Shopify For Beginners

In this section we start building your new site so we'll sign up for a free 14-day trial on Shopify.com and start making customization changes to make that site truly unique to you and your brand.

In this lecture I'll explain how to get an existing (or a new domain name) attached to your Shopify store.

By default your store will be password protected and not open to the public.  In this video we'll discuss picking a plan and removing password protection as well as why you might want to leave it enabled while you develop your site.

Learn what to look for when selecting a theme.  Your theme controls the look and behavior of your site so you want to chose the right one for your needs.

Let's take a look at the customization interface and how to make basic changes to the layout of your site.  In this video you'll learn the main concept of how to customize your site and no matter what theme you choose you'll be comfortable with what needs to be done.

Changing the fonts, colors, social media links and more on the General Settings tab.  This video goes over the basics of how to work with the interface and options available.  Students will be able to make changes to any theme after watching lectures 11 and 12.

Themes change the appearance and in some cases even the behavior of your store.  In this video we'll take a look at the Theme Store, install a free theme and start to customize it.

In this lecture we'll start adding products to our store.

Learn how to use Collections and Menus to display specific content and quickly build navigation and organization into your store.

Shopify products, collections and other elements are part of a database.  This relationship allows you to make changes to products (and other elements) and have those changes reflected across the entire store.  That means you don't have to go to multiple locations to make updates.

In this lecture you'll watch me create a Page as well as a Blog, we'll add those to the menu and discuss scenarios where they might be helpful to your business.

Discounts are a great way to motivate customers to order your products.  In this lecture I'll show you how to implement Discounts and go over testing your shopping cart so you're ready to make sales.

Once an order is placed you'll need to process it.  This process is called fulfillment.  Shopify helps you keep track of which orders have been fulfilled and which orders still need to be fulfilled.

In this lecture we'll look at the various options on the Settings page.  Many of these settings can be configured once and left alone but some of them will need to be revisited as your business/store grows.

Apps ad functionality to your site in a plugin type fashion.  With apps you can quickly build a store that is tailored to your specific needs.  We'll look at how apps are billed and how to pick apps that will be easy to install and easy to use.

In this video we'll look at the App Marketplace and select an app to install.  Some apps require no customization, some require some customization and other apps require LIQUID customization (that means some coding).  This video shows you an example of a simple app.

Find out what to expect regarding payments and profit.  When do I get paid?  How much does Shopify charge for payment processing?  All this and more is answered in this short video.

Let's take a look at some of the popular marketing strategies that you can easily start implementing right away.  This video is an overview of what's available and will give the beginner an idea of what techniques might work for their niche.

Learn proven strategies to help maximize revenue with repeat business through a successful email marketing campaign.  You'll learn techniques to build a relationship with your customers that will have them coming back to your store for more. 

Social Media Networks like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram offer store owners the ability to reach a large, targeted audience but there's a caveat many overlook.  Successful marketing on social media requires strategy and planning but savvy store owners can dominate their niche if they do it right.

The secret to success with your store will be analyzing your sales funnel from beginning to end - and finding the weak links.  Just like an assembly line your sales funnel can only produce a maximum profit if every phase, element and tool is functioning at its highest potential.

Thanks for purchasing my course.  Look for my other marketing courses here on Udemy.  If you get stuck or just need some advice please feel free to contact me here and I'll be glad to help whenever possible.

In the resources section you'll find some helpful tools that will aid you in building your store and in your marketing endeavors.

Some folks don't like 'Powered by Shopify' showing up on their store and I tend to agree, it should go.  After all, it's just free advertising for Shopify.  Here's a snippet video that shows how to remove the link and text from your footer.

By default even themes that have the Related Products feature don't let you pick the products you want featured.  This little hack will allow you to manually 'connect' related products so that you can cross-promote (upsell) related products.  There's some code to download.