An All-Inclusive On How to Start an Online Store with Shopify!
The availability of almost everything online has significantly boosted the demand for online stores. Today, no matter if the person wants to buy a car or a small hairpin, they definitely check the product online.
With an increase in online shopping, many brands have surfaced, making it easy for sellers to set up an online store. WordPress, Shopify, and Woocommerce are some common names of eCommerce platforms that allow budding entrepreneurs to venture into the online selling business.
Why Shopify?
Among all of them, Shopify is an eCommerce platform that most sellers prefer. Here are some facts and statistics supporting the same.
- Shopify powers over 4 million online stores worldwide.
- The eCommerce platform is used by sellers in around 175 countries.
- 65% of Shopify stores are based in the United States.
- You can use Shopify for a selling cost as minimum as $5 per month.
By reading these stats, you might have decided to set up a Shopify store. The next question that you might have popped into your mind is how to start a successful Shopify store.
Let’s read ahead and find out all about it in this article.
How to Start a Shopify Store for Beginners — All the Essential Steps!
Make sure that you follow each and every step described below to get the best output!
- Have all the Prerequisites Ready!
The number one step to starting an online store is to have all the prerequisite information in hand. Before you begin an online store, you need to have the following!
- The list of products and their images.
- The pages you want and the content for the same.
- The business idea and the website logo.
Other than these, your motive should be clear in your mind. You must be sure about the time and money you need to invest in the store. Most importantly, be clear about how casual or serious you are with this business.
- Get a Good Business Name
Starting an online store officially begins with deciding on a business name. This is an essential step. However, you need to ensure that you don’t spend much time on it. It is best to have the word ‘store’ or ‘shop’ in the name to decide on a domain easily later on. For example, if you are a jewelry business, go for an antique jewelry shop.
- Make a Shopify Account
When you have a business name, you need to make a Shopify account. In the beginning, you can go for a 14-day free trial that the platform offers. When you have signed up for the trial, you need to enter some details like your business name, email address, and password.
After answering some questions, you will see the dashboard of your Shopify account.
Tip: Make sure to think carefully before entering your business name, as you won’t be able to change it after that.
- Begin Adding Product
Yes, you must be tempted to redesign the store as per your preferences to make it look vibrant and attractive. However, adding products to your store will give you a better value for your time in the initial stages.
To add products, click on the Products Tab on the left, and choose “add your products.” In the add product section, there are numerous variables that you need to take care of.
Product Title | Keep the product title relevant, clear, and as short as possible. |
Description | In the descriptions.
· Highlight your product’s USP. · Keep the product descriptions simple to read, short, and crisp. |
Product media | Add high-quality images and videos. The image should be 800 by 800 pixels for Shopify.
For videos, ensure that it is not longer than 10 minutes and less than 1 GB in size. |
Product price | Make sure you keep the price of the product which isn’t much high so that users refrain from buying the product and is not too low, which may question the quality of the product. |
Other than these details, you also need to add details like inventory, shipping, product variants, and search engine listing details. These details include a meta title and meta description. Do a thorough keyword search before writing the title and meta description. Keep the meta-description of 155-160 characters.
Tip: You can also make product collections once you have added all the products to the store. Shopify enables you to do it manually or automatically.
- Work on the Other Pages
After adding the products to the store, you need to focus on developing the other pages. About Us, Blog, Contact, etc., are some of the most crucial pages for your online store.
These pages can help the users understand your business well and make an informed choice based on their understanding.
- Get Started with the Visual Part
The visual part of your store includes a lot of things, such as
- Navigation bar: this bar will contain all the major pages of your website. You can create it by going to Online Store > Navigation.
- Theme: Go to the Shopify Theme store and pick your favorite theme. Make sure that the theme has all the features you need.
After this step, you can create the homepage of your store and add a logo to it. You can also make some color and font changes as the theme permits.
- Work on the Operational Part
Once the visual aspect is done, go for the functional aspect of the store!
- Setting shipping rates: Go to Settings > Shipping and Delivery. Here you can set your shipping area and rates. You can go for flat, calculated, or free shipping rates.
- Set up taxes: Go to Settings > Taxes and Duties and set up taxes based on your country.
- Choose a payment gateway: In Settings > Payments, select the payment gateway using which you want to receive payments.
Note: There are over 100 payment gateways supported by Shopify!
All these are the basic and major steps for how to start a successful online store with Shopify. However, it is best to connect the store to a domain before you launch it.
You can do it by going to Settings > Domains. Here, you can either buy a new domain or connect to an existing one.
Conclusion
These are some major steps that you need to take to get an online store started. However, Shopify has a lot more to offer. You can develop your store further by focusing on SEO, leveraging content marketing, using online ads to drive sales, and whatnot. You can even add more channels to expand your reach. This is all about How to start a successful Shopify store.
If you are looking for professional support in developing an online Shopify store, you can seek assistance from Reinforce Global. The IT agency offers its clients all-inclusive app development, web development, and other IT services.