How to Start a Shopify Store - Checklist

If you are reading this post, then you have already taken the most important steps towards your goal - you decided to open an online store and chose Shopify as the e-commerce platform for this. You have already decided what product or service you will sell, conducted a preliminary analysis of the audience, and perhaps even drew up a promising business plan. Great job!

But now that the big day of your online store launch is just around the corner, you're probably wondering how to set everything up to start a successful Shopify store.

Keep calm! We have prepared a detailed checklist for setting up a Shopify store so that you see your first customers as soon as possible and start making money.

• Sign up with Shopify and set the store name. Shopify offers a 14-days free trial for new users. The name must be entered at the registration stage. It will be displayed in the search bar - e.g. mycooleststore.myshopify.com. In the future, you will be able to purchase a custom domain name like mycooleststore.com.
• Enter an address. It is required for you to receive payment. You can enter either legal or personal addresses. In the future, it can be changed.
• Add products. Set the type of product, add a description, upload photos, video, or 3d model, set the price, select delivery methods and set up other important options in the card of each product.
  If your product description involves video content, utilize tools, such as transcribe video to text or MP4 converter, to make your product accessible to a wider audience. Additionally, use the generate subtitles option; this ensures your video content is comprehensible to those with sound impairments or language barriers. It's a useful step in offering an inclusive online shopping experience.
• Customize the store appearance. Choose a theme, colors and images, add a logo. There are both free and paid options available in the Shopify theme store. Customize the pages and menus that will be displayed in your store. Be sure to include your contact details so that buyers can easily contact you.
• Get a personal domain. This step is optional but will help you personalize your store and make it easier for users to find you.
• Select Sales Channels. Do you plan to sell only online using the "Buy" button on the site? Or do you want to also connect channels like Google and Facebook? List all channels used, including Point of Sales and wholesalers. Some may incur additional charges.
• Set up payment methods. You can choose from a list of available providers or set up the method manually (for non-store payments, such as cash on delivery).
• Install apps. There are over 6,000 apps available on the Shopify App Store for any purpose, both paid and free. Try not to go to extremes and don’t download everything in a row. 10 is already a lot.

By the way, one app that should definitely be on your installed list is Notify.Events. This free plugin will help you receive instant notifications in popular messengers about events happening in your store - new orders, order status changes, receipt of payments.

Choose a convenient way to receive from 50+ tools - Slack, MS Teams, Viber, SMS, etc. Increase your work efficiency by distributing notifications among all the team members according to their work schedule. Process incoming orders at the speed of light and get more sales.

This is much more convenient and more efficient than the built-in e-mail notifications!

• Set marketing campaigns and automations. In addition to apps from the App Store, you can run marketing emails, set up Facebook and Snapchat ads, and more.
• Perform SEO setup. In order for your store to be displayed in search engines, write meta tags, set an image that will be displayed when sending a link to the store. Don't forget to install analytics tools - Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel.
• Set up shipping options. Set methods, taxes, add carriers, and more.
• Preview the store. Look at the finished store from the point of view of the buyer, but rather involve colleagues and acquaintances in order to identify possible problems in advance and eliminate them even before launch.
• Launch your online store. That’s it! Now your Shopify store works and soon you will start getting your first sales.