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Lately, Shopify has gained a considerable momentum and professionals have reckoned it as a powerful tool for creating E-Commerce platforms. Its easily customizable themes, a whole set of useful add-ons and a convenient framework among other qualities have given it a certain edge over others.
If you have decided to start your own online business, especially an E-Commerce one, Shopify is a great framework to accomplish that. It helps you build a complete website that performs fast and you can easily sell your products to new customers.
In order to create a brand new online E-Commerce store using Shopify, you don’t have to be an expert. From choosing a proper theme to incorporating convenient shipping options, Shopify glides you through till the end with an ease.
Why should you choose Shopify over others?
- It launches your store smoothly: It is a highly effortless platform if in case you want to set up your store at the earliest. Its user-friendly features allow you to seamlessly move around different functionalities.
- Easy workflow: Shopify makes all the necessary tasks easy for you such as tracking orders, carrying out transactions, and managing inventory. Even its backend interface is easy to operate as well.
- No need of experience: Shopify doesn’t need you to have the knowledge of designing and development. You only have to install the latest version of Shopify and forget your worries regarding technicalities. You only have to incorporate various modules from available options.
- Easy integration: If you already own a website that lacks some features, Shopify may come to your rescue by integrating the required features. It enhances the functionality of your store.
- Awesome add-ons and apps: One domain where Shopify beats the competition is the availability of its impressive range of add-ons apps, which extend an improved functionality.
- Secure and reliable: Using Shopify as a framework for your e-commerce platform, it is less likely to be attacked by viruses, malware, and Trojans. There is an effective monitoring of networks from time to time.
Getting Started With Shopify
So far so good, whatever information you needed to get before actually working on Shopify is with you now. It will hopefully be a smooth ride for you to set up your own online e-commerce store from here onwards.
Here is the step-by-step procedure to create your online store using Shopify:
1.Sign Up with Shopify
It is a simple process, just go to the Shopify website and click on “Get Started” tab. Fill in your desired email address, password and store name. Your store name should be unique after which, click on “Create Your Store Now” tab.
When you are done with this very initial step, you are required to furnish more details such as your name, address, country and contact info, followed by other important questions. So, when every single detail is entered, you will get the following screen:
Image Source:www.websitesetup.org
Next, it will ask you which store you would like to make – brick and mortar or an online shop. Since you are starting an e-commerce store, so click on “Online Store” and then click Next.
Image Source:www.ecommerce-platforms.com
2.Choose The Best Shopify Theme For Your Store
Whether you are starting an online departmental store or going to sell specific products like apparels, furniture or jewelry, Shopify allows you to choose from a wide range of e-commerce themes. It is a crucial step to be completed before the actual launch of your store. Themes are made up of a collection of files and images and are very important in that they power e-commerce platforms. In general, these themes use four familiar technologies – HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Liquid (an open source templating language created by Shopify). However, you don’t need to create them for yourself; you only have to pick one.
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In order to pick the best Shopify theme, consider the following points:
- Choose a theme that looks familiar: Your e-commerce theme should have a conventional design by using widely accepted methods and layouts. Shopify themes are familiar and intuitive for your customers as well because they have a consistent look and comfortable navigation.
- Make use of resources before selecting the theme: If you have a limited budget, free Shopify themes can be of good help for you since they do not take up too many of your vital resources. The simple Shopify and free templates are also very effective.
- View your products on the theme: You can check out how your products will look like on multiple Shopify themes. Although the themes come with premium product images inserted by default in order to suit the style perfectly, you can also use your own product images.
- Go for a mobile-friendly Shopify theme: Smartphones are increasingly used for online shopping these days, so your Shopify theme should definitely have its mobile version. For that, check every theme on your smartphone as well as a tablet.
- Look for the themes that are lightweight and fast: Your main focus should be better customer shopping experience, so avoid clumsy elements like busy loaders and weird animations. Shopify provides many lightweight and fast themes for free.
After choosing the theme as per your needs, you should also preview it in order to see it in action. For that, click “View Demo”. You’ll see this below the green ‘Preview Theme in your Store’.
Image Source:www.help.shopify.com
Once you have found the required theme, Shopify will ask you to confirm and then install it. Now click on “Publish as My Shop’s Theme”. After the installation, choose the option of “Go to Your Theme Manager” and click it.
Image Source:
www.shopify.github.io
3.Edit Your Shopify Settings
You can also customize your Shopify theme as every template comes with its own theme settings. These settings help you customize the design of your e-commerce store without actually requiring the knowledge of HTML or CSS. You can give the look of your website the way you want it to be just by uploading the logo, changing fonts, using various color-combinations and much more. You can also customize your homepage’s layout, banners, and slideshows.
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On your admin console, select “Themes” from the drop-down navigation menu, where you will get to view your live theme in a box at the top at the right-hand side corner. There you will also notice two tabs. The first allows you basic settings changes by asking you to make a duplicate of the theme (it is recommended in case you make undesirable changes and want to go back). The second tab says “Customize Theme”. On clicking on this tab, you will get hold of controls of all the basic functionalities of your store.
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4.Add Products To Your Store
It is easy to add products to your online store through the Shopify backend. Just navigate to the left-hand side of your console and select “Products”. You will then see a blue ‘Add a Product’ tab in the top right-hand corner of the page. Here you will be asked to fill in details like Title, Description, Price, and Vendor. It is up to you to enter as many products as you like.
In this same screen, your product images also get uploaded. Make sure the images should be shown and presented in the best possible manner by highlighting their unique features. To make your store look attractive and tidy, keep all the images of same dimensions.
Next, you need to set up your collections (which are the groups of products having similar features). For example, clothes for men, women, and children; items of certain size and color; seasonal products; and items on sale. Furthermore, there are two ways of adding a new collection to your store – Manual and automatic.
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5.Activate Your Payment Processor
A payment gateway is an important component of your e-commerce website; it is the medium through which you get paid from your customers. Click on the tab “Payments” at the left-hand side of your dashboard, which will allow you to select multiple payment processors like Stripe, Authorize.net, and so on.
While selecting the right payment gateway for your store, you need to consider the following things:
- Transaction Fees: Gateways generally keep a small percentage of a transaction for using their service. So compare this fee.
- Payment Modes: You need to know which cards or payment methods are accepted by your payment gateway. For example, Visa, Master Card, American Express and PayPal.
- Offsite Checkout: Some gateways use their own servers to process a transaction; this means customers might be taken away from your checkout, so you need to have a control of this process.
Image Source:www.help.shopify.com
6.Set Up Your Domain
After choosing your required themes, selecting proper templates and designing your website, it’s time to set up your domain and make your site official and live. To do this, you have two options: Either you can purchase a domain from Shopify itself, or buy it from a third party like GoDaddy. Going by the first option, you can save your time, especially if you don’t know much about web hosting. The second option is inexpensive, but you will have to redirect the DNS records yourself – a bit daunting task.
Now, go to the dashboard and click on the field “Add a Domain”. It will ask you whether you want to transfer a domain which is already there or create a new one. Remember to remove any storefront passwords; otherwise, no one will be able to access your site once it is live.
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Conclusion
Due to the availability of an extensive suite of features for creating and managing an online store, Shopify is getting a lot of traction these days. As we have just shown you how easy it is to create an e-commerce platform using Shopify features. Shopify, therefore, is also known to be one of the largest app store platforms that add extra functionality to e-commerce websites.
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