Home Shopify How To Build A Shopify Store (Step by Step)

How To Build A Shopify Store (Step by Step)

May 17, 2019 comments off
Shopify is a subscription to create a website and use to sell, ship and manage your product. You’ll be able to get access to simple to use admin panel and enter store information.
 
For a monthly subscription of $29/month. You are able to build a full useful online store that you will use to sell digital or physical product. Shopify also offers restricted free trial.
 
If you wish to form an online store using Shopify, you’ve come to the right place.
 
In this guide, I’ll show you ways to use Shopify, thus, you’ll launch your online store as shortly as possible.
 
Are you ready? Let’s begin!

How to Set up Online Store with Shopify

Signing up with Shopify and starting your store couldn’t be any easier and they even provide a 14-day free trial to get you going.

To launch your Shopify store, you must register for an account.

1. Sign Up with Shopify

Visit Shopify.com. Use the signup form to create an account.
 
Enter the required details and click the ‘Start free trial’ button.
 
Your store name has to be unique or Shopify will ask you to decide on something else.
 
After this first screen, you’ll asked for many a lot of details.
 
You will even asked if you have products and, if so, what you aim to sell.
 
If you’re trying out Shopify to see if it works for you, you’ll choose ‘I’m playing around’ in the ‘Do you have products?’ drop-down, and ‘I’m not sure’ in the ‘What will you sell?’ section.
 
Once complete, click ‘I’m done’.

2. Start Setting Up Your Online Shop

After you’ve signed up you’ll directed straight to your store admin screen. Now begin customizing your store, uploading product and fixing payments and shipping.

3. Choose a “Theme” or a “Layout”

Shopify has its own official theme store. These themes are certain to have full support from the designers, thus, you know that your store is in good hands.
 
All themes with list of modifications you can create without having to touch a line of code.
The premium themes go with a lot of modifications, yet, you can also succeed a good looking website with a free one.
These changes printed in the next section.
 
If you wish to create wholesale changes to an issue, there few limitations on what is HTML and CSS.
Don’t worry if you haven’t got any coding expertise.
Shopify call ‘Shopify Experts’ that you will hire to customize your website.
 
To find an issue that suits your desires the following:

1. Browse the Theme Store

Log into Shopify and visit the Shopify Theme Store at themes.shopify.com. You’ll find theme variations to choose from, including a good selection of free ones.
 
You could find Shopify themes on other Marketplaces, like TemplateMonster one. Choose, category, features to pick your theme.
 
You can filter by paid or free, by industry and by features.
 
You can also sort the themes by price, popularity, and recent.

2. Check the functionality and reviews

Once you’ve found a theme you wish, click on the theme’s sample image. You will know info to the theme responsive/mobile prepared among alternative features.
 
Scroll right down to scan some reviews to alternative e-tailers using the theme.

3. Preview the theme

To see the theme in action, click read Demo. You’ll see this below the green ‘Preview Theme in your Store’ button.

If the theme comes during a vary of styles, you can also read demos of the different styles by clicking on them.

4. Get the theme

Once you’ve found a theme you wish, click the green button.
 
Shopify will ask you to verify that you need to install the theme.
 
Click Publish as my Shop’s Theme.
 
Don’t worry if you’re not 100% certain it’s the correct theme for you. you can always change your mind later.
 
After the theme has put in, Shopify can allow you to know and can give you the option to go to your Theme Manager.
 
Your theme manager shows themes ( installed) and unpublished themes below (before installed themes).

4. Edit Shopify Settings

The Shopify themes enable you to create easy changes on your store. Thus you can rest assured knowing website appears to thousands of alternative stores.
 
On your admin screen, choose ‘Themes’ from the left navigation menu.
On this page you will see your live theme during a box at the highest.
Within the prime right corner of that box are going to be 2 buttons.
The primary one is of 3 dots, which provides you some basic settings changes.
One in each of these permits you to create a reproduction of the theme.
We have a tendency to advocate you are doing this in case you create some changes you don’t like.
You’ll delete the duplicate and begin once more.
The second button says ‘Customize Theme’.
If you click it you’ll taken to a page that controls all the fundamental practicality of your store.
This can be a good time for you to own an intensive play with the settings establish what your website is capable of.
The most common options can include:
  • uploading logos
  • uploading slides to a homepage carousel
  • adding connected item practicality to product pages
  • choosing what percentage things seem on every line of the gathering pages
  • color schemes
  • font selections.
Some themes will enable components on pages showing product pictures on the left, right or center of the page. You’ll additionally opt for whether you would like to show social like/tweet/pin/+1 buttons.

5. Add Your Products to The Store

Navigating the bar on the left select ‘Products’. You will then see a blue ‘Add a product’ button in the top right corner of the page. Use the following screen to add as much detail as needed about your products.
Especially look at those that will help with SEO such as name, description and URL. Include as many details as possible to help inform the customers about your items.
 
This is the screen where you upload product pictures. Once the images uploaded you can rearrange them in any particular order.
 
Product images can make a sale so make sure you show your products off to their best.
Highlight any special or unique features with close up photos. To keep your store looking tidy you keep all images the same dimensions.
Unless you plan to make your collection pages look like a Pinterest board.
 
Once everything filled out click the ‘Save product’ button in the top and bottom right corners.

Set up collections (groups of products)

A collection is any products feature in common customers look when visiting store. For instance, your customers may be searching for:
 
  • clothes for men, women, or children
  • items of a certain sort, like lamps, cushions, or rugs
  • items on sale
  • items ensure sizes or colors
  • seasonal products such as holiday cards and decorations.
Products will seem in any range of collections. Usually, you would display on your homepage and within the navigation bar.
This helps customers notice having to click through your whole catalog.

Manual and automatic collections

When you add a brand new assortment, you’ll choose yet merchandise ought to be accessors. This area unit the 2 options:
 
Manually – You add and take away merchandise in a very manual assortment on an individual basis.
Automatically – You will start choice conditions to embrace merchandise that meet criteria.
Payment gateways
A payment entrance way permits you to need payment from your customers via your web site.
The worth and commission rate is vital. But, it’s additionally necessary to examine what options they provide.
Not all payment gateways area unit created equal.
 
You need to appear at the next once selecting the proper payment entranceway for you.
Payment gateways

A payment gateway allows you to take payment from your customers via your website.

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The price and commission rate is important, but it’s also important to see what features they offer.

Not all payment gateways are created equal.

You need to look at the following when choosing the right payment gateway for you.

  1. Transaction Fees

When you take a payment, some gateways will keep a small percentage or flat fee (or sometimes both) for letting you use their service. Compare these based on what your anticipated sales are.

  1. Card Types

You need to know what types of card are accepted by your chosen Payment Gateway. All accept VISA and Mastercard, while most accept American Express. Paypal is also becoming more popular for online payments.

  1. Offsite Checkout
Some gateways will take the payment on their own servers via their own form.
This means that the customer taken away from your checkout. They pay on the form provided by your payment gateway.
They are then redirected to your confirmation page once the customer pays.
This allows you to have a bit more control of the checkout process.
 
You can circumvent Shopify’s limitations – they don’t customize the CSS.
 
Payment gateway transaction fees added on top of Shopify’s own transaction fees.
As of November stores based in the US and UK can use Shopify Payments.
Depending upon your Shopify plan, you can save on these extra costs.
Depending on your plan you will receive these appealing rates.
  • Basic 2.4% + 20p
  • Professional 2.1% + 20p
  • Unlimited 1.8% + 20p

Depending on how many transactions you make every month it could be worth upgrading to take advantage of these savings.

If you live in the US or UK your store will automatically use Shopify Payments.

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To complete this, click the ‘Complete Shopify Payments account setup’ button found in Settings > Payments.

If you wish to use a third party gateway you can use the ‘enable payment gateways’ link on the

6. Get Your Online Shop “LIVE”

Before your site can go live you need to add a few more details about your company and how you plan to make deliveries and pay tax.

General

Make sure all your business information is filled out on this page. Make sure to use the Google Analytics feature. This can prove to be an invaluable source for tracking your store visitors.

Taxes

  1. Go to the Products page of your admin
  1. Click on the name of a given product.
  1. Scroll down to the section called “Inventory & variants”.
  1. Click on the edit link next to your Product Variant to open a dialog window.
  1. Make sure the checkboxes next to Charge taxes and Requires shipping are checked if you need to include these with your products.
  1. Some stores won’t need to charge taxes or shipping on products like digital goods. On the other hand, a T-shirt store will likely need to charge both.
  1. If you are planning to ship your product to customers, make sure to enter the product’s weight in the appropriate field.

Shipping

If your shipping rates are too narrow, or you don’t give enough options, you may lose out on some sales. Shopify will only calculate a shipping rate for your customers based on the rules that you define in the Shipping page of the admin. To make sure you won’t lose any sales:

  1. From your store admin, go to the Settings > Shipping page.
  1. In the “Shipping rates” section, see if you have set a weight-based shipping rate and adjust it according to your product’s specifications.
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Test your order system

To test your system you can simulate a transaction using Shopify’s Bogus Gateway.

Using the Bogus Gateway:

  1. From your store Admin, click Settings, then Payments to go to your Payments settings
  1. If you have a credit card gateway enabled, deactivate it before continuing. (Click Edit, then Deactivate, then confirm your deactivation.)
  1. In the Accept credit cards section, click Select a Credit Card Gateway to open the drop-down menu.
  1. Scroll down the list to Other, then click (for testing) Bogus Gateway.
  1. Click Activate (or Reactivate, if you’ve used the Bogus Gateway before).
  1. Go to your storefront and place an order as a customer would. At checkout, enter the following credit card details instead of genuine numbers:

Testing a real payment gateway with a genuine transaction:

  1. Make sure you’ve set up the payment gateway you want to test.
  1. Make a purchase from your store as a customer would, and complete checkout using genuine credit card details.
  1. Cancel the order immediately, to refund yourself and avoid paying transaction fees.
  1. Log in to your payment gateway to make sure the funds went through.

Is this free?

Yes – just be sure to cancel and refund the order soon after you place it.

If your billing cycle hits after you’ve placed the test order but before you cancel it.

The transaction fees will appear on your bill.

You can still cancel after paying your bill to Shopify and receive the refund as credit on your account.

You can use transaction credits to pay future transaction fees.

7. Add a Domain Name

To get your site live you’ll need a domain name. You have two choices.

You can buy a domain from Shopify and it will added to your store.

This saves you time, especially if you have no knowledge about hosting a website.

These domains cost $9-$14 USD per year. Your second option is to purchase a domain from a third party such as GoDaddy.

These domains start from $10.00 USD a year.

The downside is that you’ll have to redirect the DNS records yourself which can seem daunting at first.

If you’re unable to come up with a good domain name, read my tips on how to choose a good domain name.

Here are the steps to put your new Shopify store live on a third party domain name.

  1. Add the new domain in Shopify

In the Shopify admin, on the left navigation go to Settings and then Domains and add your domain name using the ‘Add an existing domain’ button.

  1. Update DNS records

Login to your domain registrar and make the following changes to the DNS records:

  • Replace the @ or main A record with the following IP address: 23.227.38.32
  • Add or replace the www CNAME with storename.myshopify.com (i.e. your store Shopify link without the HTTP, which you can see on the domains settings page)
  1. Remove any storefront passwords

Otherwise, no one will be able to access your site even when it’s live.

  1. Set as primary if relevant

Whilst in Settings > Domains, you can choose your main domain by using the drop-down at the top of the screen:

Ensure that you also check the ‘Redirect all traffic to this domain’. This means that traffic to all other domains will be directed to your primary domain. This is crucial for good SEO.

  1. Adding other domains 

You can repeat steps 1 and 2 with other domain names you own. All domain names will redirect to the ‘Primary’ domain, which you can change at any time with the ‘Set as primary’ option next to each domain name.

Finally, Your Store is Ready!

Get started with Shopify here.

About the Author: Adam