Selling Music Online with WordPress: A Guide to Using WooCommerce and Product Table Plugin
Running an online store requires effort, but with the right approach, it can become a successful business. To achieve this level of success, you need to design your store to match the type of product you are selling. If you intend to sell music online, there are some things you need to consider. For instance, your store needs to be set up differently to offer music products. You need a way to easily sell digital files on your store, such as the popular WooCommerce plugin, as well as a method for displaying your music in a clear and organized way.
While you can sell your music through iTunes or BandCamp, it is a great idea to offer your own music, bonus tracks, or even limited edition memorabilia like custom vinyl records in your own store. In this post, we will show you how to sell music online with WordPress using WooCommerce and the WooCommerce Product Table plugin.
1. Install & Setup WooCommerce to Sell Music Online
Before getting started, you need to have a WordPress site set up and ready to go. WordPress is both powerful and flexible and can be easily used to create a thriving e-commerce store.
To add WooCommerce to your site, navigate to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Use the search field to find “WooCommerce,” and click on the Install Now button. After a moment, a new button labeled Activate will appear, and WooCommerce will be fully set up on your site.
We highly recommend going through the setup wizard. They will help you configure your new store, establish important pages, and set up key elements such as shipping prices.
2. Add Your Music to the Store
Once you have installed WooCommerce and gone through the setup wizard, you will have an empty store on your hands. This means it’s time to add products.
WooCommerce provides a special WordPress custom post type to make adding products easy. To add a new WooCommerce item from your dashboard, go to Products > Add New. Here, you can create your first product. You’ll want to start by giving it a title and description using the first two fields. In the right-hand sidebar, you can also assign the product to one or more categories, give it some descriptive tags, and even upload images.
The ‘meat’ of WooCommerce is found in the Product data section. Since your goal is to sell music online, the first thing you’ll want to do is check both the Virtual and Downloadable boxes at the top. This will change the options you see slightly, to account for selling music files online rather than physical products.
Then, you can proceed to enter a price for the item and upload the file(s) customers will receive upon purchase under Downloadable files. You can also configure whether there should be a limit to how many times the files can be downloaded and if they’ll expire.
The rest of the settings in this section are optional, although you may want to look through them anyway. In addition, check out the Product short description field right below. There, you can add embedded audio players so customers can hear what your music sounds like.
To do this, click on Add Media. Upload the audio file from your computer, fill in its details, and make sure to choose Embed Media Player under Embed or Link. This will add a simple audio player to the short description field.
Once you’re done setting up your first product, click on the Publish button to make it live on your store. Then, repeat this process until you’ve added all the songs, albums, and so on that you’d like to sell.
3. Create a Product Table to Display Your Music
A traditional WooCommerce setup is not necessarily the best way to sell music online. If you leave things as they are, customers will need to navigate to each individual product page to check out all your music, listen to sample tracks, and order what they want. This slows them down considerably, which can lead to lost sales.
Instead, you can show off everything you have to offer on a single page using a product table. This is an organized, visually-appealing way to display your music. Customers can see everything available in your store at once, and you can provide all the key details while not overwhelming them with information. Plus, they can add everything they want to their carts right from this page. You can even embed sample audio players directly into the table for each product.
To set up a page like this, you’ll need the WooCommerce Product Table plugin. This tool is optimized to work smoothly with WooCommerce and lets you customize exactly what your product table looks like and how it works.
After purchasing the plugin, you can install it like any other third-party plugin. Go to Plugins > Add New and select the plugin file you downloaded. Activate the plugin, then go to WooCommerce > Settings in your dashboard. Navigate to the Products tab and select Product tables to enter your license key.
The many settings on offer here enable you to tweak how your product table works. For instance, under Columns, you can customize exactly what information will be displayed. Make sure to include an image for each item as well as a short description (so your media players will be included).
Filter dropdowns are another crucial setting. By enabling this, you’ll place drop-down menus above your table, which will let customers sort it by key attributes such as categories. This makes it easy for them to find what they want quickly.
Finally, check the box labeled Shortcodes in table. This is required if you want your embedded media players to work properly.
For more information on all the settings you can modify, you’ll want to take a look at the plugin’s documentation. Save your changes when you’re done, then open up a new page (via Pages > Add New). Click on the Toolbar Toggle icon, then select Insert Product Table. This will place a shortcode on your page.
This shortcode pulls in all the settings you just customized and sets up your product table automatically. You can see what it looks like using the Preview button. If you like, you can continue to tweak your product table until it’s just right. Then, go ahead and publish it! You’re ready to sell music online. Customers can then use it to see all the music you have available and make purchases easily.
Conclusion
To sell music online with WordPress, you need to design your store carefully. WooCommerce is an excellent starting point, but you’ll also want to provide customers with a streamlined way to explore your music and make selections. Using the WooCommerce Product Table plugin, you can create an organized and visually-appealing way to display your music. Customers can see everything available in your store at once and make purchases easily. If you have any questions about how to set up your WooCommerce items or design your product table, feel free to ask in the comments section below!
