You’ve finally taken the plunge and decided to open an online shop with Shopify. Congratulations!
Now comes the fun part: putting your shop together and making it look amazing. You want your store to make a great first impression, and luckily, Shopify makes that easy with its customizable themes and drag-and-drop design features. But before you can start selling, there are a few important steps you need to take to get your shop up and running.
In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to do to launch your Shopify store, from choosing a theme to setting up payment methods. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to start selling online!
1. Choose a Shopify theme
The first step in launching your Shopify store is to choose a theme. Your theme is what will determine the overall look and feel of your shop, so it’s important to choose one that reflects the style of your products and brand.
Shopify has a wide range of both free and paid themes to choose from, so you’re sure to find one that fits your needs. Not sure where to start Check out our list of the best Shopify themes for 2019.
Once you’ve found a theme you like, simply click on the “Add theme to your store” button to install it. From there, you can start customizing it to match your brand’s colors, fonts, and style.
2. Add products to your store
Now that you have a beautiful shop design, it’s time to start adding products! You can add products one at a time or in bulk using a CSV file. To add products one at a time, simply click on the “Add product” button in your Shopify admin and enter the product details.
If you have multiple products to add, or if you want to update existing products in bulk, you can use a CSV file. To do this, first export a CSV template file from Shopify (this will include all the necessary columns for adding products).
Then, fill out the template with your product details and import it back into Shopify. For more detailed instructions, check out our guide on how to add products in Shopify using a CSV file.
3. Set up payments
Once you have products in your shop, it’s time to start taking payments! Luckily, Shopify makes this easy with its built-in payment gateway, Shopify Payments. With Shopify Payments, you can accept credit card payments without having to set up a third-party payment gateway.
If you’re not using Shopify Payments (or if you want to accept other payment methods like PayPal), you’ll need to set up a third-party payment gateway. To do this, simply go to “Settings > Payments” in your Shopify admin and select the gateway you want to use from the drop-down menu. Then follow the instructions on how to set up that particular gateway.
4. Choose a domain name
Last but not least, one of the most important steps in launching your Shopify store is choosing a domain name. This is what people will type into their browser when they want to visit your shop (for example: www.myawesomestore.com).
When choosing a domain name for your shop, try to keep it short, memorable, and relevant to your brand or products. And if possible, try to get a .com domain—these are typically easier for people to remember than other domains like .net or .io.
Once you have chosen a domain name for your shop, head over to “Settings > Domains” in your Shopify admin and enter it into the “Add new domain” field. Then follow the instructions on how to set up DNS records for your domain (don’t worry—we have detailed instructions on how to do this).
That’s it! You’ve now completed all the necessary steps for launching your very own online shop with Shopify.
