Technological growth over the past decade has drastically changed the internet as we once knew it. Now, it’s easier than ever to make additional income right from your home office. Some people opt to sell their content to subscribers, others choose to start a membership site, and some prefer to set up shop with an eCommerce store.

Today we are going to focus on the last example, eCommerce storefronts. Some people believe that you need to hire a programmer or take lessons to open your first online store. If you fall into that group, we have some excellent news for you. It’s possible to get an eCommerce storefront up and running in a little less than an hour, no programmer required.

We are going to show you how to set up your first storefront with Shopify, a popular eCommerce tool that’s compatible with WordPress. Here’s how to get your shop up and running in five easy steps.

Step 1: Create Your Shopify Account

During the first step, you’re going to want to create and set up your Shopify account. Go to the Shopify homepage and click “Start Free Trial.”

You’ll then enter your email address, password, and store name. After you click submit, you’ll be asked questions about your store so the program can create and categorize your storefront.

Fill in the required details, then click “Next.”

After you click “Next,” you’ll have to enter your name, address, and phone number to ensure payment. Click on “Enter My Store” to begin adding products.

Step 2: Add Your First Product

It’s time to add your first product to your store. Once you hit the Shopify dashboard, you’ll see this box in the center of the screen:

Now, make sure the “Add Product” tab is select, then click the blue “Add Product” button below. The next step involves you filling in all of the details about the product you want to add to your store. As you can see here, there’s an option to add a title, features, availability, images, and more.

Once you fill out the primary details, you can continue scrolling down and fill in additional information about fulfillment, product pricing, SKU numbers, and more.

Now that you’ve filled out all of the information for your first item click “Save Product” at the bottom of the page to save your work.

Step 3: Edit the Style of Your Store

Next, you’re going to custom the look and feel of your eCommerce store. If you go back to the dashboard and select the Customize Store tab, then the blue button below the tab.

You’ll now have full control over the customization options of your store. You can add your own header image and text as we see here:

Once you decide on the homepage, you can dive in and customize the appearance of your page with free themes and images, or you can create your own from the ground up. It’s also possible to change colors, fonts, text style, and much more with the customization feature.

At this point, you’ve created an account, added your first product, and designed your online store. This next step involves you linking your shop to a domain so customers can find your page.

Go back to the dashboard page and click the last tab that reads “Add Domain.”

Depending on whether you already have a domain or need to buy one, you proceed with linking your new or existing website. For this example, we are going to connect an existing domain.

After clicking “Connect Existing Domain,” you’ll get a prompt asking for your website information. Enter in your address, then click continue to link your Shopify store to your site. If you’ve successfully connected your account, you’ll see something see your domain on the Shopify domains page.

Step 5: Set Up Payments

The last thing you’ll need to do is set up your payment processing. There are a variety of payment plugins and applications you can use on your website, but we are going to work with the options provided by Shopify for this example.

If you look on the left side of your Shopify home page, you’ll see “Settings” at the bottom of the screen.

After clicking on Settings, click on Payment Providers.

Now you’ll have the option to choose from the most popular payment providers available. Two of the most common include Stripe and PayPal. Stripe can handle credit card payments, and PayPal can process transactions for those who prefer using PayPal.

To accept credit cards, click on Complete Account Setup under the Shopify Payments option.

You’ll now have to fill out various information about your business. It’s vital that this information is accurate so you can ensure that your payments arrive on time.

During the setup, you’ll have to adjust the way your billing statement appears to customers, as we see here.

Finally, you’ll have to put in your bank account information so that Shopify can send out your payments. At the bottom of the account set up, you’ll see this:

Enter in your routing and account number, read the terms of service, and then click “Complete Account Setup” to finalize your account.

Conclusion

You have now set up your first eCommerce store, added a product, designed your store, established your payment provider and set your account up for payment. There are plenty of other great features available with Shopify such as the ability to monitor your eCommerce analytics, set up discounts, and view information about your customers in real time.

If you’re looking to get your first store up and running in a hurry, Shopify is the best option for getting a great looking eCommerce shop without spending days on the design or hiring a programmer.

Read more: Katarina White