HAVE A STORE WITHIN 7 DAYS OF ORDERING!
Simply fill out the form (answer each question), then add the product to your cart and proceed to checkout. I will handle everything else and consult with you via email if I need any additional information.
I'm purposely asking a large amount of questions before you order so that I can have everything I need (or as much as possible) to keep the turnaround times under seven (7) business days. Please take the time to accurately fill out the form with as much detail as you can. Otherwise, I will just end up asking you via email -- which will delay the project.
HAVING TROUBLE OR NEED HELP?
If you're not sure what options to pick, don't hesitate to ask for help. Please contact support@stephensworld.ca with any questions you might have. Listed below are more details on each of the sections in the form. Be sure to read through these before reaching out via email to save us both time!
Note: This form does not save if you leave the page. If you are unable to completely fill things out, I recommend writing your answers in a notepad file and then copying them over once you have everything decided and are ready to place your order.
NUMBER OF PRODUCTS
Most successful stores online (unless you're Amazon) focus in on only a handful of products. It's a lot easier to market your business if it's very clear what you're selling. With that said, there are businesses that thrive in large volumes of varying products, especially in the B2B space. Whatever your needs are, Stephen's World offers a tailored setup package for you.
PRODUCT SOURCE
The most important part of a store setup is, of course, adding the products. Stephen's World offers setup packages with three options for importing products.
You will add products yourself:
This is exactly what it sounds like, but don't worry, I will be here to help out if you need it. I can provide step-by-step instructions for how best to add your products, based on how you want the store to operate.
I always offer to double-check the first handful of products you add, just to make sure they're being created/imported correctly. Adding the products yourself will save you a fair amount of money in terms of the setup costs.
Sell products from AliExpress.com:
From my experience as a Guru and as an Expert, drop-shipping is the most common form of ecommerce stores. AliExpress.com is a perfect supplier for new entrepreneurs just getting started with ecommerce and/or Shopify. They provide a large variety of products to pick from at very low wholesale costs, so that you can actually make decent profit on each order.
If you decide to go this route, simply find products you want to sell by browsing the AliExpress website, and when you find ones you like, make note of the product page's URL. Provide me with a list of all the products you wish to sell, and I will handle the rest -- it's that easy!
Migration from supported platform:
Are you already selling on another platform, and want to make the switch to Shopify, but don't have the time to manually re-enter all of you products and setup a new store? No problem! Simply choose the migration option, when purchasing a setup package, and then provide me with your login credentials to your current platform.
I work with only the highest-quality Shopify Partners to make sure each migration is as accurate as possible. Each eCommerce platform does have subtle differences which can make the migration process tricky, but the custom websites offered at Stephen's World aim to make things a cake-walk for you!
Supported platforms include: Big Commerce, Woo Commerce, Wix, Magento, Square Space, Big Cartel, WordPress, & Go Daddy.
Shopify-formatted CSV spreadsheet:
If you have more than 100 products then your best bet for having them added to the store would be to do a import via CSV spreadsheet file. Many suppliers and other ecommerce platforms offer a CSV file with all of the product details to download. You will need to edit the formatting of this CSV file to match Shopify's standards in order for me to accept it. Click here for an example Shopify CSV spreadsheet, and see here for more details.
LOGO
Every eCommerce store needs a logo -- this really isn't an option. There's nothing worse for your branding than having customers arrive at your store while sporting a plain-text Times New Roman logo. Having a logo allows you to give your business and brand a personality. Websites without professional logos are much less successful, and it's hard to develop trust with your customers when your site and logo look unprofessional.
Allow me to generate a simple - yet professional - logo for your site, or alternatively, provide me with one to use. If you add the logo option to your order, I will ask for a bit of guidance on what you're looking for (style, colours, etc) but you must be flexible in terms of the end result. Graphic work is a tricky business, and if you're super-picky about how you want the logo to look - or you want something very complex/advanced - I recommend reaching out to a dedicated graphic artist instead, for the best results.
PICKING A THEME
At the time of writing this, Shopify has over 60 themes to pick from (with 10 of them being free). As is the nature of style & functionality, not all themes can be the best. I've picked 9 of my favourite paid themes, and 7 free themes, to help guide you towards making a choice. I've worked with (or tested) nearly all themes on the theme store at one point or another.
There are definitely a few good ones I've left off the list, which could be used if you're super-firm on which theme you want to go with. However, the ones I have included are the ones I have the most experience with, and know what to expect from. Having a familiarity with the theme being used definitely makes my job a bit easier, as I can help guide you in regards to your options available to you, as well as the features each theme offers.... not to mention any possible custom coding changes. I recommend visiting the Shopify theme store, and searching each of the themes I support to find the one you like the best.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT PAGES
Included in each setup package is an About Us page, Policies page, and Contact Us page.
Purchase additional pages for:
- coming-soon/password/landing page
- look-books
- informational pages
- event pages
- custom form pages
- FAQ pages
Content pages are not the same as product pages, collection pages, your site's homepage, blogs, the cart, or checkout. If in doubt, simply email me at support@stephensworld.ca and I will clarify if you need to order any additional content pages.
BLOGS
Blogs are a great way to sync lifestyle with product. If you enjoy writing about your products, how you use them, or what your company is up to -- a blog can be an effective way to bring customers back to your site, even when they're not planning on buying anything (which you can then leverage into making more sales). I'll keep things honest here though, blogs are a lot of work to manage and maintain.
Ideally, you'll want to publish one post every couple of days, or at the very least, one per week. Luckily, we're in an era where relatively cheap content writers are easy to find (depending on your niche/category). I personally recommend checking out Fiverr.com if you're looking for cheap but high-quality blog writers for your team. Note: I do not offer a blog/content writing service at this time.
APPS
Apps are simply add-ons for your Shopify store that will allow for additional functionality, not included within the basic platform itself. Apps are made by third-party developers, but vetted and approved by the Shopify app team. There are currently hundreds of apps to pick from on the Shopify App Store so I've listed some of my favourites (and most popular) apps to pick from.
Please take the time to look-up each of the apps listed in the form to see if they would be a good fit for your business, and then check the boxes next to each app you want added. It is worth noting that apps are not required, and you're certainly welcome to order a setup package without any apps (or alternatively, save some money by adding them yourself once the site is launched).
FACEBOOK SALES CHANNEL
If your business has a page on Facebook then this sales channel is a must-have. The Facebook Sales Channel allows your customers to browse a selection (or all) of your products directly on your Facebook business page. Each product listed will have a direct link back to your site, which can lead to some easy conversions.
Please note: you must be selling physical products (that require shipping) in order to list them on Facebook -- digital products are not allowed by Facebook and can result in restrictions being placed on your business page.
ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER
The reason I ask for these pieces of information is mostly because they're required by Shopify, for security, legal, and confirmation purposes. I do need a physical address to setup the tax rates, so even if you're starting an online-only business, an address is necessary. If you're 100% against providing me (or Shopify) with your business/home address, I would recommend renting a PO Box from your local post office.
For the phone number, choose whether or not you want it added to the website for customers to see, or else keep it private. It is worth noting that I simply copy and paste - what you provide - into Shopify (so you will want to make sure it's accurate).
STORE CURRENCY
Your Shopify store must have a main/default currency. Each store is tied to a currency, set in the general settings. This will be the currency that your customers will check-out in. It is definitely possible to add a currency converter to your site, so that customers can view the product prices in their native currency, but they will still need to checkout (pay) in the currency of your store. This usually isn't an issue for international customers, as all major credit cards (and PayPal) do support currency conversions.
However, if you do need to be able to sell in multi-currencies, you will need to have multiple stores (one for each currency). If you decide to go this route, please reach out to me before ordering to discuss discounts on the price of the additional stores (as well as how to sync them up and direct customers to the right store).
PAYMENT METHODS
In order for your customers to pay for their orders, you will need to have one or more payment methods set up. The portals through which customers pay are referred to as Payment Gateways. I recommend using Shopify Payments which allows you to accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, and Shopify Pay. Additionally, you will most likely want to accept payments via PayPal as well.
If you're looking to use other payment gateways (not included in the list from the form), please leave a note in the additional comments section (second-to-last question in the form). If you have any questions about what payment methods and/or gateways you should support, don't hesitate to reach out to me via email for more details.
SHIPPING RATES
Shipping rates need to be setup for the store as a whole, rather than by specific product. There is an app called Better Shipping that allows for setting product rates per individual product (in addition to the regular shipping rates settings), but I do not support that app at this point in time (you can add it yourself after the site is launched).
You have three options for setting up shipping rates: by weight, by price, or by carrier calculated rates. This last option essentially pulls live shipping rates from the shipping provider of your choice (Canada post, USPS, UPS, or FedEx). If possible, I recommend going with the Carrier Calculated Rates option (if possible) as it will be the most accurate and prevent your customers from overpaying on their shipping costs.
CUSTOM DOMAIN
Every site/store will need a custom domain name. You don't want use the .myshopify.com URL as it looks less professional than having your own domain (ie. www.yoursite.com). Custom domains usually cost less than $15 per year (for most extensions - .com, .ca, etc).
If you have already purchased a domain name through a major domain provider, we should be able to set it up to work with your Shopify store. Alternatively, if you haven't purchased a custom domain name yet, I am happy to work with you to find the best one for your business that is currently available.
STORE POLICIES
Store policies are definitely a must-have, both for building trust with your clients, as well as legal reasons. You will want to include (and make very clear) any requirements you have, fulfillment/shipping times, when customers can request refunds, returns, and exchanges, as well as any rules you have for conducting business. If you're feeling overwhelmed by having to create these policies, I can certainly generate some standard policies, which you can then read over and edit as needed.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
I currently offer three (3) additional services you can add to your setup package.
The first option being to Submit your Sitemap to Google's Webmaster Tools, which is needed for Google to index your site in their search results. This can help with generating organic traffic, and is definitely needed if you hope to eventually end up on the first page of a given search result.
The second option being to Create/Link a Google Analytics Account, which is only needed if you're looking to advertise/market your site via Google Ads. I can link an existing GA account to the store, or alternatively, create a new GA account for you -- using a new or existing Gmail account.
The third option is to Add a Facebook Tracking Pixel, which is only needed if you're planning on running Facebook Ads. The tracking pixel helps with managing your ad campaigns, with specific regards to conversions, click-through rates, and customer targeting.
EXTRA COSTS
There are a number of extra costs you will need to consider (which aren't included in the total price of your custom setup package via Stephen's World).
- Shopify Monthly Fees (see pricing here)
- Website's Theme (if using a paid theme)
- Custom Domain Name (usually around $15 per year)
- Email Hosting (has to be done outside of Shopify)
- Any Paid Apps Added (if applicable)
- Custom Graphics Work (if needed)
- Advanced Custom Coding Modifications
If you have any questions about what is - and isn't - included in your setup package, please don't hesitate to email me at support@stephensworld.ca.