IWH

Instant WordPress Help - Logo Image

Building a Shopify store is the first big step towards starting your own online business. There are so many different things to think about, from the platform to the domain name to the colors to your logo.

I’ve put together this step-by-step guide for beginners to help you avoid the most common mistakes and make your first Shopify store launch successful.

Get a domain name

When building your store, you’re not just creating a web page. You’re creating a product or service and a physical location for that product or service.

Your product should be recognizable and unique, so you can establish a value proposition for customers to buy from you instead of Amazon.

You can achieve this using Shopify’s tools, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Advertising.

Some tools, like Appia or Moz Appia SEO, will automate this work for you. That is great for lower-budget store builders.

There are a few options for buying a domain name. First, you can register a domain for your Shopify store.

The price varies depending on the length and position of the .com, but this domain is valid for anywhere on the internet.

Choose the best Shopify plan for your needs

Before you get started, you need to decide what level of support and functionality you want.

Let’s say you’ve built a website and like the Shopify platform. But you don’t know how to use the storefront you built. You could take the first step and open a free store.

Or, you could continue to get a more powerful storefront for a monthly fee.

Whether you go with the free store or one of the plans, the key to a successful Shopify storefront is consistency.

To build a powerful ecommerce website, you need to stick with one theme and design lifetime. That doesn’t mean you can’t change the header, but you need to keep it consistent throughout the store.

Create your Shopify store

Now that you’ve set up the platform, it’s time to build. To create your store, go to the homepage of Shopify and click “Create Store.” Then you’ll see a dashboard where you can edit your store.

Here are some tips for creating a successful store:

Customers love that it’s free and easy to set up. And it’s lightning-fast.

While some people might set up a store that’s hundreds of dollars and takes weeks to set up, I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re a beginner. Shopify is already very affordable.

Add products and page content

The first thing you’ll need to do is add a product to get started. You’ll also need to add a page that you can show to visitors to your store, like a product page. You’ll use this page to show people how to get your product, how much it costs, where they can buy it, or if they want to try it out first.

In Shopify, you can add products in a variety of different ways. For example, you can select a product, enter the price and description, then click “Add to Cart.” Or, you can click “Add to Page” and enter the product name and quantity, then click “Add to Page.”

Regardless of the process you use, you’ll need to edit the product name to reflect your company name.

Get product images from Amazon by using an app

Amazon has free photos, and you don’t need a login to use them.

First, search for the brand or type of product you want to promote on Amazon. Then, using your browser, hover over the product image. That is called AutoPlay. That will trigger a screen asking you to take an image.

Click “Yes” to take the photo. Then, once you’re on the camera roll, click the green lock at the bottom left of the image to save the photo.

If you’re unsure which camera to use, check out this guide to finding the perfect camera for your iPhone.

How to get other types of images for your products

The best place to start is the design. You can’t go wrong if you design your store to look great. It’s all about visual appeal and consistency.

If you have already designed your store, you can use any images you already have. But for your new store, you will need to purchase the pictures from Shopify.

Customer Flow on your website

Customer Flow is a feature in Shopify that allows you to display your sales funnel as a widget on your website.

Order processing and shipping backend setup

If you are a Shopify merchant, you’ll want to customize your order processing and shipping backend. For example, if you want to create coupons for different customers or set shipping rates for specific countries — the Store Kit interface makes this possible.

How to set up your payment gateway (Stripe)

Stripe officially partnered with Shopify in June 2015 and has been working hard to make accepting payments as fun and easy as possible. Stripe offers online businesses an easy way to accept credit cards over the web.

How to add shipping options, offer free shipping, etc.

Shipping is a pain, especially for e-commerce stores. So you need to figure out how to add as many shipping options as possible and make it easy for your customers. It’s easy to add shipping options and offer free shipping in your Shopify store.

Promote your store! Make it as easy as possible for people to buy your product

There are many ways to advertise, promote and sell your products. You can buy ads on Google, Facebook, Twitter, or even run an email campaign. But these can get expensive pretty fast. Or you could set up a sale and hope people notice it.

[wpse_comments_template]

Building a Shopify store is the first big step towards starting your own online business. There are so many different things to think about, from the platform to the domain name to the colors to your logo.

I’ve put together this step-by-step guide for beginners to help you avoid the most common mistakes and make your first Shopify store launch successful.

Get a domain name

When building your store, you’re not just creating a web page. You’re creating a product or service and a physical location for that product or service.

Your product should be recognizable and unique, so you can establish a value proposition for customers to buy from you instead of Amazon.

You can achieve this using Shopify’s tools, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Paid Advertising.

Some tools, like Appia or Moz Appia SEO, will automate this work for you. That is great for lower-budget store builders.

There are a few options for buying a domain name. First, you can register a domain for your Shopify store.

The price varies depending on the length and position of the .com, but this domain is valid for anywhere on the internet.

Choose the best Shopify plan for your needs

Before you get started, you need to decide what level of support and functionality you want.

Let’s say you’ve built a website and like the Shopify platform. But you don’t know how to use the storefront you built. You could take the first step and open a free store.

Or, you could continue to get a more powerful storefront for a monthly fee.

Whether you go with the free store or one of the plans, the key to a successful Shopify storefront is consistency.

To build a powerful ecommerce website, you need to stick with one theme and design lifetime. That doesn’t mean you can’t change the header, but you need to keep it consistent throughout the store.

Create your Shopify store

Now that you’ve set up the platform, it’s time to build. To create your store, go to the homepage of Shopify and click “Create Store.” Then you’ll see a dashboard where you can edit your store.

Here are some tips for creating a successful store:

Customers love that it’s free and easy to set up. And it’s lightning-fast.

While some people might set up a store that’s hundreds of dollars and takes weeks to set up, I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re a beginner. Shopify is already very affordable

Add products and page content

The first thing you’ll need to do is add a product to get started. You’ll also need to add a page that you can show to visitors to your store, like a product page. You’ll use this page to show people how to get your product, how much it costs, where they can buy it, or if they want to try it out first.

In Shopify, you can add products in a variety of different ways. For example, you can select a product, enter the price and description, then click “Add to Cart.” Or, you can click “Add to Page” and enter the product name and quantity, then click “Add to Page.”

Regardless of the process you use, you’ll need to edit the product name to reflect your company name.

Get product images and add them to your site

The first step to designing a successful Shopify store is getting product images.

You need to upload high-resolution pictures of your products and check the dimensions so that your designs fit correctly. And, you want to make sure that your images are compatible with Shopify’s requirements. So, start by looking through your catalog of products and stock photos to find a few that will work well.

For instance, we needed images with pixel dimensions of 25 pixels by 25 pixels in this project. Since we already have a product catalog that had a lot of stock photos from Create in PS, this was easy to find.

Once you’ve found a few images you like, create a directory for them (ideally a subfolder in your picture library).

Get product images from Amazon by using an app

Amazon has free photos, and you don’t need a login to use them.

First, search for the brand or type of product you want to promote on Amazon. Then, using your browser, hover over the product image. That is called AutoPlay. That will trigger a screen asking you to take an image.

Click “Yes” to take the photo. Then, once you’re on the camera roll, click the green lock at the bottom left of the image to save the photo.

If you’re unsure which camera to use, check out this guide to finding the perfect camera for your iPhone.

How to get other types of images for your products

The best place to start is the design. You can’t go wrong if you design your store to look great. It’s all about visual appeal and consistency.

Customer Flow on your website

Customer Flow is a feature in Shopify that allows you to display your sales funnel as a widget on your website.

Order processing and shipping backend setup

If you are a Shopify merchant, you’ll want to customize your order processing and shipping backend. For example, if you want to create coupons for different customers or set shipping rates for specific countries — the Store Kit interface makes this possible.

How to set up your payment gateway (Stripe)

Stripe officially partnered with Shopify in June 2015 and has been working hard to make accepting payments as fun and easy as possible. Stripe offers online businesses an easy way to accept credit cards over the web.

How to add shipping options, offer free shipping, etc.

Shipping is a pain, especially for e-commerce stores. So you need to figure out how to add as many shipping options as possible and make it easy for your customers. It’s easy to add shipping options and offer free shipping in your Shopify store.

Promote your store! Make it as easy as possible for people to buy your product

There are many ways to advertise, promote and sell your products. You can buy ads on Google, Facebook, Twitter, or even run an email campaign. But these can get expensive pretty fast. Or you could set up a sale and hope people notice it.

[wpse_comments_template]