Is it advantageous to build a Shopify website? Shopify websites are a quick, all in one solution for your online ecommerce solution. It provides a start to finish project from website setup to product sales.
You can have product sales from your own product, or sell established name brand products. In this review, I will explore the pros and cons and help you decide if you want to build a Shopify website.
- Product – Shopify
- Website – https://www.shopify.com/
- Cost – $29, $79, $299
- Free Trial – 14 Day Free Trial
- Rating – Legit – 8/10
The online process of setting up an ecommerce store can be handled in minutes using the Shopify platform. Whatever your preference, it is quick, simple and easy to design online stores with the Shopify themed websites.
Not everyone wants to learn all the details of building their website from scratch. Shopify allows you to hire the contractor, but remain in charge of the details Let’s face it, creating an online site to sell products may be something that you would rather let someone else do for you.
Build A Shopify Website Using The Best All In One Platform
No program or platform is going to be perfect, but I honestly believe that this is one of the best All in One ecommerce platforms out there. I have used the platform myself, so I have experienced how Shopify works.
Understand there are fees involved that make this more expensive than building a website using WordPress or WooCommerce which are free and completely do it yourself platforms. But, to build you own website, you will need some training or experience. With Shopify, experience is not necessary but it does have expenses.
Shopify makes the display of products much easier. You could focus on building out your business and not worry as much about your website expertise. If you think that building your own website might be too difficult to tackle alone, then Shopify is an option to consider.
If you have your own site, then you may like the Shopify Lite Buy Button discussed later. Shopify also provides the Store Importer App that you can use to transfer your existing website to the Shopify Platform. I would definitely make sure you have a copy of your site saved just in case, before using the store Importer.
You would also avoid the worry of getting involved with any website builder scams.
Shopify Features Make It Easy To Create A Shopify Website
Shopify is one of the easiest and most popular website builders to use and has a lot of great features. It is a turn key eCommerce solution that allows you to put all the pieces(including hosting) together easily by yourself.
Using drag and drop site building it is simple to change things around to suit yourself. However, the drag and drop feature is not included in all the free themes Shopify offers. So, you may have to purchase a premium Shopify theme to get all the features you want.
They also provide tools to help you build your own brand with logo help, creating your business name and help with slogans to use. And they provide additional free training for things like dropshipping or improving sales and traffic.
Shopify is easy and popular, but as I said, it costs money when compared to WordPress, or WooCommerce (build it yourself) free products. If your are on a shoestring budget, their are ways to minimize your costs with Shopify.
Shopify Plans And Cost
Shopify Lite And The Buy Button
The basic Shopify plan at $29 is the most economical plan for a complete online store that Shopify offers.
But they do actually have a cheaper Shopify lite plan at $9 per month. It is very limited in features and it requires you to have your own website. You really aren’t using the Shopify Platform when you use Shopify Lite. And that does allow you to accept and process credit card payments.
If you are considering Shopify Lite for your site, They have the “Buy Button” function that gives you some nice features. You can add embedded products to you site. Also, you could embed a shopping cart, with customized colors to match your website. The Buy Button will allow you to sell on Facebook, and give your customers the ability to purchase directly from chat.
However, this can only be used if you have an existing site. The price is only $9 per month because, it’s functions are very limited and does not operate as the Shopify eCommerce platform.
Shopping Cart And Credit Card Processing Included With Shopify Lite
If you simply needed the ability to process credit cards, and needed a shopping cart, then Shopify lite has some pretty cool features that may interest you.
- You can copy and paste products right into your website.
- Accept credit cards.
- You can create invoices, and accept payments.
- Sell on Facebook
- Accept payments directly from chat
But, Shopify lite will not create an online store. To do that you will require one of the three plans offered by Shopify.
With all the helpful tools that Shopify offers like drag and drop store builder, you can set up an eCommerce store or blog site in no time at all.
Shopify Basic
The Shopify basic plan is the most popular for beginners starting out in online marketing. It has all the tools necessary for opening a store, plus everything you need to run and manage the store. You get your custom domain name, hosting and the ability to accept payments from credit cards.
Features included for $29 a month:
- Unlimited products and file storage
- Printing shipping labels
- Discount codes
- 24/7 support
- Fraud analysis
- Free SSL certificate
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Website and Blog
- Shipping Discounts up to 64%
- External Gateway Fees 2%
Shopify
The Shopify plan is the standard plan that brings more features to your store than the basic plan. This is the upgrade plan for the store owners who need a few more options to help with their business.
Shopify Costs $79 a month and includes:
- All the features of the basic plan
- Gift Cards
- Professional reports
- 5 Staff accounts
- Reduced fee for payment charges
- Shipping discount of up to 72%
- External Gateway Fees 1.5%
Advanced Shopify
The Advanced Shopify plan offers even more features to help you grow your online store. This plan is focused on scaling you store and growing your business. This plan is about the analytics of your site. It is advanced features for learning all the metrics about your business. Your business should be very profitable, before you upgrade to this plan.
The Advanced Shopify Plan at $299 a month Includes:
- All the features of the Shopify Plan
- Advanced report builder
- Shipping discounts up to 74%
- Up to 15 staff accounts
- External Gateway Fees 0.5%
There is also one additional enterprise plan, Shopify Plus. It starts around $2000 per month +2.15% per transaction.
Why Build A Shopify Website
Shopify is an alternative to hiring a programmer to create a custom site just for you. This is a quick and easy option to get up and running without having to use any code.And if you try to set up a site for displaying many products, it can get messy pretty darn quick. Shopify solves that problem, and many more for you.
It is not free, but it is reasonable and very easy. I promised that when I founded this site I would find the free solution first. So, you can also build your website free.
It Does Cost Money, But Might Be Worth It
I also promised my readers, that I would tell you if it is going to cost you money. Well, Shopify will cost you money, but it is really a lot of value for the money. It’s quite a bang for your buck. The best plan at $299 has all the features that make it most simple to do. If your funds are limited, go with the cheaper option at $79.
It is a tool for you to use that saves the time and work of starting from scratch, and includes some nice features already to give you a turn key approach, rather than bootstrapping everything. Most importantly, they have seamless payment providers with Shopify Payments, or using third Party providers.
There are several ways customers can pay without using credit cards. For instance PayPal, Facebook Pay, Amazon Pay and Apple Pay. Maybe you would even consider cryptocurrency payments. If you use Shopify Payments and enable Shop Pay, you can allow customers to save shipping and payment information to insure faster checkouts.
You can keep it simple and use the free apps and free Shopify Payment gateways provided by Shopify. If you use Shopify Payments, you don’t pay any transaction fee. But, if you use an external payment gateway, there are additional fees.
Shopify Payment Gateway Fees
| Shopify Pricing | Shopify Lite | Shopify Basic | Shopify | Shopify Advanced |
| Monthly Cost | $9 | $29+2.9%+0.30 per transaction | $79+2.6%+0.30 per transaction | $299+2.4%+0.30 per transaction |
| Yearly Cost | $108 | $313.20/$26.10mo. | $853.20/$71.10mo | $3229.20/$269.10 |
| Yearly Payment Savings | 0 | 20% | 20% | 20% |
| 2 Year Cost | $216 | $556.80/$23.20 | $1516.80/$63.20 | $5740.80$239.20 |
| 2 Year Payment Savings | 0 | 20% | 20% | 20% |
What Shopify provides, is a package of solutions all in one place. And at a reasonable cost. You are still encouraged to learn about SEO, and promoting your store by social networks.
Shopify Has Been Building Shopify Websites Since 2006
Some name brands such as Pixar, Wikipedia, GE, and Evernote use Shopify. The Shopify platform has been around since 2006. Currently about 500,000 eCommerce stores, are using websites powered by Shopify.
This established platform makes it easy to run your business, and new updates are added all the time. Everything is provided for you including the hosting of your site. They have a complete library of videos to show how simple their plug and play system is to use.You won’t need to be a programmer to operate your store.
Shopify Features
- 100+ Professional themes
- Mobile eCommerce Ready- Sites are mobile friendly and built in mobile friendly shopping carts included. Customers shop right from their phones or laptops.
- Web based website builder.-host thru Shopify- includes full feature management system
- Use your own domain or purchase one through Shopify
- Brand your store with easy to use custom templates.
Shopping Cart Included
- Free SSL- your cart is secure and protected.
- Accept credit cards with over 70 payment gateways.
- Ability to offer free shipping at your price point.
- Flexible shipping-Fixed, tiered, weight, or location based
- 50+ languages
- Automatic shipping rates through major carriers-UPS, USPS, FedEx
- Abandoned checkout recovery for abandoned shopping carts.
- Automatic taxes for country and state
Store Management Features Are Included
Operating a store includes a lot of tasks and creates a few headaches along with it When you build a Shopify site, many of these problems are solved for you.
Everything you need to sell online, is included. For instance, just the record keeping alone for your customers can be daunting. Here is a partial list of tasks that are handled for you and accessed right inside your website dashboard.
- Customer profiles and shopping history.
- Customer groups -arrange by sales history, location and more.
- Connect to fulfillment centers such as Amazon, Aliexpress and others.
- Drop-shipping- integrates with other app like Ordoro, eCommHub and others.
- Refunds and automatic inventory updates.
- Email templates
- Shopify app for your smartphone- allows management right from your phone.
SEO Optimization Can Be Changed Easily
Many of the tasks required for SEO are handled for you. Any additional changes you want to make can be done easily inside the website, simply by typing in what you need.
- Search engine optimized and auto generated site maps
- Social media integration- Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr.
- Google adword credits
Physical And Digital Product Changes Are Easy As Well
The easy to use interface enables changes and additions to be done quickly.
- Discount codes, coupons and gift cards – purchased on site or used to purchase, or store credit.
- The training and apps needed to sell products on Facebook with product checkout handled right on Facebook .
- Product variations and organization.
- Digital Products can be sold right from your site.
- Import and export your products.
- Unlimited Products
Web Hosting Is Included
You do not need additional hosting. Shopify handles this for you.
- All your hosting requirements are handled for you.
- Unlimited bandwidth – not based on visitors or traffic.
- Level-Pc1 compliant – customers credit card data is kept safe.
- SSL certificate – Keeps all your business data secure.
- 99,99% uptime and 24/7 monitoring.
- Content Delivery Network- CDN – worldwide for your customers.
User Friendly And Simple Interface
You can set up your reports with analytics services like Facebook Pixel and Google analytics to help you track customers and improve your business. These work right from your dashboard keeping records of all your customers data such as sales and orders, all your traffic source and demographics.
No programming skills are needed. You will need to learn some “liquid code” if you like to tweak your site code. But, any extensive customizing will require a programmer who knows the “liquid” code that Shopify uses. Keep it simple, and you will enjoy working with the platform.
Build A Shopify Website Using Beautiful Shopify Themes
When you build an online store, you need it to look good to offer credibility to your potential clients. With over 100 themes, both free and premium, Shopify offers a wide variety of looks you can create in your business. Visit the Theme Store and browse the different styles.
Shopify offers about 8 free themes, but about 72 premium themes. The premium themes cost ranges from $140 to $180. Only a few free themes use the drag and drop editor. You will most likely need to upgrade to premium to use that feature.
Some of the free themes may be a bit dated, so I would recommend choosing a premium theme. But that depends on your budget. Always remember if you are just starting with your first store, you can start with the free theme and upgrade to premium later.
Shopify Online Store 2.0 – Dawn – Released 06/29/2021
The revamped online store is offering the new block editor to it’s Shopify themes. This makes it really simple for merchants to build storefronts from scratch. and the unveiled the new Dawn theme that boasts a 35% faster loading speed. Plus it is a free theme! Shopify is opening this up to developers as well. So, I will just keep getting better and better.
Dawn is a stunning and beautiful theme that allows you to add blocks to each page, not just the homepage. The addition of the JSON template files allows the definition of sections that appear, and the ability to add dynamic sections as well using the theme editor. This is destined to become very popular! A great update to the Shopify free themes.
Businesses That Use Shopify Websites
There are more than 500,000 businesses using Shopify websites. Here are a few examples.
Whatever your product, books, art or jewelry, they have professional and mobile friendly themes that will help you create that great looking site. It is important that visitors trust and feel confident about doing business with you. Your website is the storefront for your business. It must look professional and appealing.
Apps To Build A Shopify Website Conversion Rate
Over 1400 apps are offered in the Shopify App Store. So, you have all the tools you need right at your fingertips. Some are free and others are paid. If you are looking for convenience, then this is definitely a plus.
No more searching the web and trying to figure which app you need. All of the themes and plugins are Plug and Play for simplicity and comparability.
It is clearly the better choice to use the upgrade Shopify over basic Shopify. The additional options reduce the need for apps that would need to be purchased. This is one area that needs to be understood as well. These apps can increase your cost dramatically, so simpler is better here, especially when first starting out.
However, they can also boost your productivity and increase sales on your site. So, spending a little here could go a long way to increasing profitability.
Apps That Boost Your Productivity
- Klaviyo – For emailing your marketing newsletters and helping with your autoresponder marketing campaigns.
- Shoelaces – Is helpful for remarketing to your customers
- Social Selling Apps – make marketing on social channels easier.
When You Build A Shopify Website Support Is Available 24/7
Support is offered 24/7 and that is important when you need it! They offer online chat, or phone support for immediate help, or you can also email them. They also have international numbers, so no matter where you are located they can help you out.
I have used the support team and I can tell you they are very helpful, and always went above and beyond to help me out. I only encountered a wait of more than a few minutes once. They apologized and told me they were experiencing system problems. Normally, they respond very quickly.
You can also go to the Shopify Help Center
Shopify Payments And Shop Pay
To accept credit card payments directly through Shopify, you can use the in house payment gateway Shopify Payments.
Once you have your Shopify Payments set up, you can enable Shop Pay.
Shop Pay will allow your customers to save their shipping and payment information. This speeds up the transaction time. This handy tool accepts payments and holds the money from your sales. It also allows you to access the transaction data right in your Shopify dashboard.
Common Questions About Building A Shopify Site
| Is Shopify Good For Beginners? |
| Yes, For e-commerce beginners, Shopify is one of the most user friendly and versatile e-commerce builder platform available for beginners setting up and running an online store. |
| Is Shopify Worth It For Small Businesses? |
| Yes, Shopify is recommended over dozens of e-commerce software because it has everything you need to start, run and manage an online business |
| Can You Make Money From Shopify? |
| Yes, Shopify Has An Affiliate Program that allows you to make money referring their product to others without involving any cost. |
| Can I Use Shopify For Dropshipping? |
| Yes, Shopify offers several apps that integrate directly into their platform, such as Ali Express and Oberlo. Shopify is a perfect option for dropshipping. |
| Do I Need Hosting With Shopify? |
| No, hosting is included with all Shopify plans (except Shopify Lite). You don’t need additional hosting. |
| Can I Transfer An Existing Site To Shopify? |
| Yes, you can migrate an existing store to Shopify using the Store Importer App. |
Pros And Cons To Build A Shopify Website
Pros
- Shopify Is Easy To Use.
- Can Transfer An Existing Store
- No Experience In Coding Is Required.
- Major Brands Use Shopify.
- Gets Your Store Up And Running Quickly.
- Offers Video Tutorials Help Building Your Business.
- Easy Integration With Third Party Shipping Networks
- Support 24/7
Cons
- App Fees Can Add Up Quickly (Some are free)
- Additional transaction fees (Except Shopify Payments)
- Does Not Customize Easily – (need “Liquid” Coder)
- Made Mostly For Online Stores
- Moving A Store Could Be costly
Final Verdict – Shopify Is A Legit Program
It is not perfect and nothing really is. Shopify is another tool for building your online store or website. The views I expressed here are my opinion only and not to be considered the end all solution. You have to weigh all the possibilities and decide if Shopify is something that would be a good fit for you.
Go With the Free Trial Offer To Build A Shopify Website
The best option is the free trial offer. Give it a try before committing to any Shopify plan.The information contained in this review is to inform you of alternatives to WordPress.
My wish is that I have helped everyone consider another possibility for your website. If you are selling products, and you have some money to work with, this will be easier than WooCommerce. For those of you who are on a shoestring budget, consider tolerating some learning curve and try bootstrapping the free WooCommerce platform.
For those of you that have an existing site, and you need a payment gateway for credit cards, try the Shopify Lite plan.
If you have any questions or found this review helpful, please leave your comments below.
Chas
Some of the links on this page are affiliate links and if you decide to buy a product, I may receive a small fee at no additional cost to you.
I am Chas, creator and founder of Help For Scams And Frauds. I started affiliate marketing and earning money online in 2015. And I can tell you, anyone can do this. But, in order to build a business the right way you must have the right training and avoid the get rich quick schemes.
Check out my #1 Recommendation For The Best Online Training in 2024
Shopify
$29
Pros
- Easy To Set Up And Use
- Popular And Used By Major Brands
- 24/7 Support
Cons
- App Fees Can Add Up
- Not Easily Customizable
- Moving Store Off Shopify Not Easy
Chas, very interesting article. I was not aware of Shopify Lite. Tell me quick. If I have an existing WordPress website can I replace WooCommerce with Shopify Lite or does it not work like that at all? I am just trying to figure out how I can incorporate Shopify Lite with my existing website that is utilizing WooCommerce atm. as WooCommerce gives me headaches.
I constantly have issues with my caching plugin breaking my WooCommerce PayPal payment, so if I do not have the caching disabled PayPal will not work and this leads to a slow loading site. So now I need to come up with all kinds of weird and wonderful solutions e.g. the incorporation of Cloudflare, Perfmatters etc. due to the fact that I cannot use caching. It may perhaps be my theme that is the problem here? Who knows. But overall I know that WooCommerce slows down the website too and I do know that there are constant reporting of WooCommerce bugs etc. and I am honestly looking for a different/better solution.
My other option I am considering now which may not be a bad solution at all is to simply get rid of WooCommerce and build only the shop of my existing website in GrooveKart and then simply link directly from my website to GrooveKart, so GrooveKart will now be handling the shop aspect of my site and my website will run a lot faster as there are no more WooCommerce in the picture.
So please do enlighten me if Shopify Lite could possibly be a solution in my situation? Also I know that Shopify got some integration/contract going with TikTok where Shopify Sellers are able to have buy buttons directly inside of their TikTok’s. Do you know if this is possible if you have Shopify Lite?
Many thanks! Looking forward to your response!
Hi Schalk,
I am glad to hear you learned something from my article! I have not personally used the Shopify Lite option, but, they claim it integrates with almost any platform, and especially WooCommerce. It sounds like it works as a feature you install on your existing platform. They have a 14 day free trial for trying Shopify, I would assume it may apply to Shopify Lite as well.
One culprit for a slow site it the Images are too big, you could try compressing your images(I use GIMP, it’s free) And I would definitely try Shopify Lite for a payment gateway. You get all the benefits of the Shopify Platform, but on your own site! You should talk to Shopify Support, I have found them to be very nice to deal with, and very helpful, especially if you are a potential customer!
If you have GrooveFunnels, it would be a pretty good option for you as well. It will be some work, but you could do that as well and you will have a much better payment gateway.
In the meantime, you could try Shopify Lite while you get your new website built. You really can’t beat $9 a month!
The Shopify “Buy Button” is actually Shopify Lite! And they claim it integrates with ALL platforms, including social sites. You can put a buy button on a Facebook page, I would assume they work on TikTok as well.
I hope I answered all your great questions, and please let me know if you have any more.
Chas
Very thorough analysis and information, thank you! Shopify definitely has some excellent themes and layouts that can really create an attractive online shop.
What do you think about the web traffic that a Shopify store can get, compared to other already established and high traffic e-commerce platforms such as Etsy and Amazon?
Would it be a good idea to start on something established (say, Etsy) and once you have a good following, create a Shopify store?
Hi Andre,
I really like that new Dawn theme from Shopify. And it is a free theme. Well, the difference is that Etsy is a marketplace, much like Facebook marketplace. So, you get more exposure to sell products on Esty marketplace(but products are regulated). They do supply websites(but they are hard to customize). And they are expensive. They take 9.5% of every sale + 0.45. I think you would be better off using Facebook Marketplace. It’s free(but less exposure)
I don’t think Etsy is a good idea. You pay a fee with every sale, and you aren’t really building a brand. Shopify allows you to build a brand, and the fees for handling credit card payments, are much less. Yes, you pay $29 or more each month, but I think that would be cheaper than almost 10% on every sale. The more you sell on Shopify, the cheaper your costs get. But, on Etsy your costs are always 10%. So the more you sell on Etsy, the more you pay.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and please stop back!
Chas
Thank you for a great article on building a shopify website. I have always wanted a shop on shopify and you have explained so clearly. I now where to start when I need to. I have also bookmarked your site for future reference.
Hi Angee,
You are welcome. I wish you the best of luck whenever you decide to create your shop.
Thank you for bookmarking my site, and taking the time to leave a comment.
Please stop back soon!
Chas
Hi Chas, thanks a lot for this great, information-packed, and super comprehensive Shopify review.
I was considering using Shopify in my early online career. It was supposed to be for the t-shirt business. After reading your review, I got inspiration and will maybe set this through.
What I think is that Shopify is really oriented toward e-commerce and for people who don’t own products, it is better to search for some others (cheaper) options. Would you agree?
But hands down, the features that you get even with the basic plan are really amazing. Would you suggest Shopify for someone without online experience? This concerning traffic. Cheers
Hi Julius,
You are welcome. Shopify does have a Print on Demand type specialized store. So, you may want to take a look at that (again)!
Yes, you should look at the cheaper options, and consider the options you get with Shopify I tell people that they can actually use Shopify Lite for their WooCommerce sites, because it offers the Shopify Payment gateway. Then, you can take credit card payments easily and efficiently. And it only costs $9 a month!
Yes, I would recommend Shopify for beginners. The support team at Shopify is great, and they also provide some good training. But, beginners must realize that you will be using paid ads to drive traffic to your store, Learning good organic SEO by using a platform like Wealthy Affiliate would be a huge advantage.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, please stop back soon.
Chas
Thanks for this treasure trove of information on Shopify. Currently, I am using WooCommerce on my WordPress site. I enjoyed it at first, but it does take a lot of effort to figure out how to change the format of cart pages, login pages etc. I believe Shopify is much friendlier in this regard. Also, figuring out shipping and payment was a real pain in the butt. My biggest problem now is that I do not think my hosting platform is right for e-commerce type sites. Could you recommend what hosting platform to use for Shopify or WooCommerce sites to maximize speed? Thanks!
Hi Ashely,
You are welcome. I am glad you found value in my review. Shopify does offer the Shopify Lite Plan for $9 a month that gives you full use of their shopping cart and payment gateways. Shopify does help with the shipping rates. If you have your website optimized with a fast theme, and configured to keep resources to a minimum, and your Images compressed. It should be quite fast. And even if your website is configured to be fast, it can still depend on location. Try using a CDN like Cloudflare, but remember, you will have to change your hosting.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and please stop back soon.
Chas
I have had an eBay, Amazon, and Etsy business for several years. I have been looking to expand into owning an eCommerce website, but I am really not sure if Shopify is the best option. I know there are a lot of other similar companies out there. But, do you think it’s worth it to use an eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce or other similar plugins which are free?
Hi Garen,
If you have the experience to set up websites, I would go with WooCommerce. The problem with WooCommerce is having a Shopping cart with a payment gateway for credit cards. Shopify has a very good payment gateway. What you could try is to set up your wooCommerce site, then try the Shopify Lite option for $9 a month. You would have the same payment gateway as the Shopify platform. It’s a very good option to consider.
Thanks for leaving a comment, and please stop back soon.
Chas
Hi Chas – This has been really educational. I’m at a point with my website where I’m considering the idea of adding a store to sell some branded merchandise. I’ve dabbled with Woocommerce in the past and while it was a bit of work to get started, I liked how the look and feel went with my website. However as you mentioned with Shopify it seems that it wouldn’t be as much work to get started, which would allow me to focus more on my website content. I think when the time comes I’ll have to try out the Shopify store for 14 days and decide from there. Thanks for putting this review together, it was really helpful!
Hi Dereck,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad it helped you, because that was my intention. I try to educate people of the good programs as well as the bad ones. Shopify is a good one for setting up your store quickly. I does have costs associated with it, and you are committed to their platform. If you have experience with marketing, you can avoid the costs and build a WooCommerce site. The downside with WooCommerce is they don’t have a great payment provider. So, in that case you could then opt to use Shopify Lite on your WooCommerce site and get all the advantages of the Shopify Payment Gateway. Shopify Lite only costs $9 a month, so I would consider that well worth the price.
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a good comment! Please stop back soon.
Chas
We have came across your website because we wanted to know how to build a Shopify website and we are going to be working on putting products on there. We have started one already and we must say it is hard affiliate marketing is not the easiest to start with if you want to make money right away.
We are glad that you provided us the necessary information to help us make an informed decision.
Cheers,
MnD
Hi Matthew/Deloris,
Shopify is a bit of a learning curve, but their support is excellent. anything you can’t find in my review, you can bet Shopify has a training for how to do it. Affiliate marketing is hard work, and you will find that Shopify leans towards running ads to drive your traffic. So, you will have some extra costs in ads, along with some important marketing plugins you will need as well.
One thing you could consider, is using Shopify Lite with a WooCommerce store. It’s only $9 a month, and gives you a way to collect credit card payments.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, please stop back soon!
Chas
Hi Chas,
Thanks for sharing a comprehensive article about Shopify. I think people will get lots of value when reading this post. I like how Shopify makes building an online store so easy so that we can focus on things that matter. I like that they provide 24/7 support, and you also get an international number no matter where you are in the globe.
I wonder, if I have a WordPress website can I move and turn it into a Shopify online store? Or do I need to start over again? Thanks.
Cheers,
Matt
Hi Matt,
You are welcome. I tried to explain most of the details, and it gets quite long. Shopify does have some world class support. I have rarely had anything to complain about. Once, I had a long wait, that’s about it.
Yes, you can transfer your store from another platform like Wix or WordPress. you can use the Store Importer App It’s free from the Shopify apps store.
If you are a Shopify Plus Merchant, you can use the Transporter App
Thanks for taking the time to comment, please stop back soon!
Chas
I had a lot of takeaways from your shopify review, all this time I was thinking that shopify is just a free program where you are offered to create your online shop to sell manufacturers products at a commission, I was wong.
I created a website which is 2 months now, so its still new. I created it mainly for affiliate marketing. As soon as the website start to generate traffic, I will try Shopify because I want to diversify. My plan is to start with the $79 Shopify Plan.
But there seems to be a lot of tasks in operating a Shopify store than an affiliate website, hope its manageable when you have more than 2 sites
Thank you so much for a great article.
Ngoni
Hi Nigoni,
I am glad you found some value in my review. No, they are not free but they do help to relieve some of the grunt work. There are some differences. they use their own themes. However, they do have a Transporter App you can use to transport your existing store to Shopify.
I would recommend you start with the $79 option if you decide it is for you. You can also use WooCommerce and use the Shopify Lite plan for $9 a month. If you are accustomed to wordpress.
There are a lot of tasks with any site, and with a product site like Shopify, you will have the extra tasks of dropshipping, or product inventory. Along with the book keeping of a store (Shopify does help make book keeping tasks easier).
I hope that clears a few things up, Nigoni.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment,
Chas
I’ve known about shopify for sometime but never really had a proper look at it.
It sounds ideal for e-commerce traders and alternative to eBay or amazon however the monthly fees mean you would have to generate income quickly to offset the outgoings.
Would a new person have to have SEO knowledge to be able to attract buyers?
Also other platforms like WordPress have community support, does shopify have anything like this?
Hi Darren,
Shopify is the easy fix if you really don’t want to get your hands dirty with bootstrapping everything. They do have fees, but they have some good training and helpful support people to get you up and running quickly. Yes, there are some fees involved and you would have to get some SEO with social or maybe a few ads to get things started. you could gain SEO with google as well. But, It’s a quick fix for your site pages. Like I said, they have some good training modules and learning SEO is always a good thing to fall back on.
Shopify has their own support, and they are focused on the eCommerce website model, and their own themes. They use a different code called “Liquid” and it is exclusive to Shopify. I am sure their are Shopify forums around on Facebook as well. thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Chas
I love your review. Nothing good comes easy.
Shopify as you have mentioned is one of the best all in one website to grow your business…. Yes, it costs money but the benefit one derived from paid services are nothing compared to the amount paid. I am rather saying it takes investment in terms of money to get return on your investment and no amount paid should be too much.
Having options on the sub is a good idea for Shopify as well.
Hi Olonisakin,
Thank you, I am glad you liked it,Olonisakin. You are right, hard work is what it takes to accomplish the tasks of a new business. Shopify is a tool you can use, but you must understand it is different than a wordpress site. Shopify has its own themes and code called “Liquid”. So, if you went with Shopify as your site, it would be a permanent move, like renting your site. I am not sure if you would even be able to move it.
Having built shopify stores in the past for friends/family I would the most useful is app is oberlo. You can take any link in aliexpress and bring it to your store quickly as possible.
I enjoyed building the store, but you still have to market the same way affiliate marketing is done. Otherwise the products just sits in your store unsold. There is so much attention to detail, especially with the fees of shipping and such.
Great review you have here, are you looking at opening a store?
HI Jag,
I was pondering the possibility of a shopify site. The only drawback I have is that you really can’t move the site, it has to stay with shopify. My wordpress sites, are mine and I can take them anywhere and host with anyone who hosts wordpress sites.
I have thought of the possibility of a woocommerce site also. But for now, I have enough with 2 sites on wordpress. I think it would be just as much work if not more to sell products using shopify and alliexpress.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Chas