Step 1: Signup for a Shopify Account
Before you begin, you will need to have a few things figured out first:
- What are you going to sell?
- Are people likely to buy your products?
- Who do you plan to sell your products to?
- How are you going to sell your products?
- Where are you going to get your products from?
- How are you going to get your products to your customers?
- What is your budget for launching this project, and marketing your business?
- What are you going to call your business, and do you have a logo?
- Does your business name and logo accurately reflect what you're trying to achieve?
- Who are your biggest competitors?
- What are they doing well, and what can you do better than them?
- How will you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
- Is it worth starting your own business, or would it be better to partner with an existing business?
At the very least, you should have the following completed before starting:
1. your product details (and links to images) organized in a spreadsheet
2. a list of your product categories and subcategories
3. which theme you would like to use (but don't purchase one yet)
4. graphics (slideshow images, logo, banners, etc.)
5. content for pages (about, contact, policies, etc.)
Here are some helpful tools that are worth bookmarking before proceeding any further in the setup process:
Shopify's Business Name Generator - We use science to help you find the perfect name.
Shopify's Logo Maker - Create your very own logo design using our easy logo maker tool.
Shopify's Slogan Maker - Discover catchy slogan ideas.
Burst - Browse thousands of photos that are free to use.
LunaPic - Remove the background from images.
PicResize - Easily crop, resize, and edit your images online for free.
TinyPNG - Optimize your images with a perfect balance in quality and file size.
HTML Table Generator - Allows you to build a table and then export it to HTML.
Fiverr - Hire freelance graphic artists, content writers, and video editors for reasonable prices.
Promo - Easily create beautiful marketing videos with your own logo and message(s).
Once you have the above completed, the very first thing you will need to do is signup for a free 14-day Shopify trial account (by clicking the button below). Please use this link for signing up and creating your store - as it helps me earn a little bit of money - since I'm sharing this guide with you for free.
After clicking the "Get started" button, it will ask you for a password and store name. For the store name, this will be used as the .myshopify.com URL so instead of putting your actual store name (ie. "Stephen's World"), put in what you want the Shopify subdomain to be (ie. "stephensworld" or "stephens-world"). The shorter you can make this name be, the better. If your store name is taken, don't freak out, as it doesn't necessarily mean that someone is copying your business -- just try another version of the name until you find one that's available (think of this like signing up for a new email address).