The Ultimate Shopify Store Setup Checklist

The Ultimate Shopify Store Setup Checklist

This may seem very overwhelming especially if you are new in the game. Fortunately, Shopify makes this easy and simple. In the Ultimate Shopify Store Setup Checklist guide we’ll walk you through how to get your store set up in the best way possible, including how to have everything organized, optimized and ready for launch. If you go by these steps, you will be ready to set up your store for sale with Shopify and start acquiring customers.

What is Shopify Store Setup?

One way to start is to set up a Shopify Store. Shopify is famous due to its simple user interface which makes it very easy to set up your professional online store within a very few days. This setup process includes picking a plan, setting your store setting right, adding products, customizing your theme, as well as getting yourself SEO’d.. Here’s a Shopify store setup checklist that you can follow to make sure you don’t leave any step behind.

1. Sign Up and Choose a Shopify Plan

The first being signing up for Shopify and choosing and deciding on a plan that works for you. If you have a budget, follow through with your growth plan then go for Shopify’s different options. From the basic plan you can scale up as your store grows.

Tips: For not knowing which plan to choose, you can begin with Shopify’s free trial to get an idea of the features. It will provide you with a taste of the platform, before deciding on using it.

2. Choose and Purchase a Domain

So you’ll want your domain name for your store to be easy for your customers to find. You can purchase a domain through Shopify or another domain provider.

Tips: Ideally, your domain name should be short, related to your products and easy to remember.

3. Select and Customize Your Theme

It can make a big difference to your customers if you pick the right theme. Shopify has Tons of free and premium themes to choose from.After you’ve picked a theme, walk around in it for a while and tweak it to your liking. You can then adjust colors, fonts and layout to match your brand identity.

Tips: Remember user experience is very important. Since most of your customers will shop with their phones, choose a theme that is mobile friendly.

4. Add Products

Your Shopify store is built around your products. To add products, you upload images, write engaging descriptions, decide on the prices and then the inventory.

Tips: Get your product images up high quality and descriptions informative. It will highlight key features and include some keywords that your target audience would be trying to find.

5. Set Up Essential Pages

A few key pages like About Us, Contact Us and Shipping Information will fill in your store to make it complete. This will build some trust with your customers and give them what they need to know.

Tips: Keep it simple and clear so that your visitors understand how to reach, what to buy, and where to get it.

6. Configure Payment Methods

Ensure that your customers have multiple ways to purchase. For payments, Shopify allows you to choose among a variety of payment gateways (credit cards, PayPal and other country/targeted options).

Tips: If you’re able in your country, use Shopify Payments to reduce transaction fees. It’s a simple process integration that makes everything easier for you and your customers.

7. Set Up Shipping Settings

Customer satisfaction is driven by shipping. Set your shipping rates, zones and carriers to your liking to help customers receive your products.

Tips: You can provide free shipping if you can — customers love free shipping, and if they can get it, they’re more likely to buy.

8. Install Essential Apps

Extensions are available for any Shopify store and come in the form of apps, that can make your store offer a whole lot more than just basic functionality. Apps include for email marketing, customer reviews, product upselling, and others that are some popular options.

Tips: Install only the essentials first so that you get to know how each app works. You don’t want to install even just a few apps at once since they might make the store too slow or difficult to manage.

9. Optimize for SEO

Driving organic traffic to your store needs SEO optimization. Also make sure you add the right keywords to your product titles, description, and meta description. Doing this will make your Shopify store more visible in search engines.

Tips: Depending on how the interview went, you may have a handful of keywords that your target customers are searching for. Then, your store’s ranking will improve when you add these to your content.

10. Set Up Legal Policies

Policies that should always be present for your Shopify store would be Privacy Policy, Terms of Service and Refund Policy. It’s important to develop trust with your customers and ensure your business adheres to local regulations, and these are all part of that.

Tips: There are tools available to you in Shopify to create these policies. Be sure to tweak them to suit your own one.

11. Test Your Store

Before you launch, test everything. If you offer an online shop or the opportunity to buy online, go through the customer journey to see if everything works smoothly: adding the product to the cart, moving it through checkout.

Tips: Your friends or other members of your family can help you run through a few promotions to see how the visitors’ experience is going. What this will do is provide you with a different viewpoint on things you have likely not noticed.

12. Launch Your Shopify Store

When things are okay and work, time to launch! Disable password protection, make your store publicly accessible.

Tips: Before you launch, announce it publicly on social media or by way of email newsletters to make a splash and bring customers.

13. Promote and Analyze

So once you’ve launched, you need to start bringing in traffic. If we employ social media, influencer partnerships, or paid ads to market our business, it works surprisingly well. There’s in-built analytics on Shopify to understand exactly where your traffic is coming from and which products are becoming popular.

Tips: Always check your analytics and tweak your marketing strategies accordingly. Success all travels on understanding the customer behavior.

Conclusion

During the Shopify Store Setup checklist, you’ll be able to create your real online business. If you follow these steps, your store will be professional, user friendly, and will bring you sales. It seems like a lot of work setting up your Shopify store, but it’s worth the time to do it right so that your store starts attracting customers and making money. Read more insights and get help with your Shopify store on Shopify Consultants.