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Shopify is a fantastic platform for building an online presence and selling products. Whether you’re starting a brand new business or expanding an existing one, creating a Shopify website is a great way to increase your visibility and boost your sales. 

With our extensive experience in St. Louis Shopify website design, we have perfected the art of creating visually stunning and highly functional online stores that captivate audiences. Our team of talented designers and developers possess an in-depth understanding of the Shopify platform, allowing us to seamlessly blend creativity and functionality to deliver outstanding results.

Whether it’s designing eye-catching layouts, optimizing user experiences, or integrating powerful e-commerce features, we’re up to the task. Let’s work together to transform your online presence and take your Shopify store to new heights!

Table Of Contents

What Is Shopify?

If you’re not familiar with the Shopify platform, here’s a brief overview:

Shopify is an eCommerce platform that enables individuals and businesses to create and operate their online stores. It provides a suite of tools for designing, building and managing an online store, including features like website hosting, payment processing, inventory management, shipping, and customer engagement.

With Shopify, users can sell a variety of products and services, including physical goods, digital products, subscriptions, and appointments. The platform is known for its user-friendly interface and flexibility, making it a popular choice for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to establish an online presence.

5 Steps For Creating A Shopify Website

Our team can build anything from small simple sites to large, enterprise-level e-commerce presences depending on your needs. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a Shopify website, including customizing a theme, writing content, and optimizing for search engines.

Woman working on a Shopify Website Design.

Step 1: Picking The Right Account

The first step in creating a Shopify website is signing up for an account. Shopify offers a variety of plans, depending on your budget, the size of your business, and the features you need.

Here’s A Breakdown Of The Different Pricing Plans Offered By Shopify And What They Include:

  • Basic Shopify: This plan costs $39/month and includes all the essential features you need to run an online store, such as website hosting, unlimited products, 24/7 support, and the ability to sell on social media.
  • Shopify: This plan costs $105/month and includes everything in Basic Shopify, as well as additional features like gift cards, professional reports, and the ability to sell in-person with Shopify POS.
  • Advanced Shopify: This plan costs $399/month and includes all the features in Shopify, plus advanced features like third-party calculated shipping rates, custom reports, and advanced report builder.

The main differences in the plans and monthly rates depend on how many staff accounts you need (users). With some of the larger plans, you get better rates on credit card transactions that can pay off with a large volume of transactions.

In general, if you’re just starting or have a small business, Basic Shopify may be the best option for you. If you need more features, such as gift cards or the ability to sell in-person, consider the Shopify plan. Advanced Shopify is typically for larger businesses with more complex needs. You can always start with a lower-tier plan and upgrade later if you need more features.

Step 2: Choosing A Theme Or Building A Theme

Shopify offers a wide range of themes, from minimalist designs to complex layouts. When choosing a theme, consider the type of products you’ll be selling, your target audience, and your branding. You can customize a theme to fit your needs once you’ve chosen a theme. Building your theme for Shopify can give your online store a unique and personalized look that sets it apart from other stores. Building your theme for Shopify requires knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Liquid. If you’re not familiar with these languages, we can help!

Our team has expertise in building Shopify themes from the ground up. Our approach involves a collaborative process with our clients, where we listen carefully to their needs and preferences, provide guidance and recommendations based on our experience, and make tweaks until we reach a final product. Whether it’s a small tweak to an existing theme or a fully customized solution, we’re committed to delivering high-quality and functional themes that enhance user experience and drive conversions.

Step 3: Customizing Your Theme

Customizing your Shopify theme is an important step in creating a unique and professional website. You can customize your theme’s colors, fonts, images, and layout to reflect your brand and make your website stand out. 

You can also add custom code to further personalize your website. Some themes even have built-in HTML5 animations, icons, badges, and more. Our website design and website development team can help you navigate these options and choose features that best suit your needs.

Woman customizing her website theme.

Step 4: Writing Content

The content on your website is crucial for engaging your audience and promoting your products. When writing content, consider your target audience and their needs. Your content should be informative, engaging, and relevant to your products. 

Our content team can help you develop a clear brand voice and tone, and create copy that resonates with your audience and showcases your brand. We take a strategic approach to content creation, starting with a thorough analysis of your target audience, competitor analysis, and industry trends. We work closely with you to understand your brand values, goals, and messaging and use this information to develop a content strategy that aligns with your business objectives. 

Step 5: Optimizing For Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website and its content to improve your visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs), to drive more organic traffic to your website. Optimizing your Shopify website is crucial to ensure that it is performing at its best and attracting visitors to your store.

It’s important to note that the process of optimizing your website for search is an ongoing process that will need to be worked on and monitored over time.

A Few Best Practices For Optimizing Your Shopify Website Are:

  • Creating a user-friendly site map
  • Improving site speed
  • Adding internal links
  • Adding external links
  • Using relevant keywords in your content
  • Creating engaging and intuitive product pages
  • Adding alt text to images
  • Customizing meta titles and descriptions
  • and more…

Going with Shopify also allows you to be featured in the Shop App which aggregates Shopify stores around the web and serves recommended products from those stores to users. This is a great way to get added visibility and opportunities for conversion.

Now, this may seem like a lot… and for someone who isn’t familiar with SEO, it can be. Our SEO team has years of experience in optimizing websites and creating strategies to drive traffic and conversions. We approach SEO in a holistic sense, meaning that we consider all aspects of a website and its online presence, rather than just focusing on individual ranking factors. We also engage in regular client communication to touch base on goals and provide transparency into our process.

How Do I Know If Shopify Is Right For Me?

If you’re considering using Shopify for your eCommerce website but aren’t sure if it’s the best fit, we can help. By understanding your business and your specific goals, we can offer valuable insights and recommendations on approaching your project.

Shopify is a highly flexible and robust platform that offers a wide range of features and tools to help you sell products online. It’s also well-supported and can integrate with many other tools and systems, which can help streamline your workflow and improve your overall efficiency.

Determining if Shopify is the right platform.

However, if you determine that Shopify isn’t the best fit, our team also has experience with other popular platforms such as WordPress, WooCommerce, and Laravel. Ultimately, our goal is to help you achieve success with your eCommerce website, and we’re committed to working closely with you every step of the way to make that happen. Whether you choose Shopify or another platform, we’ll provide expert guidance and support to ensure that your website is optimized for success.

We’re Here To Help With Your Shopify Websites!

Whatever your product or service we can help with strategy, design, development, integration, and marketing services to bring your products online or make your new Shopify website perform at its peak. With a vast amount of experience creating dynamic and robust Shopify websites, we can help craft a solution to meet your business goals.

As a St. Louis Shopify website design agency, we are excited to be listed as one of the top eCommerce web design companies.

St. Louis Shopify Website Design FAQ

Q: What Is Shopify?

A: Shopify is an e-commerce platform that enables individuals and businesses to create and operate their own online stores. It provides a suite of tools for designing, building, and managing an online store, including features like website hosting, payment processing, inventory management, shipping, and customer engagement.

Q: What Are The Steps For Creating A Shopify Website?

A: The steps For Creating A Shopify Website Are As Follows:

  1. Pick the right account by signing up for a suitable plan.
  2. Choose a theme or build a custom theme.
  3. Customize your theme to reflect your brand.
  4. Write engaging and relevant content.
  5. Optimize your website for search engines.

Q: How Much Does Shopify Cost?

A: Shopify Offers Different Pricing Plans. The Plans Are As Follows:

  • Basic Shopify: $39/month
  • Shopify: $105/month
  • Advanced Shopify: $399/month The pricing varies based on the features included, such as website hosting, unlimited products, 24/7 support, gift cards, professional reports, and more.

Q: Can I Customize My Shopify Theme?

A: Yes, you can customize your Shopify theme to make your website unique and professional. You can customize colors, fonts, images, layout, and even add custom code to personalize your website further. Our design and development team can assist you in navigating the options and choosing features that suit your needs.

Q: How Do I Know If Shopify Is Right For Me?

A: If you’re unsure if Shopify is the right fit for your eCommerce website, our team can help. We can understand your business and goals and offer valuable insights and recommendations. Shopify is a flexible platform with robust features and integrations, but if it doesn’t meet your requirements, we also have experience with other platforms like WordPress, WooCommerce, and Laravel. Our goal is to work closely with you to ensure your website’s success, regardless of the platform you choose.

Contact Matchbox Design Group Today!

If your website could use a refresh or you’re looking to drive more traffic to your site, fill out the form below and we’ll contact you to learn more about your digital needs.