Be it full time or a part-time online business, Shopify is indisputably the fastest way to set up a “DIY” online store with no hitches. With absolutely no technical know-how in building an e-commerce store, you can have your domain and products live in just 18 minutes!
Below is a step by step tutorial to guide you to start a Shopify store.
STEP 1: Choose a name
Failure to plan is planning to fail. It is best to have a list of domain names you plan to use to avoid having that feeling of confusion and uncertainty. When deciding on an appropriate domain name, ensure you have at least three names as only available domain names will be approved. Online software like business name generators can come in handy.
STEP 2: Sign Up
First, you’ll want to login to the Shopify website and click on the ‘Start’ icon. Next, input your email address, password, and your most preferred store name, then click forward. You can then hop to the next stage if it was approved or try another name if it was not accepted.
After this, you’ll want to fill in the ‘About yourself’ form by specifying how much you intend to sell. You’ll then want to click on the “enter my store” icon. The next pop up page will bring forth two options to choose from, choose the online store option and click on the next button
On the next page, fill in all the required personal information correctly, as this will determine your tax rate. Congrats, you have successfully signed up!
STEP 3: Customize your store and upload a product
Right now, you will be on your website, and this is where you will customize your store to your taste and upload your products. This part should not be difficult; you can always go back and make changes later if needed.
To start, you’ll want to open the ‘add a product’ page. Fill in the title, description, price, and vendor. Try to use SEO friendly keywords when writing your title and description to give you an edge in Google rankings. To further do this, set up your specific collection to categorize your store e.g., female jewelry or male fashion.
Once you have set up the framework, you’ll want to upload pictures of your products. Pictures say a thousand words, so use quality and clear pictures – never underestimate the power of good pictures. Next, select the ‘customize your site’ button and choose your theme. Whether free or premium, themes are vital and can affect your sales rate.
There are some great free themes, but premium themes will surely give your site that ‘wow-factor’ you’ll need to attract customers. Themes can be tweaked later on, so don’t get overwhelmed at this stage and move on to the next stage of the process.
STEP 4: Take your Domain live
Navigate through your dashboard and click on the ‘add a domain’ button. Choose your preferred domain and make the purchase. Choose the Shopify payment plan you would like to use – the cheapest plan is the basic plan which costs $29 monthly. You should definitely start with this, as you can always upgrade later if you need additional features. Now, get ready and activate your domain.
STEP 5: Launch your store
Click on the ‘payment’ button to choose your payment processor. Check up your taxes, shipping rate and Contact Us page, Terms, and conditions to make sure they are all in workable condition.
Finally, click on the Launch website button and your Shopify store will be all set for business! If you do this in a thorough manner, it should not have taken any longer than 18 minutes to go through the whole process. Once you are set up, you can start marketing your products and generating sales immediately.