If you are figuring out how to start an online store, this guide covers the technical build: what platform the store will run on, where it is hosted, how you collect payments, and how you bring in buyers from Google.
Each of these decisions is easy to make at the start and expensive to change once you have products, orders and customers. So I arranged them in the order in which it is worth checking them, and for each one I added how to spot a problem and what to do about it. There is only a short section on the legal and business side.
How to start an online store: first, sum up what you sell
Before choosing a platform, write one page that sums up your product types, shipping options, delivery times and returns policy. This page is the basis for all the technical settings that come after. If you are about to open an online clothing store, there are more things to consider, such as sizes, returns and photography. And if your customers are businesses and not private consumers, a B2B online store is built differently, because the price needs to change by customer.
Choosing a platform: how to set up an online store you can grow with
There are two main routes. The first is WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin, where the store sits on hosting you choose, and you have full control of the code, the theme and the plugins. On this route the responsibility for updates, backups and security is also yours, or that of whoever maintains the site for you. The second is a managed platform such as Shopify or Wix, where a large part of the technical operation sits with the platform. There is also a third route, buying an existing store that already has products and a customer base, but before you close a deal on websites for sale like that, it is worth checking and pricing them correctly.
The question that helps you decide is who will maintain the store a year from now. If you have no technical person and you want to manage everything alone from one dashboard, a managed platform can fit. If you need flexibility, special customizations or full control over content and SEO, WooCommerce gives you more freedom.
It is worth thinking this through now, because moving between platforms after the store is live is a project of its own: you have to move products, customers and orders, and keep the URLs Google already knows. Before you commit, make sure the platform supports your language and writing direction, and that it connects to the payment provider and the shipping company you plan to work with.
Hosting that meets WooCommerce requirements
If you chose WooCommerce, the server is the next decision. According to the official WooCommerce server requirements, as of September 2026 the recommendation is PHP 8.3 or higher, MySQL 8.0 or higher or MariaDB 10.6 or higher, a WordPress memory limit of at least 256MB, HTTPS support, and WordPress 6.9 or higher.
On an existing site you can see this data in the dashboard, under WooCommerce and then Status: it shows the PHP version, the database and the WordPress memory limit. Before you buy new hosting, ask the company directly about each of the values.
If the memory limit is too low, you can set it in the wp-config.php file, above the line that tells you to stop editing:
define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );If the server itself limits memory to a lower value, this setting will not override it, and then you need to ask the hosting company to raise the limit or upgrade your plan.
Payments and checkout
Without a way to collect money there is no store. The decision here is which payment provider you work with, and whether it has a ready connection to the platform you chose.
The common problem is that the payment provider is not on the platform’s list of plugins or apps, or that its connection exists but is not maintained and does not get updated.
So before you sign, ask the payment provider for a link to its official plugin or app for your platform, and check when it was last updated. And before you go live, run at least one real transaction from start to finish: add to cart, payment, confirmation email, and an order that shows up in the dashboard. Then cancel it and check that the refund works too.
Legal basics, in short
Depending on where you sell, consumer protection, accessibility and privacy rules may apply to a store. They differ from country to country, so check what applies to you. On the technical side, plan accessibility already when you choose the theme, and preparing terms of sale, a cancellation policy, a privacy policy and an accessibility statement that a lawyer has reviewed and that are linked from the footer and from the checkout page. I put together a checklist of what to prepare in the online sales checklist. This is not legal advice.
How to bring in buyers: Google from day one
A store nobody reaches does not sell. Alongside regular organic SEO, Google has a special route for stores. According to the Google Merchant Center Help Center, free listings let your products appear for free in the Shopping tab, in Search, in Google Images, on YouTube and in other places on Google. For this you need a Google Merchant Center account, and in a new account this option is usually turned on by default.
If your products do not appear in the Google Shopping tab, even when you search for their exact name, this step is probably missing.
The solution is to open a Merchant Center account, connect your product catalog to it, and check there whether any products were rejected and why. At the same time, build category and product pages with real content, not just an image and a price. If you want to understand the organic side in depth, I wrote a guide on how to bring organic traffic to your site. And if the store does not show up on Google at all, start with the guide on why your website is not showing on Google.
Last check before you go live
Before you publish the store, go through this list once from your phone and once from your computer:
- A full order goes through from the cart to the confirmation email, and the email reaches both the customer and you.
- The site loads over HTTPS on all pages, including the checkout page.
- Business details, terms of sale, cancellation policy, privacy policy and accessibility statement are linked from every page.
- The price shown on the product page is the total price the customer will pay, including shipping if there is any.
- There is a full backup of the site, stored outside the server.
When to stop and call an expert
There are situations where it is better not to try alone: the connection to the payment provider does not work and you do not understand why, orders are not recorded or emails to customers do not go out, you are moving an existing store from one platform to another, or you are not sure the store meets accessibility requirements. In each of these cases, trial and error on a live store costs you orders that get lost. And for anything involving terms of sale, privacy and consumer rights, the person who should sign off is a lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start an online store without technical knowledge?
You can start with a managed platform, where a large part of the technical operation sits with the platform. Even there you will need to decide on payments, shipping, terms and accessibility, because those are your duties as the business owner.
How do I start an online store on WordPress?
Install the WooCommerce plugin on a WordPress site that runs on a server meeting its requirements: PHP 8.3 or higher, MySQL 8.0 or higher or MariaDB 10.6 or higher, at least 256MB of memory and HTTPS. Then set up products, shipping and payments.
How will my products appear in the Google Shopping tab?
You need to open a Google Merchant Center account and upload your products to it. According to Google, free listings let products appear for free in Shopping, in Search and in other Google services.
Can I switch platforms after the store is already live?
You can, but it is a project of moving products, customers, orders and URLs. So it is better to put the effort into choosing the platform at the start.
If you tried and got stuck at one of the steps, or you want someone to set up the store for you from the start to the first order, I can handle it for you.