Shopify is a great platform for eCommerce business owners who are just starting out. Getting a Shopify store set up is easy and cost-efficient. However, there are some things you can do to increase your store’s success potential.
For example, if you want to position your store as a boutique, use solid pricing instead of adding cents on your dollar amount. If you plan to use email marketing, your “sign up” form should be at the front and center of your website. Knowing how to approach your online shop can help you avoid costly mistakes in the long run and better position your business for those much-needed early conversions.
With that in mind, here are the top five Shopify store tips for newbie eCommerce owners:
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Brand your website
One of the great things about Shopify is that it allows you to easily leverage design themes so that you don’t have to do any design work yourself. And as great as these Shopify themes are out-of-the-box, you need to make sure that it aligns with your personal branding and that it’s customizable in ways that help you achieve your branding goals.
When it comes to branding, think about the type of message you want to evoke. You can turn to other brands to give yourself inspiration and analyze how they evoke perception.
For instance, Harley Davidson comes off aggressive, strong, and confident, while Tiffany’s brand is witty, classic, and elegant. If your company had a personality, how would you describe it? This is your brand, and you can highlight it with imagery, colors, typography, and copywriting.
Test your mobile usage
More than half of all Google searches come from mobile devices, which means chances are that majority of your customers are visiting your website from their phones. As such, it’s important for you to test your design across different devices.
Although Shopify optimizes mobile for you, you’ll still need to conduct some testing of your own and make any necessary tweaks accordingly. For example, you might notice that some of your call-to-action buttons appear too large on mobile or that some of the images are too small. You’ll be able to catch these tidbits early on with testing.
Use App Plugins
One of the best things about Shopify is the ample amount of app plugins that enhance the eCommerce experience. These apps can quickly and easily integrate into your website for a great, well-rounded digital home.
For example, Returnly helps you process returns and exchanges with ease; Wishlist allows you to integrate a “Wishlist” feature into your website so that visitors can save some of their favorite items for later; and Exto automatically upsells and cross-sells to visitors to increase your average purchase orders.
Use comprehensive search features.
If you have an online store with many options, it’s important for you to have a comprehensive search tool. And contrary to what many people think, not all search tools are created equally. For instance, when running a big Shopify store, certain features like search autocomplete can make a difference and aid the merchandising feature.
If a visitor were to search for “off shoulder,” an auto-complete search tool would generate all related products and include visual merchandising for quick previews. You can learn more about merchandising for Shopify stores at instantsearchplus.
Optimize your store
Store optimization is critical – without it, your chances of being discovered are significantly lower. Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing your website for search engines, making it easier for people searching for stores like yours to be found.
Ideally, your products rank high in search engines, but this takes some time and effort. Fortunately, optimizing a Shopify store isn’t too difficult. The key lies in the keywords; always create solid product descriptions that include your target keywords, use descriptive product titles, and leverage SEO plugins for Shopify.
