Want to start a Shopify eCommerce or dropshipping business? We provide details on how to launch and publish your Shopify store without any problem.
Highlights
We shared the details you need to know about how to publish Shopify store and make it live.
Set Up Your Shopify Store: Learn how to set up and customize your store, add products, and configure settings and make it reflect your brand.
Optimize your Store: Discover tips to optimise your Shopify website such as adding a custom domain, setting up payment etc
Publish Your Shopify Store: Step-by-step guide on making your store live and ensure everything is ready to sell to your customers.
Promote your store: Learn the marketing strategies to promote and managing your store after publishing.
Whether you're looking for how to publish your Shopify website or "How do I publish my Shopify store?"
This blog post cover everything to launch a successful Shopify store.
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Shopify is one of the top eCommerce platforms for creating and running an e-commerce store. Statistics show that more than 670 million customers buy from Shopify merchants yearly.
When you consider that there are only about 2 million merchants on Shopify, it becomes clear that Shopify e-commerce has the potential to build a profitable business, even for beginners who are just creating their store.
Convinced by this, buyers and sellers continue to flood the eCommerce platform. The transactions these people carry out have resulted in over $999,000,000,000 in total sales—expected to rise in the future.
You can join the bandwagon and secure yourself a piece of the pie.
To launch your own Shopify store, the first step is to create your own Shopify. This article will teach you how to set up your store in 9 simple steps.
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Ready to launch your Shopify store? Let’s get into it.
How To Publish Shopify Store Step-By-Step Guide
Below is the step-by-step guide on how to publish your Shopify store and start your dropshipping business.
Step 1: Sign Up on Shopify
The first step to publish the Shopify store is to join the platfrom.
Signing up on this platform typically requires a subscription plan, but there’s a free trial for beginners. We’ll address the other pricing plans in the next step, but first, you must create your account.
Begin by going to the Shopify official website to start a free trial account.
To create your Shopify account, add your email address and click Start Trial, as seen in the image below.
The next step is to fill in your details. Shopify will ask for basic information, including your name (as it appears on your ID), email address, and desired password. But that’s not all.
They’ll also ask what type of store you’re planning to run. In this case, the obvious answer is “an online store”. Feel free to choose other options if they suit you.
Beyond that, you’ll also be asked whether you’re already selling or just starting. This question will help the Shopify platform provide you with more personal recommendations as you set up your store.
Once you move on to the next page, you’ll be asked what products you sell. You can select from the provided options or click “decide later”.
After selecting the appropriate options, click “Get started,” and you’ll be redirected to where to choose your Shopify plan.
Step 2: Choose Your Shopify Plan
You must select one amongst 3 of Shopify’s pricing or subscription plans. Choosing the one that best fits your business needs is more important.
Remember: As a newcomer, any plan you choose will come with a free trial. You can begin with that and upgrade to a paid plan anytime.
Here are the three main Shopify pricing plans.
- Basic ($32): This plan is ideal for new businesses. It includes an online store, unlimited product listings, sales channels, analytics, and 24/7 support.
- Shopify ($92): This plan includes all basic features plus lower transaction fees, 5 staff accounts, and access to custom apps.
- Advanced ($399): This plan is best for larger businesses needing more detailed reporting and advanced features. It includes everything in the other packages, plus custom reports and analytics, even lower transaction fees, 15 staff accounts, and ten times the checkout capacity.
Shopify offers 3 months for $1 to get started.
After selecting your plan, you’ll be sent to your store’s dashboard.
Step 3: Set Up Your Store’s Basic Settings
After accessing your Shopify dashboard, the next thing to do is customize several of your store’s settings.
But regardless of which setting you want to customise, you’ll first need to access the settings page.
To do this, click “Settings” in the lower-left corner of the dashboard.
General Settings
On the settings page, select “General”.
Here, you can update your store name, contact details, currency, time zone (critical for order tracking), store address, and more.
Payment Setting
Shopify supports several payment gateways (like PayPal, Stripe, and Shopify Payments). To set this up:
- Go to Settings > Payments.
- Choose the payment providers you want to use.
- Set up payment methods (credit card, debit card, etc.) and input your business details to start accepting payments.
- You can also add Shopify-supported payments if they are available in your country.
Click Choose a Provider, then select your preferred payment gateway to process your store.
Checkout Settings
The next step is to configure the checkout setting for your Shopify store. This is where you configure information to display on the checkout page of your e-commerce store.
Your checkout page must be simple to ensure an easy process when customers buy at your store.
Shipping & Delivery Settings
Shopify allows you to set shipping rates based on weight, location, or flat rate.
- Go to Settings > Shipping and Delivery.
- Set your shipping regions (U.S., Canada, International) and choose your preferred delivery methods.
This is where you will set up the shipping rate for your products. One of the best ways to reduce shipping rates and increase store conversion is to use Shopify shipping services.
Learn more about Shopify shipping rates to guide you.
After that, you can set up a delivery date. You can configure expected delivery dates such as shop promise and manual delivery dates.
You can also set up local delivery to deliver orders directly from your location.
Setting Up Tax Rates
In most countries, tax is significant, and as a merchant, you need to decide if the customers will need to pay tax on their orders.
To make everything work better, you can consult your tax experts. For some regions or countries, Shopify automatically calculates tax; this also works for sellers from the EU. You can check EU VAT rules on the Shopify platform to help you.
To set up tax, go to setting > Tax and Duties.
You’re done with your store’s basic settings. Next, you’ll need to decide on its theme.
Step 4: Choose A Theme For Your Store
Your store’s theme determines how it looks and feels. It also determines how well your store will be able to convert leads into sales.
Luckily, there are many free and paid themes available on Shopify for you to choose from. What’s more? Each theme offered on Shopify is optimised not just to capture attention but also to improve your conversion rate.
Here’s how to pick a theme:
Browse Shopify Themes
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On the dashboard, click on Online Store > Themes.
- You can explore the free themes offered by Shopify or visit the Theme Store for more options.
- Install a Theme
- Once you’ve found a theme you like, click “Add” to install it.
- You can customize the theme to suit your branding better.
- Customize Your Theme
- After ‘adding’ a theme, click “Customize” to edit.
- The customization page allows you to modify colours, fonts, logos, and the layout of your homepage, product pages, and more.
Step 5: Add Products To Your Shopify Store
Now that your store has a design, it’s time to add the products you plan to sell.
Navigate to the Products Section
From the dashboard >Click Products > Add Product
Enter Product Details
For each product, you’ll need to provide:
- Title and Description: You’ll write a detailed product description with keywords to help with SEO.
- Images: Upload high-quality photos of your product.
- Price: Set a price that includes your desired profit margin.
- Add a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) for inventory tracking, if applicable.
- Inventory and Variants: You can add product variants if you sell different sizes or colours.
Inventory Management
Shopify automatically tracks inventory, so enable the inventory tracking option when adding your products.
Shipping Information
Specify product weights and dimensions for shipping.
Here is what you need to fill in about your products
Title
Product Descriptions
Media
Pricing
Ivestory
Shipping
Variant
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Step 6: Set Up Your Domain
A custom domain looks more professional and gives your business credibility. You can either buy a domain directly from the platform or you can connect an existing domain from a third-party provider.
To buy from a domain from Shopify:
On your dashboard, click “Settings” and select Domains. Click “Buy a new domain” to purchase one directly from the platform.
If you own a domain and would prefer to use that:
Click “Connect existing domain” and follow the instructions to link it to your Shopify Store.
Step 7: Configure Your Store’s Taxes
Setting up taxes correctly is crucial for selling online. Shopify can automatically calculate taxes based on your store’s location and where you’re selling from.
- Go to Settings
- Click “Settings” and then on “Taxes.”
- Shopify will auto-set tax rates for many regions, but you may need to adjust them if your business operates in multiple areas.
Step 8: Test Your Store and Let It Come Alive
Before launching your store, you should test it to ensure everything works smoothly. Here’s how to do that:
Preview the Store
Click on “Online Store,” then “Preview.” You could also just click on the eye symbol (👁️).
This will show you what your store looks like from the perspective of your customers and prospects.
- Test Your Checkout Process
- Perform a test purchase using Shopify’s “Bogus Gateway”. Bogus Gateway is a payment provider specifically designed by Shopify to simulate payments.
- Use the Test mode. The test mode gives you faux credit cards that you can use to test-run your payment process.
To activate it, go to Settings > Payments, click on “Manage,” and select “Enable test mode.”
9. Launch Your Store
Once you’re satisfied with everything, you need to make your store accessible to everyone. To do that, you must deactivate the password protection.
This feature allows only people with a password to access your store. To deactivate it, go to your dashboard and click “Online Store”.
After that, select “Preferences”, and then scroll down until you see “Password Protection”. Once you get there, uncheck the box, save it, and you’re ready to go.
Note: You won’t be able to remove the password protection until you select a pricing plan.
Step 10: Marketing
Once your store is live, your new mission is to attract customers to come and shop with you.
Here’s how to do it:
- Use SEO-friendly Product Descriptions
Write clear, keyword-rich descriptions to help customers find your products online.
- Set Up Google Analytics
Integrate Google Analytics with Shopify to track your traffic, sales, and customer behaviour. If you’re new to Google Analytics, check out this guide.
- Promote on Social Media
Shopify has social media integrations to help you share products on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
- Invest in Paid Acquisition
You can significantly improve your traffic and sales by investing in PPC marketing. Popular options to explore include Google, Facebook, and Instagram.
How To Publish Shopify Store: Conclusion
If you’ve read up, you know how to create and lift off your eCommerce store.
Setting up a Shopify store account is a great first step, but it’s just that—the first step. From here on, you’ll have to spend a large chunk of your time managing the store and ensuring it stays profitable.
This is no small task. But to make it easier, Shopify offers plenty of growth-oriented tools and resources, from apps to marketing features.
By now, I believe you have launched and published your Shopify store.
If you have questions about publishing your Shopify store, let me know in the comment section.
FAQs
How long does it take to set up a Shopify store?
Setting up a Shopify store can take a few hours or days, depending on how much customization you want and how many products you add.
The basic steps—creating an account, selecting a theme, adding products, and setting up payment methods—can typically be completed in a day.
Do I need a business license to sell on Shopify?
While Shopify does not require a business license to create an account, it is essential to check your local laws. Your location and the products you want to sell might require you to have a business license or permit to sell legally online.
Can I change my Shopify store name later?
Yes, you can change your store name anytime from the “General Settings” section of your Shopify admin tab.
However, the store’s URL (e.g., storename.myshopify.com) cannot be changed once it is created. You must purchase a custom domain if you want a different URL.
Can I sell internationally on Shopify?
Yes, Shopify allows you to sell internationally. You can set up your store to accept different currencies. You can even define shipping rates for various countries and target international markets.
Shopify also integrates with global payment providers to facilitate smooth transactions.
How to publish Shopify store online
The details above show how to publish a Shopify store and the steps to customise it and make it look attractive by adding a theme to your store.
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Oyundoyin Anthony is a blogger and an affiliate marketer that offers helpful contents to people who are looking for different products for their needs. He enjoys helping people to achieve success in their business.