Shopify tutorial: How to use Shopify to build an online store

Shopify makes it easy to set up an online store without coding skills. Setting up a Shopify store is so easy that almost anyone can build an online store, even on a budget.

Read the rest of my Shopify tutorial to learn how you can set up an online store with Shopify without any coding skills. I’ll walk you through the process and explain how to install a theme, add products, and even show you how to set up shipping in Shopify.

Ready to learn? Let’s get straight to it.

How to build an online store with Shopify

Before you begin, make sure you have a domain name, a list of products with images, branding elements like a logo and favicon, and content for your website. Then, follow these steps to set up your Shopify store.

1. Sign up for a Shopify account.

Click the link below to create a new Shopify account.

Shopify Sign Up Page

Enter your email address on the free Shopify trial page and select Start free trial.

You won’t need to provide your credit card details to create an account, but you will need to enter a unique name for your store.

You don’t need a domain name at this time. You can set up your store on Shopify’s free subdomain, which reads something like your-store.myshopify.com, and plug in your domain name once you’re ready to go live.

Follow Shopify’s guided account creation process until you reach the Shopify admin dashboard. Then, proceed to the next step.

2. Add products to your store.

Once inside the dashboard, you’ll notice a few different settings and options on your screen. Here’s a brief introduction to the main settings:

• Search bar: The search bar on the top of your screen helps you find pages and settings.
• Navigation menu: The left-hand navigation menu lists all important backend setting options like orders, products, customers, and apps.
• Sales channels: This section lists all connected sales channels. Your online store is available by default. You can integrate other sales channels like Facebook, Instagram, or even a Point of Sale here.
• Setup guide: The setup guide in the middle of your screen is there to help you configure the basics of your online store. Each tab guides you through the process of adding either a product, theme, or domain to your store.

Select Add Product inside the Setup guide section or go to the Products page using the left-hand menu and choose Add Product. Add the following details on the product creation page:

• Product title: Add a descriptive product title.
• Description: Write a compelling description highlighting the best features of your product. You can also use Shopify Magic to help you write by clicking the purple icon in the Description box.
• Media: Upload product images, videos, and 3D model files with the highest resolution files you have available. Shopify will resize and optimize them for you automatically. 
• Pricing: Add your product pricing in the Price field. Optionally, add a higher amount for the Compare-at price value to show a discounted price on the product page.
• Inventory: Depending on the type of product you’re selling, digital or physical, set up inventory quantity, SKUs, barcodes, and availability.
• Shipping: Check the This product requires shipping box if you’re selling a Physical product and enter shipping information like product weight and customs information. Uncheck the box for Digital products.
• Variants: For products that have variants, add up to 3 options like color, size, or material and enter the stock and price for each variation.
• Search engine listing preview: Customize the meta title and description for search engines in this section. Optionally, assign an SEO-friendly URL for your product.
• Product organization: Assign your product to a category from the Shopify product taxonomy list and add a vendor (brand). Optionally, add tags and collections, and assign a product type.
• Product status: When you’re ready to publish the product live, set the status as Active and save it.

Read my guide on adding products to Shopify for a more detailed description. If you want to add custom fields to your product, follow my guide explaining how to add custom fields to product pages with metafields.

3. Install a theme and add apps.

Themes in Shopify control the look and feel of your store. Different themes use different designs and layouts to appeal to a specific audience.

Shopify offers a free default theme called Dawn and a limited selection of free third-party themes on its theme store. While they’re perfectly fine to use when you have a tight budget, I recommend choosing a paid theme to give your store a unique look.

Head to the Shopify theme store and use the search function and search for keywords related to your industry. For example, you can search for keywords like ‘premium’ and ‘luxury’ if you sell high-cost products.

If you don’t know what to search for, click All themes in the top navigation bar and use the filtering options on the next page to find your ideal theme.

Once you find an attractive theme, click Try theme to add it to your store. Then, return to the Shopify admin and select Online store > Themes.

In the Theme library, use the ellipsis button (…) to expand the actions menu next to the theme and select Preview. If you’re happy with how it looks, buy it using the Buy button inside the Theme library.

You can also customize the theme using the Shopify theme editor to add a unique touch to your website design. I strongly recommend doing this because you don’t want your store to look like a low-effort dropshipping store.

If you need more help, consider reading my beginner-friendly guide explaining how to install a Shopify theme. I’ve explained how to try a Shopify theme, shared the steps to install Shopify themes in three different ways, and included videos for everything.

4. Create basic store pages.

Now that you have a theme for your Shopify store, it’s time to create store pages to add content to your site. It’s best to do this after setting up your theme because that way, you have a better idea of your store design and layout and can write website copy based on that.

Every store must have a few basic pages like:

1. Home.
2. About us.
3. FAQs.
4. Shipping and returns policy.
5. Terms of service, privacy policy, and cookie policy.
6. Contact page.
7. Blog page.

These pages add authenticity to your brand.

Visitors that reach your website will be apprehensive about buying from you. But they’ll be more likely to buy from you when they read about your brand story on the About Us page and review your shipping and returns policies.

Baymard’s abandoned shopping cart research revealed that 18% of customers who abandon a checkout do it because they don’t trust the site with their card details. So write content that inspires trust and connects with your audience.

To add a new page to your Shopify store, go to Online store > Pages and select Add page.

Enter the page title, such as Home or About Us, and then add content to the page.

Shopify’s rich text editor lets you add different content types like:

• Links.
• Images.
• Tables.
• Videos.

You can also embed a Google Maps widget onto a page to point visitors to your store or warehouse.

Edit the search engine information for the page in the Search engine listing preview section and enter an SEO-friendly page title and description. Once you’re ready to publish the page, set the Visibility and select Save.

5. Set up your website navigation.

With your products, theme, and store pages out of the way, it’s time to turn your attention to the main website menu. A navigation menu is a set of links that help visitors find the different pages of your website. It’s usually located at the top of the page or in a sidebar.

You’re probably wondering why you need a navigation menu for your ecommerce store. Well, the answer is simple: it helps your visitors find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

Imagine walking into a shopping mall without any signs or maps telling you how to find the shop you’re looking for. You’d probably feel confused and frustrated, right? The same thing applies to your ecommerce store.

A well-organized navigation menu will help your visitors find what they’re looking for easily. That can lead to a better user experience and higher sales for your ecommerce store. Plus, it can also help search engines like Google and Bing understand the structure and content of your site to crawl and index it.

To set up a menu in Shopify, go to Online Store > Navigation and select Main menu. The main menu appears across your entire site. It is usually the first place most people look to find things like product categories and links to other store pages.

In the Main menu editing section, select Add menu item to add one or more categories and pages to the menu. Once you’re done, choose Save menu.

6. Customize your store branding.

It’s time to customize your Shopify store to match your branding. After all, your logo, color scheme, typography, and element styling set you apart from your competitors and help customers remember who you are.

Shopify makes it easy to manage all your brand assets from a single page located under Settings > Brand in the Shopify admin.

Here’s how you can customize different brand elements to ensure your Shopify store is completely on-brand:

1. Logo: Select Add a default logo in the Logos section to add one or more logos and assign locations for each logo.
2. Colors: In the Colors section, use the + sign to add a primary, secondary, and contrasting colors.
3. Cover image: In the Cover Image section, select Add a cover image or use the + sign to upload a PNG or JPEG image that will display across social media profile pages and other apps.
4. Slogan: Add a catchy brand statement of up to 80 characters using the + sign.
5. Description: Add a short meta description of up to 150 characters to describe your brand in bios and listings using the + sign.
6. Social links: In the Social links section, use the drop-down menu to add links to your brand’s social media profile pages across platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

Finally, choose Save to update the changes across your website.

After that, go to Online Store > Themes > Customize in the Shopify admin. Choose the Header option and select the logo file, width, and position. Then, choose the gear icon in the left-hand menu to open Theme Settings.

In the Theme Settings section, customize colors, fonts, layouts, button styling, and any other elements you like. Make one change at a time and try to keep things simple.

7. Set up shipping and taxes.

Setting up shipping and taxes in Shopify is pretty easy. But you must understand your local laws and regulations to ensure you’re setting it up correctly.

Shopify supports three main fulfillment methods: shipping, local delivery, and local pickup. You can offer your customers one or more options depending on your products and business model.

For example, if you’re building a Shopify store for a bakery, you might want to use local delivery and local pickup. But if you’re a dropshipper or sell goods internationally, you’ll probably want to stick to shipping.

Shopify supports three shipping methods by default:

• Flat rate shipping: Fixed shipping rates based on attributes like product price or weight.
• Carrier-calculated shipping: Dynamic shipping rates calculated during checkout using attributes like product weight, size, origin country, and destination.
• Free shipping: Zero-cost shipping, usually above a certain cart value, works best for increasing conversion rates and average order values.

It also allows you to set up custom rates and local delivery inside the Shopify admin. You can set up shipping rates in Shopify by going to Settings > Shipping and delivery, selecting Manage next to your choice of shipping profile, and configuring its pricing.

Once you set up shipping, it’s time to turn your attention to tax rates. Taxes are a bit more complicated since they vary by country and state.

Luckily, Shopify helps you overcome that challenge with multiple options to set up taxes in compliance with local regulations.

Shopify provides preconfigured settings for many regions, including the United States, Canada, EU, UK, Norway, Australia, and India.

You can set up location-based taxes from the Shopify admin by going to Settings > Taxes and duties > Tax regions and selecting the name of your country.

8. Integrate a payment gateway.

Next, you need to integrate a payment gateway to accept payments on your Shopify store. The easiest (and cheapest) way to set that up is to use Shopify Payments, as you won’t need to worry about any extra transaction fees.

But what if Shopify Payments isn’t available in your country?

You can use any of the 100+ payment gateways Shopify supports in that case. Shopify has a dedicated page that lists country-wise payment gateways to help you find the best payment gateway for your business.

Once you’ve found the best solution, you can set it up easily by going to Settings > Payments in the Shopify admin and following the steps in your dashboard.

9. Set up website analytics.

When you set up a Shopify store, you have multiple options to track visitor interactions and website performance. The default analytics tool, Shopify Analytics, gives you insights into important sales and traffic data.

You can view analytics data under the Analytics tab in your Shopify admin. And if you want more insight into your store performance, especially on search engines like Google and Bing, you’ll need to set up third-party analytics separately for them.

I strongly recommend setting up the following third-party analytics for your Shopify store:

1. Google Search Console.
2. Google Analytics 4.
3. Bing Webmaster Tools.

Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools will give you insights into organic search performance on their platforms. In contrast, Google Analytics will allow you to track visitor behavior on your Shopify store.

10. Test your store, connect your domain, and go live.

We’re on the home stretch now!

We’ve set up the Shopify store correctly, and now it’s time to test it to ensure things like your shipping, taxes, and payments are working properly.

Shopify provides a test mode for testing payments without messing up your accounting data. Follow these steps to place a test order on your Shopify store:

1. Go to Settings > Payments and deactivate any payment providers using the Manage option.
2. If you have Shopify Payments enabled, select Switch to a third-party provider in the Shopify Payments section. If you’re using a third-party payment provider, then select any provider and choose (for testing) Bogus Gateway.
3. Then, select Activate (for testing) Bogus Gateway and Save.
4. Go to your Shopify front end and place a test order like a regular customer. Test different product types, delivery postcodes, and during the payment stage, use the following details to place a test order:

5. Confirm everything works as expected by checking the order in the admin dashboard. After that, go back to the admin and select Deactivate (for testing) Bogus Gateway.

It’s time to go live once you verify everything works correctly and double-check your website copy. You do that by switching your Shopify store to use a custom domain under the Settings > Domains section of the Shopify admin.

There are two main ways to add a domain to Shopify:

1. Buy a domain from Shopify.
2. Connect your existing domain with Shopify.

I recommend buying a domain name from Namecheap instead of Shopify because it’s usually cheaper and adds more security to your website.

Once your website is live, promote it across your social media pages and drive traffic with ads. That’s the best way to get your first few orders until your website starts ranking organically.

What is Shopify and how does it work?

Shopify is a fully-managed ecommerce platform that helps you build and manage an online store. It’s offered as a subscription and provides everything you need to sell products online, like managing customers and orders.

Shopify is a software-as-a-service platform, which means you don’t have to worry about the technical stuff — Shopify takes care of it for you. They offer six different plans, starting at $5 per month for their Starter plan and going up to $2,000+ per month for their Plus plan, which is great for large businesses.

Shopify is versatile and lets you sell online in multiple ways — on your website, in person, or on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

The best part? It hosts your store on a powerful infrastructure that ensures your store loads in seconds across the globe. Shopify also gives you free access to its enterprise-grade content delivery network, Shopify CDN.

All you have to do is sign up for a trial or subscribe to one of its paid plans, set up your store, connect with sales channels, add products, and set up payments, shipping, and taxes.

Why use Shopify to build an online store?

Shopify is one the best platforms for building an online store because:

1. Easy to use: Shopify is user-friendly, so you don’t need to be a technical expert. You can easily set up your store, add products, and sell online.
2. Packed with features: Shopify has all the features you need to run an online store, from product management to order processing and payments. You can also use Shopify’s app store to add extra features and functionality to your store.
3. Customizable: With Shopify, you can choose from a range of templates and themes to customize the look and feel of your store. You can also use Shopify’s app store to add extra functionality to your store.
4. Secure: Shopify takes care of the security of your online store, so you don’t have to worry about it. They use SSL encryption to protect your customers’ information, and their servers are PCI compliant, which means they meet the highest standards for security.
5. Scalable: Whether you’re just starting out or have years of ecommerce experience, Shopify can scale with you. You can start with a basic plan and upgrade as your business grows.
6. 24/7 support: Shopify has a great support team to help you with any issues. They also provide various resources, such as webinars and guides, to help you get the most out of your online store.

How to set up a Shopify store: Ready to take the next step?

I’ve explained the exact steps you need to follow to set up a Shopify store from scratch. Now, it’s your turn to act. Sign up for a Shopify subscription and put these tips to use.

If you have any questions along the way, feel free to reach out to me anytime. And make sure you sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest developments in the ecommerce industry.

Frequently asked questions about building a Shopify store