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So you’re about to build a Shopify website and you want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row, right? Well, when I built a website on Shopify for the first time, my ducks were definitely not in a row, and I ran into quite a few hiccups along the way.
But here’s the good news: I’ve been through it all so you don’t have to. I’m here to share what I’ve learned and help you avoid the pitfalls I encountered.
This isn’t a step-by-step guide on how to build a website. It’s more of a “what you need to know before you start” guide. And this info will save you from hitting a wall later on. So let’s get into it.
1. Before you build your website, nail down these three things about your product:
- Know how much your product weighs – you’ll need to put this into your website
- Know how much you plan to charge for your product
- And know what makes your product different
If you’re selling cups, for instance, you’re not just competing with every other cup out there. You’re fighting for attention in a world where people can buy anything with a click. So what makes your cups the ones they’ll reach for every morning? What makes your products different from every other similar product out there?
2. Have a good understanding of this one thing that can make or break your e-commerce business
You need to know who will be shipping your products to your customers and how this will work. This part’s really important, and here’s why: getting stuff to your customers on time (or at all) can make or break your business. It’s the difference between happy customers who come back for more and angry ones who leave bad reviews.
So, you need to choose a carrier – that’s the company that’ll be shipping your products for you. And when picking one, there’s some stuff you’ll need to know:
- what their shipping rates are,
- areas and countries they deliver to (based on where you want to sell),
- if they deliver on weekends and holidays,
- how long does it usually take them to deliver? Your customers will want to know this.
- how to track products, especially for customers,
- how do customers actually get their stuff? To their door? To a pickup point?
- what do they need from you to make everything run smoothly?
3. If you want custom fonts, be prepared to dabble in some code
I know coding sounds scary. I design websites for clients, and most of them want to be able to change stuff without messing with code. It’s kind of a pain that Shopify makes you code to be able to use custom fonts.
But it’s not as bad as you might think. I walk my clients through it all the time.
Shopify has different themes, so there’s no one way to add code, which is why I can’t cover it in this blog post. But it’s totally possible and there are numerous articles and videos on Google that can help.
And if you’d rather not do this, then Shopify has some decent fonts you can choose to use instead.
4. Free shipping isn’t always the most sustainable option for your business
There’s no such thing as free shipping. Either you’re paying for it or your customers are paying for it.
I work with a lot of heart-centered entrepreneurs, and I know that for them, charging for shipping can feel…well, kinda icky. You want to be generous, maybe even cover the shipping costs yourself.
But here’s the thing – that comes straight out of your pocket. It cuts into your profits. And depending on what you’re selling, it could mean you’re never making enough to really grow your business.
So, my advice? Have your customers pay for shipping. But you can still be generous. Maybe offer free shipping during certain times of the year. Or set it up so customers get free shipping if they spend over a certain amount. That way, you’re not losing too much money.
5. If you’re thinking of selling internationally then here’s some stuff you should know first
Each country has its own rules for online businesses selling to their citizens. You’ll need to understand how things work in the countries you want to sell to.
For example, when you sell products internationally, your customers might have to pay extra fees. These are custom duties and taxes, charged by the customer’s country, not by you.
The amount depends on the country and what’s being bought. Your customers might not expect these extra costs, so it’s important to let them know before they buy. This helps avoid confusion and keeps customers happy. Think about mentioning it in your store policies or during checkout.
6. Where you live could limit what you can do on Shopify
If you’re in the US, for example, you can use Shopify Payments. Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own system that makes charging customers pretty easy. But it’s not available everywhere.
If you’re not in a country with Shopify Payments, you’ll need to use a different payment provider. You’ll have to connect your store to another service to handle payments. It might take a bit more work to set up, but it’s totally doable.
Stripe is a good alternative, but again, it depends on where you live. Some countries don’t have access to Stripe either.
I’m not saying you need to live in a specific country to sell online cause not all my clients live in the US. But it’s important to know that some features you might see other people talking about online might not be available to you. If your website doesn’t have a feature you keep seeing everywhere, it probably has a lot to do with where you’re based. You might need to find a workaround which is always possible considering the amount of people from different countries who sell using Shopify.
7. Watch out for these unexpected costs
If you want your website to look really good, but you’re not confident in your design skills, or you just want something ready-made that you can tweak, you might want to buy a theme. The free themes are okay, but they’re pretty basic. Paid themes usually start around $140.
Then there are apps. Shopify has these things called apps that add extra features to your site. For example, I had a client who wanted to donate a percentage of each sale to charity. She needed to let customers pick which charity they wanted to support. We found an app for that because Shopify doesn’t have this built-in.
These costs can add up, but they can also make your website do exactly what you want it to. So it’s important to know that there might be additional costs.
Some of this information might feel overwhelming.
Honestly, building a website in itself can feel overwhelming but it’s do-able. And remember, every successful e-commerce store started somewhere, and yours is no different. The key is to take it one step at a time. So you don’t need to have everything perfect from day one.
And if you’re a female entrepreneur and you need expert advice about building your website or your brand, then I’d love to help. Book a Design Clarity Hour session to get support.
And if you loved this post, don’t forget to share it with others!
