Getting started to build a Shopify store is a big challenge for all the newbies out there, fumbling to get an idea of a sellable product and generate sales.
Luckily, with Shopify, a powerful eCommerce platform, merchants can easily set up and start selling your products there.
Are you ready to know how to build a Shopify store professionally? Well, you’re in luck, because you no longer have to be an amateur in building a Shopify store after reading this article. Let’s dive in!
Here are 4 steps to get started to build your Shopify store as soon as possible:
⭐ Before we start, you should learn some basic knowledge about Shopify like its features and pricing by reading our last article!
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If you might already have your store planned out, then feel free to skip this step. Conversely, then grab a pen, papers and spend some time to ask yourself about how to build a professional Shopify store.
At first, please visit this link: www.shopify.com
Click to Start a free trial, a registration form will appear then.
All you have to do is fill in your information there. After this initial screen, you’ll be asked for a few more details, including your name, address, country, postal code, and contact number, etc.
You will also be asked if you have products and, if so, what you are going to sell. If you’re just trying out Shopify to see if it works for you or not, you can select ‘I’m just playing around’ in the ‘Do you have products?’ dropdown, and ‘I’m not sure’ in the ‘What will you sell?’ section.
Once finished, click ‘I’m done’.
Note: You can’t change your store name unless you have a different domain. So please think thoroughly before labeling!
After you have signed up, you will be directed straight to your store admin screen. Now you are ready to start customizing your store, uploading products, and setting up payments and shipping.
Create your very first order by selecting the product and filling the necessary information, then click Save.
Navigating the category on the left select ‘Products’. You will then see the ‘Add a product’ button in the middle of the page.
In the following screen, add as much detail as needed about your products.
You can optimize SEO for your product page by filling in name, description, and URL.
This is the screen where you upload product pictures. Once the images are uploaded, you can rearrange them later.
There are some important variants that you will have to notice:
You can also add options by “Add variant” if your product has different options such as “Size”, “Color”, …
You need to create collections for products of the same category, the same brand, etc. The Collections section is directly below Products.
You need to upload an image to set the collection’s thumbnail.
There are some important sections that you will have to choose:
We know that your revenue can’t grow without the right tools. These apps will help you promote your store, sell your products, reward your customers, and handle inventory and shipping so you can earn more revenue.
And many of them are free!
Click Visit the Shopify App Store for more apps. Your installed apps list will show up there.
There are many apps categorized by usage and user needs. You can choose to download some reputable apps, which have many good reviews.
The Online store module is where you customize the theme, posts, blogs, domain names, etc. However, because theme customization is important, there will be a separate module for this section.
You do not have to set up the blog section, but it will help a lot with SEO optimization.
At Blog posts, select Create blog post to post your articles.
There are some important variants that you will have to notice:
This is where you will write some information about your company, policies & terms, guidelines, recruitment, etc.
Select Add page to add the article.
This section is similar to uploading products, with titles and descriptions, as well as SEO optimization at the end of each article.
Go to the Main Menu to customize the main menu.
You can link each menu item yourself with collections, pages, or blogs.
There will be a default domain name store-name.myshopify.com. You can buy other domain names directly through Shopify, or buy from the domain name providers.
To buy a domain name directly through Shopify, select Buy new domain.
Enter the domain name you want to buy and click Buy, you need to enter credit card information at the next step to buy the domain.
If you already have a domain name purchased from elsewhere, select “Connect existing domain”.
Choose Verify connection to confirm domain connection.
At Preference, you have to edit the following variants:
You can customize at Settings > Shipping and delivery
You can customize at Settings > Payment
Paypal is one of the popular payment gateways on Shopify.
PayPal payment gateway has these following conditions:
Connect to your PayPal account, then continue.
From the outset, the ultimate goal of posting your products, articles, blogs, menus, etc. is to make them appear on your website homepage. The purpose is to customize the theme/website interface.
Shopify has 2 types of themes:
At the start, your store will default to use the free theme, Debut.
In case you want to try another theme/template, you can select “Visit Theme Store” and explore yourself.
After completing all the setup steps above, your store is now ready for the very first order. Take a look at your results and share them with us!
It’s a complicated time for all business owners while the COVID-19 outbreak is ongoing. However, you don’t have to wait until the pandemic is over before you begin building an online store. Hopefully, after this article, you will be able to quickly build a professional Shopify store for yourself. Let’s get started today!
Rita Nguyen