So you’ve finally decided to start your online store on Shopify. But, you’re still not quite sure where and how to begin. Don’t worry, we’ll help you get started.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process to show how to sell on Shopify. And we’ll start by showing you how to set up a Shopify store. It’s a very simple process and you don’t even need any web design or technical knowledge.
Our guide consists of three sections covering the initial setup process, the sales process, and the marketing process. These are the most important stages that allow you to start selling on Shopify.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Why Use Shopify for Your Store?
You’ve made the right call by choosing Shopify to setup your online store. It’s arguably the best platform for selling products online as it provides you with all the tools in one place to build a complete eCommerce experience.
Shopify makes the entire process simple by providing you with easy drag-and-drop customizations, premium themes, and third-party app integrations. You can even find products to sell in your store without having to leave the Shopify dashboard.
The best feature of Shopify is ease of use. Even a complete beginner could setup a store and start selling on Shopify without prior experience. This is what made Shopify the go-to choice for millions of merchants around the world.
Things to Do Before Setting Up Your Store
Before we get started on setting up your store, there are a few things you need to do. These steps are necessary for building a successful store.
- Pick a Good Niche: Make sure the niche of your store has good demand. Use tools like Google Trends to see which niches are popular
- Find the Best Products: Pick products that your audience wants. Use sites like Amazon and Aliexpress to find products that are selling like hot cake
- Competitor Research: Find established stores in your niche and analyze what they are doing to sell their products
- Order Fulfillment: Think about how you want to fulfill orders. Do you want to manually handle orders, inventory, and shipping? Or use dropshipping?
- Marketing Budget: Consider creating a budget for your marketing campaigns. You’ll need some money to do Facebook ads and influencer campaigns
How to Set Up a Shopify Store
We’re now at the fun part of the guide. Let’s get started by setting up your Shopify store.
Step 1: Create an Account
Start by creating a Shopify account. It’s free to create an account and a store on Shopify. You only have to pay when you launch your store.
After entering all your account details, Shopify will automatically setup the store for you.
Step 2: Setup Your Store
Once you’re on the Shopify dashboard, you will see the initial setup guide. This guide will give you directions on what to do next. Follow this guide and complete the setup process.
Step 3: Use a Custom Theme
Using a custom theme for your store is highly recommended. This is what separates your store from thousands of other Shopify stores that use low-quality, default themes.
You can buy a premium Shopify theme directly from the Shopify themes directory. Or download a theme from a third-party marketplace and install it manually.
To do this, on the Shopify dashboard, select your Online Store and go to the Themes page. From here, you can upload your custom theme or find one from the Shopify themes directory.
Step 4: Add a Custom Domain
You should also add a custom domain name to your online store to make it more professional as well as to implement your branding. It will also help you to promote your shop more easily.
On the dashboard, click the three dots icon on the top right to go to the store settings page. From here, you can choose to buy a new domain name or connect an existing one to your store.
Step 5: Extend the Trial (optional)
Shopify gives you a free 3-day trial with every new account. You can extend this to 30 days by picking a pricing plan and paying just $1 dollar.
Whichever plan you pick, it will only cost you $1 for the first month. And you will still be able to change or cancel the plan anytime you want. This is a great deal for beginners to test the platform and see how it works.
Note: We’re not sure how long this offer will last. So if it’s not available to you, ignore this step.
For a more detailed guide on setting up a Shopify store, check out this official tutorial on YouTube.
How to Sell On Shopify
Now that you have completed the initial steps of your Shopify store, let’s start selling. First, we need to add a few products to your store.
Step 1: Add Your Products
Go to the Products page on the Shopify dashboard to add a new product.
Then add all the necessary details. Make sure your product titles and descriptions look attractive to your audience.
You can also manage your inventory and Collections here.
Step 2: Find Dropshipping Products
If you don’t plan on doing manual order fulfillment, you can use dropshipping to handle that part of your business.
The best way to setup a dropshipping store with Shopify is to use an app like DSers. This app seamlessly integrates dropshipping to your Shopify store and helps you find great products from AliExpress to sell in your shop.
Step 3: Customize the Store
After adding all your products and collections, remember to go back to your store’s themes page and customize the store design.
Add your brand logo, change the colors, add new blocks, rearrange sections, and customize the look of your homepage as well as the product pages.
Step 4: Launch Your Store
When you’re all set, launch your store. But, before going public, you should place a test order and make sure everything works smoothly.
How to Market & Promote Your Shopify Store
This next step is the most important step in the entire process. After setting up the store, you can’t expect customers to appear out of nowhere. You need to promote your store and products to attract potential customers.
Here are a few things you can do to build an audience and generate traffic to your Shopify store.
Method 1: Promote on Social Media
Building a presence for your brand on social media is the first and most effective method for promoting your products. Make sure to create profiles on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to reach your target audience.
The key to getting more traction on social media is to create a consistent content strategy to promote your products while following the social media trends and making your content relevant to your audience.
Method 2: Run a Facebook & Instagram Ad Campaign
If you have a marketing budget, the next best strategy for promoting your store and products is to run a paid ad campaign. Facebook is the most effective platform for running a paid ad campaign as it allows you to run ads across both Facebook and Instagram at the same time.
With Facebook ads, you can create campaigns that target specific audiences and get guaranteed clicks and visits to your store. Although, it’s best to get advice from a marketing expert before you invest in Facebook ad campaigns.
Method 3: Create an Email List
Most people who visit your Shopify store won’t make a purchase. They will likely browse the products and leave thinking they will return later. Sometimes people will even add the products to the shopping cart and leave before checkout.
By creating an email list, you will be able to turn those visitors into leads. Use a platform like MailChimp to create an email list and connect it to Shopify. Then show a popup to every visitor asking them to subscribe to your email list.
Then you can send out weekly newsletters with your products and offers. Offering an incentive like a free ebook or coupon is a great way to encourage people to give you their email.
Method 4: Work with Influencers
Influencer marketing is another great way to promote your products. Look for influencers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram with an audience similar to your target audience. Reach out to them and ask them to promote your products. Oftentimes, you will have to send them a free product and pay a sponsorship fee as well.
These influencers already have audiences that follow and listen to their advice. That’s one of the main reasons why influencer marketing is more effective. Even micro-influencers with a few thousand followers will help promote your products more effectively.
Method 5: Optimize for Search Engines
Optimizing your product pages for search engines is also important as it helps generate organic traffic to your store.
Do keyword research to find good keywords that are related to your products and optimize your product titles and descriptions to match those keywords. This will help rank your products on search results pages and reach an even bigger audience.
In Conclusion
When promoting products and running social media campaigns, one of the first things you should do is to research and find the ideal target audience for your products. It’s the key to running successful promo campaigns and generating more sales.
Keep in mind that all good things take time. Don’t expect to generate sales overnight. It will take some time to build momentum and reach your audience with your marketing efforts.
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