Want to sell services on WordPress? It's easier than you think with a WordPress site. This guide will show how to start earning fast.
Approximate read time: 8 minutes
Selling services on WordPress is an excellent way to create more revenue.
It might seem tricky, but it's easier than it seems with WordPress. WordPress has the tools to showcase skills and land clients, whether designing a website or handing out marketing strategies.
In this post, I'll walk through the steps to set up WordPress to sell services. I'll cover everything from choosing the right plugins to setting up payment gateways. In a few steps, this guide will show you how to start earning with an online store.
Let's get started.
Can you sell services online?
The growth of the Internet has ensured there is virtually no limit to who can sell services online.
With that in mind, take a look at the list below for some inspiration:
- Design services: graphic design, print design, branding, web design.
- Professional services: photography, social media, web analytics.
- Personal and local services: dog walking, mobile spa, wedding planning.
- Expert services: resume writing, coaching, consulting, tutoring, teaching.
- Technical services: printing, programming, tech support, audio services.
Want to sell services online? Start here.
Just in case you're in the planning stage, here's a rundown of what = to consider before you start selling your services online with your WordPress site.
1. Think about your market and services
Specifically, think about what services will be offered and the audience. If those questions can't be answered, an optimized WordPress site won't help much.
2. Create a WordPress website
If you haven't set up a WordPress site, do that first! There's a lot to consider, but it's not impossible. Follow this guide to get started.
3. Create your service pages
To sell services on a WordPress site, you'll need to describe them to customers. Think deeply about the goals, products, and services.
Maybe it's a single landing page. Or perhaps several pages on a site that dive into the offer's details. Whichever it is, figure it out before selling.
4. Get traffic (and customers) to your site
If you build it, they will come... not exactly. Here's the truth: generating traffic is hard work. Nevertheless, figure this out beforehand.
Here are some quick ideas:
- Start a blog
- Add search engine optimization (SEO)
- Get on social media
- Create partnerships
- Start advertising
6 steps to sell services on WordPress
Selling your services online with WordPress is all about plugins.
One of the best things about WordPress is its flexibility. A WordPress form plugin like Formidable Forms (that's us)replaces dozens of plugins on a WordPress site.
There are a lot of ways to use forms in WordPress. And when you think about it, people use web forms daily. Take Google, for example. It's an online form most people use often (or every day). There's a lot a form builder like Formidable does to upgrade a WordPress site. And it's completely free to start.
Our Formidable Lite plugin is forever free, and all premium plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Whether you use Formidable Forms, the steps here can help any service business.
Here are six steps to take to start selling services on WordPress:
1. Sell your services online with eCommerce
Want to sell your services online? Start with the obvious: eCommerce. Luckily, there are a ton of great options.
If you are selling services, you could set up an estimate or quote calculator to generate leads and give customers an idea about the price of your services.
If selling digital downloads complements the services, forms with built-in price calculators will be useful. And a WordPress calculator plugin can build those.
You must decide on at least one payment processor, like Stripe or PayPal. This makes it easy to accept one-time or recurring payments for things like custom services, digital products, or physical products.
Maybe you've heard of using WooCommerce to sell services? It's a popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. This could be the perfect all-in-one eCommerce solution for you!
2. Add social proof (reviews and testimonials)
If you are selling services, there's no way around it: you need to add testimonials to your WordPress site.
Testimonials are an undeniably powerful form of social proof.
A recent report found that 88% of buyers look for positive reviews before buying. So, testimonials are required if you want to please most customers. Depending on the nature of your services (or products), you may consider adding reviews to your WordPress site.
If so, it's all about driving up that 5-star rating average!
Learn more: Best WordPress Testimonial Plugins
3. Give customers more ways to contact you
Sure, you've got a phone number and an email address. But that's hardly enough these days.
Many customers are too busy to commit to a phone call or request a callback, especially if they are wary of being sold to.
One way to stand out is to create an appointment booking form. This way, customers provide only the information that matters, and both parties benefit when the phone call finally happens.
The possibilities for using WordPress forms are endless. For starters, ask potential clients to provide as much or as little information as needed. This will help focus future emails. Also, using contact forms sends confirmation emails straight from a WordPress site. Set them up so that both the vendor and customers receive confirmation emails.
Our own Formidable Forms has email autoresponders and notifications in WordPress. It also pairs with third-party apps like Schedule Appointments.
Learn more: How to Create a Simple Contact Form in WordPress
4. Integrate WordPress with marketing platforms
Customers and vendors will both like a concise marketing approach. Focused marketing efforts will attract only customers interested in your services.
You must integrate it into a WordPress site, no matter the platform. Doing so gives more insight into the website's customers. The more you know, the more targeted the online services can be.
5. Sell your services online through email marketing
Most email marketing fails to hit the mark.
However, the fact remains that email is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your business. Studies have found that email marketing ROI is as high as 122%!
As I said, targeting only people needing a website's services is key. If you're a Mailchimp user, you can set up things to use Mailchimp tags with WordPress forms directly. You can even allow users to select Mailchimp groups via WordPress forms. That way, they decide what emails they want based on the email marketing platform.
Of course, sending emails is only half the battle. It's also important to find a way to create an email list for a WordPress site.
Building an email list takes time, but it's worth it.
Learn more: How to Create an Email Strategy for Your WordPress Blog
6. Add new revenue streams
Selling services online is one thing. It could be where the majority of revenue comes from.
But services are sold by leveraging expertise. What else could be sold based on being an expert?
Sell virtual presentations, also known as webinars, to earn money. Streamline the process by creating a Zoom webinar signup form for a WordPress site.
Expert in a field? Try building an online community. A WordPress membership plugin like MemberPress (which we highly recommend) would help. However, a membership plugin may not be necessary, depending on the community. For example, Formidable Forms and a plugin like Smash Balloon can do something similar.
Write valuable content? Why not make money from it, too? Sell downloads by creating gated content protected by a paywall.
Learn more: 9 Ways to Make Money Online
Bonus: Optimize a WordPress site for selling
Optimize WordPress and improve site load times
It can be easy to have too many WordPress plugins.
But as useful as they are, too many plugins can cause problems.
For starters, too many plugins increase load times. One way to solve this is to uninstall plugins, which reduces the number of HTTP requests on a WordPress site.
Is the site too slow? Here are some ways to speed up a WordPress site. A lot can be done, but a few changes can also make a big difference.
Re-build your WordPress site
Customers love well-designed websites.
One study showed that up to 75% of consumers judge business credibility based on website design.
Take a look at your website. If it looks rough, use a WordPress page builder like Beaver Builder or Elementor. Or consider getting a brand-new theme. We suggest Astra or Divi as mobile-ready and fast WordPress themes.
Upgrade your WordPress hosting
Getting a better web host is another way to guarantee more customers. A better host ensures a website's uptime is maximized and loads faster.
There are many choices when it comes to web hosting. We recommend BigScoots for fully managed plans.
It's time to sell services on WordPress!
There you have it. With all the above tips, selling services on WordPress will take no time. Make no mistake; it will take effort. But once set up, expect many more customers.
And if you're ready to start form building, grab Formidable Forms Pro with the button below!
For more WordPress tips, guides, and how-tos, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!
Read more from the Formidable blog
If you're trying to sell your services online, you'll need help. Why not turn to the most advanced WordPress form builder available? Get started today with our free plugin or our full-featured premium versions!
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