As a web designer I started creating websites and e-commerce stores with WordPress and WooCommerce as my main platforms, but I have to admit Shopify is upgrading at a fast pace and making it easier for newbies to create their very own websites with zero experience. With various different plans to support your online store, you are able to create your own account and start selling online to the world! Shopify also gives you online guidelines to help you create your e-commerce store from scratch. Start turning your products into sales with these 10 tips below.

1. E-commerce pre-launch.

It’s important to notify your customers of your upcoming online store to build hype and an interest around your product. Start creating your social media platforms and make a list of all the different sales channels you will be using to boost your Shopify sales. When creating your online store Shopify will have different plans to suit your budget. Annual or monthly packages are available so decide on which one is best for your business.

2. Product photography is very important

If a consumer wants to buy a product, then make sure that the images look good otherwise they will simply find a competitor’s website with better images. The very first thing a client sees is your product photography as they are not buying the physical item in store. Try to add more than one image per product so that people can see the different angles of the product they want to buy.

For the best results make sure that the product images are taken on white backgrounds. If you plan on cross-selling on different platforms, most of them require you to have it on a plain white background so why not save yourself the time and do it from the get go.

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3. Pick a catchy domain name for your online store.

Before you start creating your online store you should hopefully have thought of a company name. You can buy a domain name through Shopify or you could buy one through a third party hosting service. The name of your store is very important so take your time in choosing a catchy name that is easy to remember.

Having trouble coming up with a good business name? Follow this business name generator link to get you started.

If you build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful. – Jeff Bezos

4. It’s time to set-up Shopify.

Choose the Shopify plan that best suits your pocket. It’s very important to take care when creating your online store, read carefully and make your choices based on what is better for your business or industry. There are 4 different plans to choose from namely: Shopify basic, standard, advanced and Shopify Plus. Please note that you can upgrade or downgrade your plan free of charge so don’t be afraid to start with a basic plan in the beginning.

5. For experienced web designers.

If you are an experienced web designer, then Shopify should be easy for you. With more knowledge you will be able to code and tweak different elements within your Shopify store to create new themes or chop and change as you like.

6. Customize your Shopify theme.

When it’s time to pick a theme, Shopify will provide you with many free or paid for themes. I would suggest taking your time when looking for your theme of choice by viewing all the different options and picking one that works for you. I prefer using paid for themes as the functionality and looks are endless, but it’s also okay to start off with a free theme.

Carefully choose your theme whether its free or premium. Look out for the following elements to guide you when choosing.

1. You want to choose a theme based on the look of your home page
2. Take a look at the product page as this one of the pages that a client would go too.
3. Make sure the general website layout works for you.
4. Follow this link for a review on the best free shopify themes in 2020.

7. Plugins matter!

Shopify boasts a massive range of apps that are awesome to use. Once again you have a choice of using free apps or premium paid for apps, you could use all the free apps for starters. Premium apps are great to use as they make your life easier by doing all the hard work for you, but this could also be implemented when you start making money from your online store.

Below are some free apps that I recommend using:

1. Sales Notification – Sales conversion notification app.
2. ThemeWatch – Automated theme backups.
3. Web Push – Follows up with visitors that has abandoned carts.
4. Sales Countdown Timer – Countdown timer app.
5. Product Reviews – Product review app.

8. Google Analytics

Whether using WooCommerce or Shopify, I cant express the importance of using Google analytics to track data!

Google analytics helps you understand the customer and how they behave on your store. Google also provides you with a monthly report of how your online store is doing, which can be very beneficial to help you make more sales. Shopify has a built in version of their own analytics, but I would always recommend having google analytics as well. Some of the features that Google gives you are reports on sessions, returning customer rate, conversion rate and more.

9. Search Engine Optimization

Shopify does a great job in making it more simple for their consumers when it comes to SEO practices. Some of the functions that it will set-up automatically are canonical tags and sitemap.xml. I would consider reading up on title tags, alt image text and meta descriptions as these are important when a client is looking for your product on search engines.

For more guides and tutorials on Shopify please check out the following link.

Did this guide help you? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.