Creating Your Shopify Store
Everything Embroidery Market
Class Resource Guide
©Kate + Rae Deisgns
Class Goal
Understand the basics in building their Shopify store.
Order of your build:
Products → Collections → Navigation → Pages → Theme → Settings → Launch
1. What is Shopify?
Shopify is the platform that runs your online store. It gives you the tools to list your products, accept payments, organize your inventory, build your website, manage orders and communicate with your customers.
The Two Sides of Shopify.
Admin / Back End
Where you run your business.
Storefront / Front End
What your customer sees.
2. Understanding How a Shopify Store Is Organized
Imagine you own a children's boutique. You have individual shirts hanging in your store. Those are your PRODUCTS. You might put all your Christmas shirts together in one area. That's a COLLECTION. Then you put a sign above that area that says Christmas. Your website's NAVIGATION is how your customer finds that section.
Product = individual item
Collection = group of products
Navigation = how customers get to them
Page = informational content
Theme = how everything looks
3. Collections
Collections are simply groups of products.
Lets think about the products you offer.
Collections need to be broke down into categories with sub-categories.
Example:
Adult
T-Shirts
Sweatshirts
Hats
Baby
Bibs & Burp Cloths
Blankets
Gowns & Rompers
Children's
T-Shirts
Dresses
Sets
Sweaters
Home
Wreath Sashes
Cocktail Napkins
Tissue Box Covers
These sub-categories are going to be the collections you set up.
Your main categories will be used for navigation.
Shopify has two kinds of collections
Manual Collection: you choose which products belong
Automated Collection: Shopify adds products based on rules you create.
4. Products
Products are the foundation of your Shopify store. Before we worry about making the website pretty, we need something to sell.
Product Title
Products are the foundation of your Shopify store. Before we worry about making the website pretty, we need something to sell.
Your product title should explain exactly what the product is.
Bad: Embroidered Birthday Shirt
Better: Personalized Girls Pink Gingham First Birthday Shirt
(this will also help with SEO. Would be even better to add the birthday theme to the title.)
Product Description
Your description should answer the questions your customer would normally message you to ask.
Product Photos
Upload pictures of real stitch outs created by you.
Digital mock ups are acceptable but generally do not convince a buyer to purchase a product.
Product Pricing
Price = what the customer pays.
Compare-at price = original price when you're legitimately displaying a reduced price.
Cost per item = what the item costs you.
Your customer doesn't see your cost per item. Shopify uses this information to help you understand your margins.
Product Variants
A variant is a different version of the same product.
Examples:
Size: 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T
Shirt Color: Pink, Blue, White
*** If you are interested in adding personalization variants like font choices, thread colors, personalization text boxes, please look into our full course where I walk you step by step on how to create these personalization variants. ***
Product Inventory & Shipping
Shopify needs to know whether you're selling a physical item that needs to be shipped, a digital item or something else.
Things to need to have completed.
Track quantity
SKU
Continue selling when out of stock
Physical product/shipping settings
Weight
5. Navigation
Navigation is simply the road map customers use to move around your website.
Creating a collection does NOT automatically put it in your website menu.
How to get to navigation menu:
Content → Menus → Main Menu
Main Menu Navigation Format
Navigation Menu Example
Homepage
Shop Collections
→ Main Category
→ Sub Categories
Personalization Page
Subscription Box
Contact
About
6. Pages
Products are things you're selling. Collections organize those products. Pages are usually information.
Examples:
About Us
Contact Us
FAQ
Turnaround Times
Sizing Information
Creating a page doesn't necessarily mean customers can find it.
You will need to add it to your navigation.
7. Theme & Homepage
Your theme controls how your Shopify store looks and how your content is presented.
How to start customizing your store.
Online Store → Themes → Customize
Shopify Store Structure
→ Header
→ Sections
→ Footer
Class Demonstration
Announcement bar
Logo
Image banner
Featured collection
Rich text
Image with text
Collection list
Email signup
Footer
8. Sections vs. Blocks
Think of your homepage like a stack of building blocks. Each large piece is a section. Inside some sections are smaller blocks.
Class Demonstration
Add a section.
Move it.
Hide it.
Delete it.
Then edit a block inside a section.
9. Branding
You don't need ten fonts and seven colors. Your goal is for your website to feel consistent and easy to shop.
Customize Your Shop Branding
Online Store → Themes → Customize → Settings
Things To Customize:
Logo
Colors
Fonts
Buttons
Favicon
Social Media
10. Mobile View
Just because your website looks good on your computer does not mean it looks good on your customer's phone.
Switch to mobile view to make sure your store is preforming well for mobile devices.
11. Shipping
Settings → Shipping & Delivery
Shipping zone = where you'll ship.
Shipping rate = what you'll charge.
12. Domain
Your domain is your website's address. Shopify gives you a temporary Shopify address, but most businesses eventually connect their own domain, such as YourBusiness.com.
Buy a domain through Shopify
or
Connect a domain you already own
13. Test Your Store
Walk through the website as if you were a customer.
Start at the homepage.
Homepage → Menu → Collection → Product → Select Variant → Personalize → Add to Cart → Checkout