How to launch your Shopify store: get the checklist to successfully build your ecommerce website
*Disclaimer - links marked with an asterisk are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you use them. However, I only share tools that I think will really help you!
Have you ever dreamed of having your very own online store, but you're not quite sure where to start? Well, you're in luck! Today, we're diving headfirst into the exciting world of launching a Shopify store.
Whether you're a seasoned business owner or aspiring to launch your ecommerce store, here you’ll find the ultimate checklist to help you navigate the process with ease. Say goodbye to those pre-launch jitters and hello to a step-by-step guide that will have you well on your way to building a successful e-commerce website. So, keep reading and get ready to bring your digital storefront to life!
Want to a copy for yourself to save and tick off as you go?
Prepare your branding and content for your Shopify store
Make sure you have the foundations of your brand before you start building your new website. After all your website should feel like an extension of your brand.
☐ Identify your target customer
☐ Create your colour palette - Use a colour checker such as https://colourcontrast.cc/ to make sure that your colour combinations have enough contrast and are accessible on the web.
☐ Choose your brand fonts
☐ Design your logo - If in doubt, a simple typographic logo is a safe option.
☐ Prepare your product photos - Make sure to get a mix of high-quality product and lifestyle images. Aim to keep any product images under 500kb to prevent them from slowing down your website.
☐ Write your website copy - Remember to use your brand voice and showcase the value and benefits of your products
Set up a coming soon page for your Shopify store
This section will take you through the steps to opening your account and setting up a coming soon page so that you can start collecting emails and growing your email list while you're building your website.
☐ Sign up for Shopify here* - At the time of creating this, you can use the following affiliate link to sign up for a free Shopify trial and get 3 months of Shopify for just £1/month.
☐ Choose your Shopify theme - I recommend going to the Shopify theme store for the highest quality themes. When purchasing outside of the theme store, make sure that you are purchasing from a high-quality business such as Out of the Sandbox*.
☐ Purchase your domain - Doing this early means that you can set up a coming soon page and start gathering interest for your products ahead of your launch.
☐ Set up a coming soon page with an email form so that you can collect emails and warm up your audience.
☐ Create a welcome email to welcome new customers and tease what’s coming soon.
☐ Start sharing your coming soon page with your audience so that you can gain some interest ahead of your launch.
Set up your Shopify store and add your products
In the following steps, you'll add your products and add your store information so that you can have everything set up and ready to start accepting payment.
☐ Upload your products - Use product titles that clearly describe what the product is and use photos that clearly show the product so that customers know exactly what they’re getting.
☐ Write your product description - Struggling to write them? Shopify now has an in-built product description generator that can help you to get inspired. You can use this as starting point and customise it with your brand voice and personality.
☐ Create your product collections
☐ Add your store information
☐ Set up your shipping rates and where you ship to
☐ Set up your Tax settings
☐ Connect Shopify payments
☐ Update the automatic order notification emails with your brand voice
☐ Website SEO settings
☐ Add your website policies: privacy policy, terms and conditions, shipping and return policies
☐ Add a cookies pop-up (you may need an app for this unless it’s built into your theme)
Design and build your Shopify website
Now that we've set up the back-end of the store, it's time for the creative part! In this section, you'll design and build your site.
☐ Look through the features of your chosen Shopify theme and get familiar with them so that you know what’s possible.
☐ Grab a pen and paper and create a rough sketch (it can be as messy as you like!) to plan the structure of your website, based on what’s possible within your theme. Believe me, this will save you so much time when building the site
☐ Set up your website navigation in the header and footer
☐ Build your Homepage
☐ Build your About page
☐ Build your Product pages and Cart
☐ Build any Collection pages
☐ Build your Contact page
☐ Build any additional supporting pages
☐ Is your shipping information clear on your product pages?
☐ Are your FAQs easy for customers to find?
☐ Style your 404 page.
☐ Add alt text to your images that describe what’s in the image and make your website more accessible.
Final checks
You're nearly there! Here are a few final things to check before you launch.
☐ Have you checked the appearance on mobile?
☐ Is it easy to navigate and will it make sense to the user?
☐ Is there enough contrast in your colour palette? Can it be easily read?
☐ Do all of the links work? (it never hurts to double-check!)
☐ Use Shopify's test payment setting to run a test order before launching.
All done? Great job
Now it’s time to remove your store password, announce your online store to your audience and celebrate!
Phew that was a lot steps… Either bookmark this blog post or you can download a free copy of the checklist below - happy launching!
Hi I’m Danielle
I help entrepreneurs & creatives to bring their brand online through beautiful, strategic web design. See my services to learn more about how I can help you to launch your dream website.
