized care. It also helps resolve one of the most

popular intent based search issues.

What You Can Do Right Now

Conclusion

However, with the online marke�ng strategies we’ve revealed in this guide, you can improve your sales target gradually. They’re strategies used by the best online markers in the business.

keep your online store ahead of the curve.

Crea�ng an e-commerce store is easy. Growing it is hard.

If you’re serious about crea�ng an asset that grabs sales while you sleep and grows month over month, make sure you’re u�lizing the online marke�ng tool kit in the next sec�on to

towardssuccess

Chapter 6

Online Marke�ng Toolkit

51

Online Marke�ng Toolkit

With today's abundance of free resources, there is no reason why

your marke�ng efforts shouldn't be benefi�ng from web analy�cs,

search engine op�miza�on, paid search, social media, email

marke�ng, and other online marke�ng opportuni�es. By u�lizing

these resources, you can help cut costs and reallocate some of your

rupees into other efforts to a�ract and retain clients. Whether you

want to develop a more effec�ve digital strategy, increase

conversions, or improve customer engagement, these free

resources can help you gain a compe��ve advantage online.

How The Toolkit Is Structured

The Toolkit is broken down into key sec�ons for each of the core

online marke�ng disciplines:

§ Search

§ Mobile

§ Data, Insights and Blogs

§ Email

§ Analy�cs

§ Online Adver�sing

§ Social & Content

Each tool has a brief descrip�on and most are free. Any paid for

tools are highlighted as such.

</>

ONLINE MARKETING TOOLKIT

52

Global Digital Sta�s�cs 2018

h�ps://wearesocial.com/blog/2018/01/globaldigital-report-2018

Set of free sta�s�cs around digital usage and adop�on globally

produced by agency We Are Social. Has data broken down by region

and country and is beau�fully presented.

Sta�sta

h�ps://www.sta�sta.com

Data, Insights And Blogs

h�p://www.targe�nternet.com

Great source that compiles together stats and facts from a huge

number of sources into one place. Allows you to download the stats

and charts in various formats. Free trial and then paid subscrip�on,

but can save a lot of �me on research.

The Digital Marke�ng Podcast

h�ps://www.targe�nternet.com/benchmarkdigital-skills-assessment

Hubspot Marke�ng Library

In this website you can find free Digital Marke�ng Podcast as well as

blog and a range of free reports and guides.

h�ps://www.hubspot.com/resources

h�ps://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/digitalmarke�ng-

podcast/id373596600?mt=2

h�p://www.thinkwithgoogle.com

Think With Google

Comprehensive collec�on of free case studies, reports and insights

tools looks at digital marke�ng globally. The “Planning Tools” sec�on

is the most useful, hos�ng a range of brilliant tools like Google

Trends and Our Mobile Planet, both of which are highlighted.

Target Internet

Digital Skills Benchmark

Assess your digital skills in a variety of digital marke�ng disciplines

against industry standards and best prac�ce according to main job

focus, level of seniority and industry sector. The tool then outputs a

free (with premium op�on) training plan full of learning, blogs,

videos and podcasts.

A company really doing what they preach (and sell) by genera�ng

fantas�c content to help sell their great tool. Amazing range of

blogs, resources an guides across a range of digital marke�ng topics,

with a B2B slant.

Target Internet's own, ad free, iTunes top 10 business podcasts.

Nearly 200 episodes already available and new ones added every

week.

53

Google Trends

h�p://www.google.co.uk/trends

Demonstrates trends in search over �me in Google. Can be

interrogated by search term, loca�on and date range. Use the

“Explore in depth” op�on from the homepage. A free tool and no

Google account required.

Search

Tool that analyses the quan�ty and quality of links to a website for

SEO purposes (formally called Open Site Explorer). Part of the MOZ

website that offers a range of paid for SEO tools. However Link

Explorer can be used for free 10 �mes a month and requires a free

MOZ account.

There are a wide range of commercial SEO tools available that offer

func�onality like keyword research a rank checking. They have

compiled a review of these tools which is updated 2/3 �mes a year.

Keyword research tool that is part of the Google PPC system. Tells

you the volume of searches within Google for a par�cular search

term and shows search varia�ons. Also shows various PPC specific

data, like suggested big cost, but can also be used for SEO purposes.

Requires Google Adwords account (free), but no budget spend is

required.

Google Search Console

h�ps://moz.com/link-explorer

The Google Search Console (formally called Webmaster Tools) offers

a range of op�ons for improving your website and includes many

factors that can help with SEO. Once the Search Console is setup,

you can connect it to your Google Analy�cs account and get

increased visibility of search terms that people are using to find your

website .You can find details on ge�ng Google Analy�cs and Search

Console working together here:

h�ps://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1120006?hl=en

h�ps://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

Answer The Public

Link Explorer

h�p://www.answerthepublic.com

A great free tool that takes the data from Google and Bing auto-

complete sugges�ons and gives you a visual map of ques�ons and

preposi�ons related to a word or phrase. Great intro screen as well!

Keyword Planner

h�ps://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

Commercial SEO Tools (2018 Update)

h�p://www.targe�nternet.com/seo-toolscomparison-raven-seomoz-

buzzstream/

54

h�p://www.hootsuite.com

Keep tabs on what's going on in your industry with SmartBrief. This

free tool allows you to select the topics that you are most

interested.

Hootsuite allows you to manage mul�ple social media pla�orms

from one interface. It also provides func�onality like scheduling and

team task assignment. There is a free version, a low cost version and

an 'enterprise' edi�on for larger teams.

h�p://www.klear.com

h�p://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Slow loading web pages are frustra�ng for your site's visitors and

can ul�mately result in lower conversions and lost sales. With the

GooglePageSpeed family of tools you can analyze your site's

performance across a variety of devices, install browser extensions,

and implement best prac�ces so that your web pages will run faster.

Klear

Smartbrief

h�p://www.smartbrief.com/

h�p://www.men�on.com

Hootsuite

Social Media & Content

Men�on

A low cost social media monitoring tool with a free trial. There is a

wide range of commercially available social media monitoring tools

but very few free/low cost ones.

Klear, formally known as Twtrland, is a social media analysis tool that

allows you to search by account, loca�on or other keywords and

analyze social accounts to understand followers, levels of

engagement and most popular Tweets. Free with paid for op�ons to

extend func�onality. Very good for iden�fying influencers.

SEO Book

h�p://www.seobook.com/

This website is a source for many free search engine op�miza�on

tools. Set up a free account for access to free Firefox extensions, a

keyword sugges�on tool with detailed sta�s�cs, a spider test tool,

and other features.

Google Pagespeed

h�p://seranking.com

SE Ranking

Great rank checking tool that is very easy to use. Allows you to

monitor your ranking posi�ons across all major search engines and

has a range of useful features like an API, white labeling of reports

and a PHP version. It also offers website audi�ng and back link

monitoring.

55

h�p://www.brandwatch.com

Tagboard

with the top news stories rela�ve to the topic from mul�ple sources.

h�ps://tagboard.com/

Gets a be�er view of the social conversa�ons pertaining to your

brand, product, compe��on, or industry with Tagboard. This free

tool allows you to conduct hashtag searches across Twi�er,

Instagram, Facebook, Vine, Google +, and App. net, and displays the

results in one easy-to-read feed.

Brandwatch

h�p://www.internetlivestats.com/

h�p://socialmediagovernance.com/

h�ps://www.canva.com

h�p://www.libsyn.com

Podcast hos�ng and publishing service that provides full

management and repor�ng.

Although there are a wide range of commercial social media

monitoring tools, BrandWatch is one of the best and most efficient

at carrying out effec�ve sen�ment analysis. This kind of service is

suitable for brands or topics that have thousands of men�ons per

month and pricing starts at £500 per month.

Internet Live Stats

Feedly is a blog syndica�on tool - that means it allows you to find

blogs on a topic and bring the latest blog posts into one easy-to-use

interface. There is also an app that means you can stay up to date

on any mobile device. You can also share any interes�ng blog posts

to your social media channels. It is a free tool with premium version

that offers some extended func�onality, including an incredibly

useful “Share to Hootsuite” bu�on. Used in combina�on with

Hootsuite's “Autoschedule” feature, this can make cura�ng Tweets

very quick and easy.

A real-�me representa�on that shows the level of ac�vity across the

web in 'real-�me''. Great for presenta�ons and demonstra�ng the

level of content being created online.

Feedly

h�p://www.feedly.com

An easy to use online graphics editor, with huge amounts of

templates, including a wide range of social media op�ons. Lots of

free templates and some paid for elements. You can also create your

own templates to keep your team on-brand.

Social Media Governance

Libsyn

Canva

56

Who Unfollowed Me

h�p://who.unfollowed.me/

Tweriod

Allows you to see how many users have unfollowed you on Twi�er.

Depressing but useful to judge if you're Twee�ng too much or not

on the appropriate topics for your audience.

Hundreds of example social media policies and guidelines.

Wordpress

h�p://www.tweriod.com

Free tool (with low cost payment op�on for repeat usage) that

analyses your Twi�er audience and works out the most impac�ul

�me of day for you to Tweet.

h�ps://www.fla�con.com

h�p://www.wordpress.org

Place It & Mock Ups Jar

The downloadable version of the free open source blogging

pla�orm. It should not just be seen as a blogging pla�orm but as a

very effec�ve Content Management System.

Themeforest

Flat Icon

h�ps://mockupsjar.com

All the icons you can possibly need. Can be exported in lots of

different formats and in any color you want. All for just $8 per

month.

Infographic templates that you can adapt to your content. Free trial

and paid subscrip�on.

Both allow you to created mock ups of your screenshots and logos

onto a desktop, laptop, iPhone, iPad, etc. They even have billboards,

tshirts and videos that you can drop onto.

h�ps://placeit.net

Piktochart

Fantas�c source of Wordpress themes to change the look and feel of

any Wordpress website. Themes cost around US$40-US$60.

h�ps://beacon.by

h�ps://piktochart.com

h�p://www.themeforest.net

A tool that transfers blog posts into great looking template PDFs.

Can be customized and supports most web fonts.

Beaconby

57

h�p://www.mailchimp.com

Low cost and highly versa�le Email Service Provider (ESP) that also

offers a free version if you have a limited size email list. They also

have a range of free email research and email templates that

anyone can use.

h�ps://www.campaignmonitor.com/best-emailmarke�ng-

campaigns/

Email

Litmus

h�p://www.litmus.com

Mailchimp

A set of email tools that, amongst other things, allow you to preview

your emails in a range of different email clients and check for any

issues with spam filters. Paid for service but they offer a free

preview of their inbox preview.

Campaign Monitor Best Email Campaigns

Great collec�on of example email campaigns compiled and filtered

from 2016.

h�ps://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/

Blacklist Checker

h�p://www.unroll.me

Fantas�c free tool that allows you to easily unsubscribe for email

newsle�ers and manage those newsle�ers you do want into a daily

summary. WARNING: Make sure you are happy with how they will

use your data before you sign up.

Google Analy�cs Tracking Code Builder

Builds tracking code that can be added to links in your emails to

allow you to track them effec�vely in Google Analy�cs and prevent

your email traffic from showing as direct traffic.

h�p://lyris.com/us-en/contentchecker

Make sure your email doesn't get delivered to a junk box. Just enter

A group of free email marke�ng resources including a HTML

template builder that allows you design and export email designs.

Campaign Monitor is a paid for email service but all the resources

are free.

Campaign Monitor Resources

h�ps://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-urlbuilder/

Free service that allows you to check if an IP address has been

blacklisted on a wide range of services.

Unroll Me

h�p://www.mxtoolbox.com

Lyris Contentchecker

58

the subject line and body content of your email into the Lyris

ContentChecker and you'll receive a “spam score” which will give

you an idea of how your email will be filtered and routed. You'll also

get recommenda�ons on how to alter your email so that you can

increase its deliverability.

Online Adver�sing

Google tool that will analyze your website to see how well op�mized

it is for mobile users and give you pointers if it isn't. Important tool

to use as Google does not priori�es websites in it rankings that are

not mobile op�mized.

Micro-moments

h�ps://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/collec�ons/micromoments.html

Lots of free data and insights from Google that profiles how mobile

devices are used in different ways and how this generates “micro-

moments”.

h�ps://www.iab.com/newadpor�olio/

h�p://www.moat.com/

h�p://www.mobilephoneemulator.com/

Moat

h�ps://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Display Benchmarks

h�p://www.richmediagallery.com/learn/benchmarks

Part of the Google owned ad pla�orm. Offers free access to average

response rates for different types of online adver�sing.

Guidelines set out by the Internet Adver�sing Bureau for the

standard dimensions, load �mes and file sizes of display adver�sing.

Monitor the ads that brands are running online and review the

crea�ve.

Mobile

Part of Think Google, a regularly updated library of display

adver�sing reports and case studies.

IAB Ad Guidelines

Google Programma�c Guide

h�ps://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marke�ngresources/programma

�c/

Mobile Phone Emulator

Simulate what your website will look like on various mobile devices

for free.

Mobile Friendly Test

Google Analy�cs Youtube Channel

h�ps://www.youtube.com/user/googleanaly�cs

h�ps://www.qr-code-generator.com/

h�p://www.kaushik.net/avinash/

The blog of Avinash Kaushik covering many in-depth analy�cs

discussions and guides.

Analy�cs Academy

Hundreds of videos on every Analy�cs topic.

QR Code Generator

Google Analy�cs Tracking Code Builder And Spreadsheet

If you are going to use a QR code (users will only use them if you

give them a very good reason to) then you can use Google's URL

shortener to generate them for free.

Complete access to the analy�cs of an ecommerce site from Google,

to allow you to learn analy�cs without the need for your own

account.

Google Analy�cs Help Centre

Detailed guide to the Google Analy�cs pla�orm.

h�ps://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-urlbuilder/

Builds tracking code that can be added to links in any channel to

allow you to track them effec�vely in Google Analy�cs. You can also

use this Google Docs version to build and track mul�ple URL's over

�me:

App Store Op�misa�on

h�ps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xDl9GdpuWB9kzXzWxKj3

NYt392T6l6Tq9e89Yieg8AM/edit

ANALYTICS

Straigh�orward guide to app store op�miza�on from the Build fire

blog.

h�ps://buildfire.com/ul�mate-guide-to-appstore-op�miza�on/

Google Analy�cs Demo Account

h�ps://support.google.com/analy�cs/answer/6367342#access

h�ps://support.google.com/analy�cs

Occam's Razor

Sign up for free, add tracking code to your web pages, and within

Lots of video tutorials and self tes�ng to help you learn about

Google Analy�cs.

h�ps://analy�csacademy.withgoogle.com/

Google Analy�cs

h�ps://marke�ngpla�orm.google.com/about/analy�cs/

59

60

hours you'll be able to access a plethora of important data and

sta�s�cs about your website. It is an easy way to learn about your

audience, analyze visitor traffic, sources and flow, and trace the

customer path. Track mul�ple websites, blogs, Facebook pages,

videos, mobile apps, and more. Get in-depth insights you can turn

into ac�on.

Yahoo Marke�ng Dashboard

h�ps://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/

Designed specifically for small businesses, the Yahoo Marke�ng

Dashboard tracks metrics such as �me spent on site, bounce rates,

and page views. It can also track the performance of Facebook

business pages that have 30+ likes, Constant Contact email

campaigns, and OrangeSodaTM managed SEO and paid search

campaigns.

If you are struggling with your online marke�ng efforts, the

solu�on lies in the combina�on of these tools. When you start

using these tools for your online shop and promo�on process, you

will never be caught off-guard.

Enhancing your online marke�ng efforts can be difficult if you do

not have the right tools. So use these tools and create some

amazing pieces of promo�on for your e-commerce store. Using

the right ones at the right place are sufficient to make you love

what you do.

Conclusion

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