How to Start an Online Store

Learn how to start an online store, step-by-step. Learn my proven process for getting an eCommerce business up and running.

How to Start

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What You'll Need

What you'll need before actually building your store.

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Building an Online Store

The process of setting up your online store.

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The Best Ecommerce Platforms

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Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins & Themes

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The Best Ecommerce Tools

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Course Topics

What You'll Need

Building an Online Store

How to Start

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Launching an ecommerce store is a great way to monetize a new or existing audience. And thankfully, advances in technology have made doing so easier than ever before. But where do you begin?

I get quite a few questions about ecommerce, so I made a course to cover the basics of how to start an online store – from conceptualizing an idea to launching it publicly to the world.

We’ll cover the process from start to finish, but some of the core concepts you can expect to learn include:

Ecommerce basics like the pros and cons of the most popular platforms and how to select the platform that’s right for you.
The step-by-step process of setting up your online store, including picking a domain, building your store, and setting up payment gateways.
Strategies for sourcing and managing inventory and how to ship the products.
Writing and optimizing product listings for conversions as well as search engines.
Marketing your online store in a way that increases visibility and drives traffic.
Managing ongoing operations like ensuring quality customer service and processes that lead to growth.

By the end of this course, you’ll have the tools, knowledge, and confidence to launch and grow your online store, turning your ecommerce dream into a thriving reality.

So what’re you waiting for, dive right in and learn how to build your own store today.

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Shopify offers a 1-stop solution to build an online store. Using their platform, you can create a fully hosted e-commerce store with a payment gateway. The platform also offers SEO optimization out of the box, so you don’t have to struggle to rank your store on search engines. It is also straightforward to set up.

In this module, I will show you how to start an online store with Shopify to give your business a head start.

Turn Your Vision into a Business Idea

It all begins with an idea. You can be highly skilled in developing and managing a Shopify store but without a winning idea, it wouldn’t become a successful business. Even the store needs some clarity of vision to come to life. So, start by thinking a few basic things thoroughly, including:

Who are your target audiences? Your store should represent needs, passions, and lifestyles. It helps to make informed marketing decisions to connect and encourage people to purchase from your store.
Which products are you selling? You must find a product range that you think can be profitable in the current market demands, before designing your website accordingly.
What’s your business name and brand? Every business needs a name that can be the same or different from your brand name. You should also design or decode some brand assets - logo, fonts, colors, and content - that you can use on the website.
Do you have pictures of your products? Success in sales often depends on appearance, so you should collect the best-looking pictures of your products. You will also need to have product titles and descriptions as you list them on your website.

Your branding should be a coherent philosophy that touches upon every sales point. You need to find out what values you stand for (possibly aligned with your target audience) and represent them in your website layout, content, and brand assets.

Give Your Business a Legal Structure

You can build your Shopify store without being a legal entity, but to launch your store, you must be a registered business. There are many benefits of turning your business into a government-approved legal entity, including protection of personal assets, tax benefits, separate credit ratings, etc.

Depending on your location, you can structuralize the business in various ways. The most common legal structures for e-commerce stores include:

Sole proprietorship: A store owned by the person who runs it. It has a no-employee policy, making it much simpler to set up.
Partnership: A legal arrangement between two or more people that makes the parties responsible for the business activities and share profits. You can partner up with investors in various ways - general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, etc.
Corporation: You can also form a corporation if you have the assets to fulfill eligibility requirements. Registered as a limited liability corporation, you can protect yourself from company liabilities.

Different states have unique requirements for registering your online business. For instance, California residents can navigate to the California Secretary of State website to fill out the forms and apply for registration. You can find the specific steps for your state with a little research online.

Draw Up a Budget for the Store

Shopify offers a comprehensive set of tools to enable you to sell online. It’s not only an e-commerce website builder, but also a payment and warehouse solution. Accessing these features comes at a cost, so you should have a budget for your store.

Most beginners can do with the Basic plan starting at $19/ month. You can always upgrade to other options as your inventory grows. The best part is that you can try the first three subscription plans for free before committing to either.

In addition to this, you will also need to purchase a domain name. It should be your business name if possible or something closely related to it. A domain name can cost from $2 to upward of hundreds. However, most beginners make do with a domain costing between $8-$12 per year.

Most advanced Shopify themes cost money. The same is true for some apps required to add different features to your store. These expenses can rack up quickly, costing between $250 to $500 at the start.

Register an Account to Try Shopify

Shopify offers a trial where you can build your store for free. You simply need to head over to the Shopify website and click “Start free trial.” The platform will ask you a series of questions regarding your business type, intentions, types of products, business location, etc. Answering these helps Shopify to suggest necessary tools and features, but you can skip them.

The basics of any online account creation remain. You have to provide an email address and create a password. Signing in with your Gmail, apple, or business email is also possible.

The platform redirects you to your Shopify store dashboard with a personalized setup guide offering a step-by-step solution. You can simply go through the checklist and get your store ready to launch.

Set Up Your Shopify Store

When setting up a physical store, first, we lay out the bricks and mortar or rent a store. We place the shelves and buy a cash box or payment system. Only then, do we put out a banner with the store name and fill out the shelves with products.

Setting up an online store with Shopify doesn’t have to work in a similarly rigid order. After purchasing a Shopify plan, you can focus on any steps – buying and connecting an address (website domain), adding a theme, setting up payments, adding products, etc.

Shopify encourages adding a product as the first step on your dashboard. I tend to skip it and a few other steps for later. Let’s start by adding a custom domain.

1. Add a Custom Domain

Simply click “Sell online” if it’s not already expanded and select the option to add your domain.

Next, you can connect your existing domain or buy a new one. Buying a new domain from Shopify comes with the benefit of managing it in the same place. Using a different domain registrar like Namecheap and connecting it to the store also works like a charm.

If you click the “Buy new domain” option, you will get a search bar to type your desired name. Shopify will check for its availability before displaying its yearly fees. It also includes various related names for different prices.

Clicking “Buy” next to your preferred domain name will take you to the payment and registration page. Simply follow the on-page instructions to complete your purchase and finish adding it up.

Connecting an existing domain, on the other hand, will need you to provide the address and some verification info like the DNS settings. You can copy the nameservers from your domain registrar.

2. Name Your Store

Remember how you brainstormed some branding elements for your store? It must have included a name for your store. There are many naming principles so it’s catchy and memorable, but whatever you choose, you can add it to your Shopify store quite easily.

Navigate back to your store’s dashboard, then click “Store settings” from the setup guide. You can also access it from the right setup bar. Next, hit “name store” to provide a name along with your business’s contact information. Only the name will appear on your website.

You can update your billing address on this page. The options to set up store defaults like currency, unit, and time zone are also available. So explore and toggle the settings as required.

3. Add a Product

Adding products to your store is an iterative process. You may have to use it all the time to update your store’s offerings.

It’s a good practice to add one or more products at the beginning. It will help you to design your store and fix the product display better. You can access it by clicking “Add product” from the Setup guide. Alternatively, you can click “Products” from the left menu bar to find the same options and more.

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Remember how I encouraged you to have product descriptions and pictures ready? You will need them now. On the next page, you can give your product a title, describe its specialties, upload media files, and set its price. You can also categorize it according to its type, vendor, and collection while setting up inventory tracking.

Scroll down to the bottom of your product page, and you will find a preview of the search engine listing. It is incredibly beneficial to optimize your listing for search results. You can edit the meta description and add product or category meta fields. Once you fill out the necessary fields, hit “Save” from the top or bottom of the page.

You can always edit or delete your product from the “Products” section of the Dashboard.

4. Add Shipping and Payment

Now that you have added products, make them ready to sell. Navigate to the “Store settings” tab of the Shopify setup guide and click “Set shipping rates.”

It will take you to the Shipping and Delivery section of your store’s settings where you can set shipping conditions and prices for different destinations. You can also enable shipping estimation and customization to increase sales.

After saving your updated shipping and delivery profile, head to set up Shopify Payments. It will enable you to accept payments from your customers. Simply click “Go to Shopify Payments” underneath the shipping rate option.

Here you can connect to Shopify payments and Paypal. You can also add Credit/ Debit card payments, Cash on Delivery (COD), etc. Different payment systems cost various amounts. The account opening requirements also vary. As such, you should research well and prepare for the necessary accounts.

For card payments, Shopify offers apps from Paynamics, SagePay, and such. You need to choose an option and install the app in your store. All these payment gateways require some form of merchant ID. You can obtain them by opening necessary accounts with them. Keep your business registration number handy while registering merchant accounts with your preferred payment gateways.

5. Create Necessary Pages

Shopify creates a homepage and a product display page as you set up your store. Most online stores need more web pages, including:

About Us: This is where you introduce and describe your business to help build trust with your customers.
Policy Page: Depending on your business location, you must disclose your privacy policies, return policies, payment terms and conditions, shipping policies, etc.
Blog Page: Some stores also run blogs to inform and connect with customers. It also helps with search engine optimization.

You can create new pages by heading to Shopify “Dashboard > Online Store > Pages.” Once there, hit the “Add page” button near the top right corner. It will enable you to create a page by giving it a title and adding some content. You can also optimize your page by hitting “Edit website SEO” from the bottom.

To remove a page, return to “Pages” and select the name you want to delete. Then, click the “Actions” menu and hit “Delete pages” from the drop-down menu. You can also hide or publish a page from here.

Design Your Shopify Store

At this stage, your store has a name and an address. You also know how to add products to and can process payment. But how does your store appear to your customer? Shopify provides a default theme, but that can’t possibly represent your brand. It must also look aesthetically appealing while ensuring an intuitive user experience.

So let’s focus on giving your store an attractive appearance, changing a theme, and personalizing it with your branding materials.

Change the Theme

Locate the “Customize theme” button on your Shopify Dashboard’s to-do list and click on it. Otherwise, head to the “Online Store” menu from the left bar and hit “Themes.” You should find a sneak peek of your current theme alongside some popular options.

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Scroll down the page and hit “Visit Theme Store” to check out over 200 pre-designed templates. Only a handful of them are free. Choose one that best fits your industry and click on it to learn its details. You can also view a ‘Demo Store.’

Feeling satisfied with your pick? Simply hit “Try Theme,” and it will be added to your Theme library. Once added, you can hit the “Publish” button next to the theme’s name (i.e., Publisher) and your site should get a makeover.

Edit Your Pages

You can get lucky to find a pre-designed template that’s exactly how you envisioned it. Even then, it would have some generic elements, styles, and content. So, add some personal touches to make it your own by hitting “Customize” next to your published theme.

The customization page offers a visual editor where you can click on each block/element to edit it. Changing the layout or adding (or removing) a new block is also effortless, as the options appear visually over the theme as you hover your cursor around.

On the left, you will find all the elements listed in chronological order, while the bar on the right changes as per your selection. It’s super intuitive, so you don’t necessarily require any tutorial. Simply click and explore, and design your heart out.

All your pages are clickable, so you can navigate to each and fix its appearance. As we added a product beforehand, we can also check how it appears on the site, before making any changes. Also, don’t forget to hit “Save” to make your changes permanent.

Explore Theme Settings

Locate the “Theme Settings” icon on the left-most menu bar and click on it. A bunch of theme-wide settings should appear. Here you can add your logo, upload a featured image for your site, create buttons, change typography and color, etc. This is also where you set up media presentations and add information related to your brands.

Below I show you how to toggle a few critical settings. The rest of the options work similarly.

Add a Logo

Remember how you designed some branded content at the beginning? It’s time to put them into use. Simply hit “Logo” from the settings menu and click “Select image.” It will take you to your media library, where you can upload your store’s logo (if not already) and select it to appear on your site.

Apply a Color Scheme

Using brand-specific colors to paint a physical store is a well-known branding practice. So why not use the same strategy for your online store?

From settings, scroll down and select “Colors.” Here you will find a few preset color schemes; choose the one that compliments your brand. You can also add a scheme by hitting the specific option.

Once you create a colorway, you can apply it to each block of your site by selecting a particular section and changing the scheme from the right-hand menu.

Change Typography

Typography is another key element that can make or break your Shopify store’s appearance. You should choose a few fonts that capture the brand spirit and connect with your target audience. It is also good practice to align your typography to your logo design.

From your theme settings, hit “Typography.” You can now choose fonts for headings and body texts. Simply click “Change” and select the font you like. You can also resize the font size by toggling the scale underneath each option.

Add Custom Content

Content is key to enticing, informing, and encouraging your store visitors to purchase from you. There is a creative and strategic side to it, where you can use specific keywords to help your site appear on search engines.

We have already created product descriptions in the preparation stage. You can now fine-tune your texts along with the welcome message, business info, product offerings, etc. Simply click on the text block you want to edit and add your texts. You can also generate text using Shopify’s AI assistant – Shopify Magic. It appears with the text box menu.

Optimize for Other Devices

More than 50% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. So, we must ensure a convenient user experience on all types of devices. Shopify has dynamic pages that scale automatically. You should still check if your layouts work fine.

The Shopify theme editor has four icons in the top right corner, just before the “Save” button. Clicking on them will give you a desktop, mobile, or full-screen view of your store, alongside a toggle to deactivate or activate inspector (preview). If something doesn’t work, you can re-edit or replace them with a live preview.

Get Ready to Launch Your Store

At this stage, we have a functional Shopify store that looks awesome and can process sales. Now, you need to sort out a few details to make it ready for business. It includes:

Navigation Menu: Your theme should have essential buttons on the header and footer menus. Head to “Online Store > Navigation” to customize them. You can also add filters for your search function.

Payout & Tax Collection: Online sales are taxable incomes with specific laws and regulations. You can automate sales tax collection in your Shopify store by heading to “Dashboard > Finances > Set up tax collection.” But first, hit “Add bank account” to receive your income.

Shopify Apps: Shopify has a massive app store. You can find apps for user reviews, customer support, social sharing, and more. So, head to Apps from the left bar and click “Add apps” to find some suggestions. You can explore the entire library by hitting “Shopify App Store” from the bottom of the pop-up list. Click “Install” next to an app and follow the on-screen instructions to add it to your store.

Launch Your Shopify Store

Alright! Now you have a Shopify store ready to welcome customers. It may not be perfect, but you reach perfection with an iterative process. Launching your site and receiving customer feedback will aid your future designs.

So throw a party for your friends and family (or not) and take your site live. You can do that by clicking “Online Store” on the left bar of your dashboard and hitting “Remove Password.” It’s above your theme name. You can also access it from the “Pages” section.

Your online store should be live now. Focus on promoting your store using social and paid marketing channels. Shopify has many tools and apps to help you attract more customers and sales. You can also set up analytics to measure your campaign’s performance.

So, get busy selling!