The world of Retail Marketing is highly influenced by the trend of running businesses online. Experienced shop owners and novice businessmen alike are setting up E-Commerce businesses to sell their products and services. The growth of internet-based payment systems has further supported the practice of Online Shopping. These Online Stores use a Website as a platform to display products and interact with customers. So, the power of their Website directly influences their possible business growth.
However, it takes skills and a considerable amount of time to build such a Website from scratch manually. An average shopkeeper who wants to transition from his Traditional Shop to an E-Commerce Business might not possess the required skills to set up a Website. This is where Shopify plays a major role. Shopify is an E-Commerce platform that allows you to build and manage Online Stores.
The Shopify Website Design tools and templates can help users in developing an aesthetic outlook for your business. It automates all the technical parts and the users just have to customize their Website’s design using simple drag and drop features. This article will introduce Shopify and will explain its key features. It will also discuss in detail the various steps using which you can set up a Website for your Online Store. Furthermore, the article will list down the benefits and best practices of developing your Shopify Website Design. Read along to learn more about this popular process!
Table of Contents
Introduction to Shopify
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Shopify is a popular online platform that helps you run your e-commerce store. It’s a comprehensive set of tools that allow you to build eye-catching business websites easily. Moreover, the Shopify Website Design process is simple and no technical preparation is required on your side. It offers a quick and convenient way to set up your business online and also allows you to customize your business platform to suit your needs.
Shopify acts as a sophisticated e-commerce website development platform with its advanced features and engaging themes. The major advantage of using it is that Shopify offers its online store system as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. This implies that you no longer have to worry about hosting and updating your business system on web servers. This will save you the cost of acquiring IT infrastructure and setting up an online store on expensive servers.
Key Features of Shopify
The following features make Shopify the first choice for setting up an E-commerce Website:
- Seamless Design Process: Shopify Website Design is a straightforward process. You can use its built-in features to generate your eCommerce store in no time. Shopify has more than 70 themes available in over 50 languages to design your website that will have a wide reach.
- Modern SEO Tools: Shopify adds advanced search engine optimization (SEO) to your web pages. It also uses certain plugins that can help you detect and report bugs on your website. This saves your Sales from being hampered due to technical issues.
- Advanced Speed: Shopify is specially designed to perform load time and response operations at high speed. This can provide your customers with a rich experience and improve your ranking on Google ranking at the same time.
- High Security: Shopify ensures the safety of your Website from hackers and encrypts all stored data. Additionally, Shopify is PCI Level 1 compliant, so you can offer your customers the option of card payment.
To learn more about Shopify and its features, visit here.
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Steps to Build a Shopify Website Design
Designing your Website using Shopify is a straightforward task. You can use the following steps to set up and customize your E-commerce Website:
Step 1: Set Up a Shopify Account
The Shopify Website Design process starts by creating a Shopify account. If you don’t have an account yet, go to Shopify’s homepage and click on “Start” as shown in the below image. Enter the required credentials and also decide on a suitable name for your Online Store.
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Keep in mind that the name must be unique else you won’t be able to register under that domain name. Finally, it will ask you to enter personal information regarding your address, region, etc. Shopify uses this data to generate the tax rates per your location.
Step 2: Customize Your Website’s Outlook
The growth of your E-Commerce Business largely depends on the customer experience and mouth of the word. Your Website’s outlook plays a major role in generating rave reviews from customers. Moreover, an engaging Website can retain its visitors which is crucial for your business development.
On the Shopify Homepage, navigate to the “Customize the Look of Your Site” option and decide on the colors and icon styles, fonts, etc., and click on “Theme Store”. The below image shows the Shopify Theme Store.
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Moreover, this option will let you access the 100+ themes available in Shopify. You must select a theme that resonates well with your products and brands. Although the Shopify Website Design process provides you the option of using a free theme, you can achieve much more enhanced functionalities and control over your Website’s outlook for just a small additional fee.
A premium theme also opens up the option of modifying its code to further customize it to your needs. Shopify also offers paid to counsel from its in-house experts if you are inexperienced with the HTML and CSS programming languages.
Step 3: Upload Your Product Details
Shopify allows you to upload your products, categorize them and decide on the logos that will appear alongside your items. Choosing logos for your products may seem like a trivial task during the Shopify Website Design process but these visuals play a major role in a customer’s decision to buy a certain product. Furthermore, the Shopify Website Process allows you to group your collection into separate categories. This provides seamless navigation for your visitors and clubbing similar products together will also promote your Sales.
On the left side of the admin panel, select the “Products” option to add new products to your lists or to choose from existing products in your inventory. The below image shows the page where you can add your products.
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Here you can add the product’s name, a short description, pictures, prices, and more. Moreover, there is also an option to list inventory for your customers so you know what items are still available.
Shopify also allows you to list all the variations of a particular product that you can offer and add SEO keywords, shipping information, etc.
Step 4: Set Up Your Website Domain
The domain acts as the virtual address of your Online Store and is important for your Websites’ credibility. On your Shopify Dashboard, select the “Add a Domain” option. Follow the instructions visible on your screen and purchase the domain of your choice from the available options. The Shopify Website Design process also gives you the option to buy a domain from elsewhere and transfer it to your Shopify account as shown in the below image.
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Make sure that anything is not missing from your billing and legal information complete on the website. Also, check the box adjacent to “Charge Tax” in the Variants section of your website. It assists you in book-keeping. Moreover, you must click on the “Shipping Required” option next to the products to know which products require additional postal and packaging prices.
Step 5: Generate The Payment Options
Adding a payment option is the last step of your Shopify Website Design process. Once you have selected the Theme, Outlook, Domain, and Products, your Online Store is almost ready for launch.
On the left side of your Shopify Dashboard, click on the Payments button. You can then follow the instructions on your screen to set up the most suitable option Now, Shopify offers 2 options to set up your payments. You can either implement its inbuilt payment gateway or choose a 3rd party payment provider. In case of a 3rd party payment option, go for the one that accepts a wide array of cards and offers its services at minimum cost.
That’s it! Your Shopify Website Design is complete and your Online Store is ready to run.
Advantages of Shopify Website Design
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Shopify Website Design provides you the following advantages over other Website builder tools:
- Using a Website builder can set up your Online Store in a hassle-free manner. It is great for new online retailers to use such a tool to get their business up and running quickly, with little effort or coding skills. Shopify offers multiple customizable templates and to escalate your website creation process. Moreover, the Shopify Website Design process is cheaper compared to hiring a web designer or developer. It is simple to use with a drag and drop design mechanism and enables you to optimize your website in no time.
- The Shopify Website Design process makes it easy for business owners to accept credit cards and other payment methods. You can offer express payment options like Shop Pay, G Pay, or PayPal, and Shopify Payments which comes with any Shopify plan. When you set up Shopify Payments, you don’t have to manage third-party activations. All you need is your Employer ID number and banking information to start your E-commerce quickly.
- Shopify provides you with unlimited bandwidth, so you’ll never be charged extra even if your website traffic scales up. It has fast servers which are accessible from all around the globe. Shopify also has an option of using a free domain for new websites until you’re ready to customize one. Moreover, it lets you purchase your domain, and is PCI Level 1 compliance.
Best Practices for Shopify Website Design
Following are some tips that can enhance your Website Design process using Shopify:
- Clear Design Objective
- Choose the Right Domain Name
- Select the Right Theme for your Shopify Website Design
1) Clear Design Objective
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The Sale of your products and the valuation of your brand will be highly affected by Your Shopify Website Design. It will act as the first impression of your Online Store for the customers and an appealing design can sway the visitors into buying products from your platform. To create a functional E-commerce Website you must have a well-defined vision of what your Website represents. Moreover, you must set a clear objective based on the type of products that you want to sell and the kind of customers you want to target.
Once you have decided on a goal you need to lay down a strategy of how to achieve it and then organize the products and customize your Shopify Website to match your plans. Some of the goals that can prosper your E-commerce business are:
- Selling Products of a certain brand.
- Categorizing your products effectively for a satisfying customer search experience.
- Providing reviews and feedbacks of past customers for individual products.
- Ensuring instantaneous customer service.
2) Choose the Right Domain Name
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Customers will identify your Online Store with its domain name. A relatable and trendy domain name can give your business a major boost and shape your E-commerce business into a brand. Following are the key points that you must consider while deciding on a domain name during the Shopify Website Design process:
- The name must be unique and short.
- It should be related to your business niche.
- Using SEO Keywords in the name can improve its Google ranking.
3) Select the Right Theme for your Shopify Website Design
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The following pointers will help you in selecting the perfect theme for your Shopify Website Design:
- In Shopify hundreds of themes are available with several styles. Choose the one that resembles the outlook you want.
- Shopify has built-in features that differ from one theme to another. Understand what you need to support your website goals and pick a theme that contains those features. For example, if your goal is to make products easy to find, look for a theme with a filler search bar. Any theme that you will pick, can be customized in terms of fonts and colors later.
- Shopify allows you to experiment with multiple themes. So, try different themes before deciding on the final one. Moreover, if you decide you don’t like the response time of them, you can install a new one without recreating all of your web pages.
Conclusion
This blog introduced Shopify along with its key features. It provided the steps that you can follow to set up your Shopify Website Design. Furthermore, it listed down the benefits that Shopify has to offer. The article also explained the best practices that you can follow to enrich your Website.
Now, building your E-Commerce Website from scratch will no longer be a complex task. Shopify automates most of your E-Commerce operations and enhances your payment methods, thus providing your buyers with a great experience.
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Share your understanding of the Shopify Website Design in the comments below!