Marjella Talks

15 Tips for New Shopify Store Owners: The Ultimate Guide

hello@digitalhiveconsulting.com (Digital Hive) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:14:26 GMT

So you just launched your Shopify store….congratulations! ��

Now what?!

Your store is not a ‘set it and forget it’ situation. You’ll want to check in often to make sure your store is fully optimized from an operational, marketing and administrative standpoint.

Based on our experience of building Shopify sites for our Clients, these are some top tips we recommend for entrepreneurs who have just launched their stores.

We’ve broken the topics down into Admin , Sales & Marketing and Operations for easy-to-digest information.

ADMIN

1. Remove the ‘Powered by Shopify’ Text in the Footer

One of the best things about Shopify is that they provide you with an OWNED channel in which to do business (vs. ETSY where you are part of a marketplace.) Your store is your brand so it’s a good idea to change that “Powered by Shopify” text to your own business name. Here are the steps to do that:

→ Store dashboard

→ Online store

→ Actions

→ Edit Languages

→ In the Search Bar, enter ‘Powered by Shopify’

→ Change to your store name and year

2. Legal Settings: Refund Policy, Shipping Policy, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use

In the rush to launch, it’s very easy to overlook important legal settings. Shopify provides templates for each of these as a guide, but you’ll want to review each of these and tailor them to your specific needs. You’ll find each of these by going to Settings, then Policies. Google also likes to see these in your footer so they can understand what your site is all about and provide the best search results to customer.

Here’s a breakdown of each:

Refund Policy

What it is & why it’s important: Informs customers of your return & exchanges policy. In most states, this is a requirement. It also establishes clear communication and trust.

What it should include: Information on what returns & exchanges you’ll accept, in what time period and in what condition. Also, if you will pay return shipping costs or if that’s the responsibility of the customer.

Shipping Policy

What it is & why it’s important: Provides customers with important shipping information.

What it should include: where you ship, your rates and general time frames for shipping.

What it is & why it’s important: This tells customers how you will use their personal information. All states have rules governing privacy, and in some case, those rules can be extensive (like California). If you’re shipping internationally, you’ll need to know the requirements for your particular store and products.

What it should include: Shopify provides a general template and, in most cases, this is all you need. The exception might be if you plan to run ads, or share/sell personal information with a 3rd party.

What it is & why it’s important: these are rules your customers must follow in order to use your website and products. It prevents abuses of your site and content and limits your liability, among other things.

What it should include: Shopify provides a general template, but you’ll want to look at this and make sure it covers your specific needs.

In the case of Privacy and Terms of Service policies, it’s always best to consult with an attorney if you have an unusual product or situation.

3. Review your notifications

Shopify offers a variety of default customer notifications, such as:

Abandoned checkout
Contact customer
Customer account invite
Customer account welcome
Customer account password reset
Draft order invoice
Fulfillment request
Gift card created
New order
New order (mobile)
Order invoice
Order canceled
Order confirmation
POS and mobile receipt
Order refund
Shipping confirmation
Shipping update

You can (and should) customize each of these to add your logo and provide a personal experience.

4. Review Product Tags

The easiest way for customers to find what they're looking for is to use the Search function in your store. There are a variety of things that drive the search: product titles, descriptions, collections and most importantly, tags. Take another look at your product pages to ensure that you’ve filled out the tag section and that you’ve include tags that a customer would use to search for the product.

5. Review Images

We can’t say it enough…images can make or break your store. In a physical store, a customer has the opportunity to touch, hold and feel a product. In an online store, the only thing that communicates the features & benefits of your product is an image.

→ Are your images sized correctly?

→ Are they good quality resolution?

→ Do they accurately capture all of the key components of your product?

Here comes the catch 22 – you need a variety of good quality images to convey your product, but large images can dramatically decrease your site speed. We recommend adding an app like Image Optimizer to compress images.

6. Tax settings

According to TurboTax, the basic rule for collecting sales tax from online sales is:

If your business has a physical presence, or “nexus”, in a state, you must collect applicable sales taxes from online customers in that state.

If you do not have a physical presence, you generally do not have to collect sales tax for online sales. However, in June of 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that will likely change this exemption to collecting sales tax. States are expected to begin collecting sales taxes regardless of having a physical presence in the state.

A physical presence means that you have some business facility in that state. It could be any type of business operation, such as:
A storefront
An office
A warehouse

If you send products or inventory to a large, online company that distributes them to buyers for you, you may have created "connections" in many states in addition to your own.

For example, if you sell online from your own home in California and don't have any business presence in other states, you have "nexus "—or a physical presence—only with California.

But if you sell your products through Amazon’s FBA program (Fulfillment by Amazon), you send inventory to Amazon first. That relationship could require you to collect sales tax from customers in other areas where Amazon does business.

It can be downright confusing to understand tax liability for your store, and the rules are constantly changing, because every state wants their cut! You may want to add an app like TaxJar to handle this for you, or consult with a tax pro.

7. Inventory

If you’re holding inventory, it’s critical to make sure what you have in stock matches the quantity you have listed for sale. You can review your inventory list by going to Dashboard → Products→Inventory.

SALES & MARKETING

Now that your store is open, you’ll want to find low cost/no cost ways to get customers to your store. Here are some of our top ways:

8. Sell on Instagram

If you’ve set up your Instagram account, you can add Facebook as a Sales Channel in your store, which will allow you to sell on Facebook and Instagram. There are currently 2 ways to sell on Instagram:

→ Tag your posts & sell on your website.

When you add the Facebook app in your Sales Channels, you’ll be able to tag your products in social media posts. When a customer clicks this post, they are redirected back to your website to complete the purchase.

Pro: customers can view other products on your site and sign up for marketing

Con: You might lose the customer if they don’t want the extra step of going to another site

→ Sell directly on Instagram.

You can create an Instagram store right on the Instagram app. This will allow you to sell right on Instagram, and your customers won’t be redirected back to your store. Keep in mind that you must create a Facebook Business account to do this, and you will be charged payment fees directly from Facebook. Find out more here.

Pro: You’ll get an instant sale.

Con: You’ll have to set up a Facebook Business account and pay additional payment fees directly to Facebook.

9. Pinterest

Most people don’t realize that Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media platform. As such, it provides another way for consumers to find you, especially among a Millennial audience.

10. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a great way to get people talking about your brand and to collect some UGC’s (User Generated Content). If you’re on a budget, you might consider working with smaller micro influencers who will accept your products as payment. Typically, a micro influencer has under 10k followers and a very engaged community. You can reach out to those who you feel align with your brand via DM (or e-mail, if they list one.)

11. SEO

Search engine optimization is a fancy term that means using specific words to get found in web searches. Some best practices include:

→ Filling out the ‘Search Engine Listing Preview’ in your product pages

→ Writing descriptions in your Collection Pages using keywords for your niche

→ Adding legal policies in your footer (covered in #2)

We really like Ubersuggest as a free tool to perform keyword research, as well as a host of other features.

12. Gift Cards

In 2020, Shopify started allowing gift card sales on all of their plans. Gift cards provide your customers with an easy way to give that is always the right size, color and style! To set up gift cards in your store, follow these steps:

→ Dashboard

→ Gift Cards

→ Set up Gift Card Product

→ Create a product including imag e, add denominations and all other required info

OPERATIONS

13. Fine Tune Your Shipping Rates

If you’ve had a few sales under your belt, you might want to revisit your shipping fees to ensure that you’re not losing money. There are a few options for shipping fees:

→ Flat rates: You charge a set fee for shipping, based on value or weight

→ Calculated rates: you charge customers exactly what carriers charge you

→ Free shipping; You offer free shipping as a marketing tool

Each one of these has its merits, and you should look at your rates based on your specific needs and margins.

14. Fine Tune Your packaging

Now’s a good time to ensure you have all the essentials you need to handle sales and make a positive impression on your customers!

→ Product packaging: How will you wrap and package your products so that they’re not damaged during shipping?

→ Shipping: What post office will you use? What shipping boxes do you need?

→ Packing Slips: Will you include a packing slip with orders? Do you have a printer to print these?

→ Shipping labels: Have you purchased a good quality label printer and paper? In a pinch, you can print these from your home printer and tape them on, but a professional label sticker presents a better appearance.

→ Extras: Will you add business cards or logo stickers to your order? If so, how will you design & print these?

15. POS app

If you’re planning to sell offline at markets or fairs, you may want to consider downloading the Shopify POS app. You’ll have (nearly) the full functionality of your store, in mobile size!

In conclusion:

Like anything else in life, your store’s success is driven by how much effort you put into it. By continually reviewing and optimizing all areas of your store, you’ll continue to build customer loyalty and grow sales.

Have a question for us? Contact us!

10 Reasons to Hire a Website Designer

hello@digitalhiveconsulting.com (Digital Hive) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 01:55:37 GMT

Your website is one of the most important decisions you'll make for your small business. But, should you build it yourself or hire someone to do it for you? We're breaking down the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision that's right for you.

Do It Yourself Option (DIY)

There are many web design services that offer easy “drag & drop” options, with free hosting. There are some pros and cons to this option:

PROS:

You don’t need a lot of technical or design skills to start - most DIY providers offer templates that you’ll fill in to create a simple website.

If cost is a factor, DIY options can be a good option. They’re generally less expensive than hiring a pro.

CONS:

Most DIY providers don’t offer a lot of flexibility or customization for the inexpensive or free plans, and each special feature you need will be additional.

A website service might appear to be free or cheap at first, but you’ll need to allocate time to learn the platform and time to actually build your website. You’ll have to weigh whether your time is best spent time building a website or working on your business.

The best websites look the way they do because a business has spent time creating a branding package. This sets the tone for a professional website that looks good and performs well.

Some DIY providers run ads on your site in order to keep the service free. Depending on your business, this might come across as unprofessional.

Benefits of Hiring a Professional

If you need a professional, responsive website with an attractive design, and SEO optimization, and don’t have the time or desire to do it yourself, the best option is to hire an expert.

A professional web designer takes the relevant details about your business, collects your requirements and any other input and will then produce a design based on your needs and their expertise. SEO optimization, quality control, responsiveness, security and design will all be included in the service, if you hire a qualified professional.

DIY web services are tempting – especially if you’re running a new business and don’t have money to spare. But, if you want to increase the likelihood that customers will actually find your business online, hiring a professional is going to be a great investment.

Ongoing Changes and Updates

Once you’ve created your website, or had a pro design your website, you now need to think about ongoing maintenance. Keeping your website up-to-date gives your potential clients a positive impression of your business.

Unless you plan to have a static website with no updates, you’ll want to hire a professional who offers plans not only for hosting, but also for ongoing changes. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can make all of the changes yourself because:

You might not have the time

If you train an admin or VA, their knowledge will leave with them once they move on to another company

You or a designated person in your office will need training to determine how to make the changes

A professional will make the changes a lot faster and is less likely to make errors!

Often, you’ll have a choice of various maintenance plans:

If you have a lot of regular changes, such as uploading newletters, updating event information, etc, you’ll want to go with a plan that offers unlimited changes.

If you’ll only have occasional or quarterly changes, select a plan that is better suited to your needs.

It’s important to note that most providers will offer a discount for annual plans.

How to Find a Professional Web Designer

So, how do you actually FIND a qualified web design professional ? A few good ways include:

Asking a business colleagues for recommendations – and if they are happy with the service. Be sure to look at their websites first to confirm you like what you see.

If you’re a member of a Chamber of Commerce or Business Networking Group, check out the web developers and see if they have any examples of their work on their websites.

If you want to work with a local company, do a Google search for web companies and check their reviews.

In summary, you should hire a professional web designer if you want a responsive, safe website that creates a positive impression for prospective clients or customers.

What is Shopify? How to Start a Store with Shopify

hello@digitalhiveconsulting.com (Digital Hive) — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 22:38:15 GMT

What is Shopify?

Why should I choose Shopify?

How do you set up Shopify?

How much does Shopify cost?

Where can I sign up for a free trial?

Watch the video.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is one of the most popular platforms to sell products online. With Shopify, you can create a website and manage all your business needs from one place.

Why should I choose Shopify?

Entrepreneurs love Shopify because it’s affordable, easy to use and has a lot of powerful features built in. Read on for our top 15 reasons to choose the Shopify platform over any other:

1. Affordable

2. Secure and Reliable

3. Available in 20 Languages

4. Mobile Responsive

5. Visually Appealing

6. Customizable

7. Excellent Loading Speeds

8. Scalable

9. 24/7 Support

10. Easy Payments

11. Powerful Marketing

12. SEO Friendly

13. Gift Cards

14. Reviews

15. Shipping

1. Affordable

Shopify offers multiple plans and pricing, including a basic plan. At $29 per month, the basic plan is a great option for new eCommerce businesses that are just starting out. The basic plan is anything but basic. It includes everything on our list, and you can easily switch plans as needed, as your store grows or if you need additional features.

2. Secure and Reliable

Every Shopify store includes a free 256-bit SSL certificate. That means all pages, content, credit card, and transaction information are protected by the same level of security used by banks. You’ll have peace of mind knowing that your customers' information and business data are secure. With the enhanced security comes the added benefit that the Shopify platform is also reliable. Good news for you and for the over 450 million people who have purchased products on a Shopify store.

3. Available in 20+ Languages

You might not be ready to sell internationally, however, Shopify will be ready for you when you begin to sell outside of the United States. You can translate content in up to 20 languages and can sell in over 100 currencies. Customers around the world will enjoy viewing content in their native language because they can better understand your marketing, product details, shipping, and return policies. And that will potentially lead to more sales.

4. Mobile Responsive

With more and more sales occurring on mobile devices, it’s important to have a site that looks great across all devices, not just on desktops. Shopify includes a mobile eCommerce shopping cart in both free and premium mobile themes. Your customers can easily make purchases with their smartphones, tablets or computers. And, you can easily ensure that the store is performing optimally on any device.

5.Visually Appealing

Shopify offers over 70 professional themes as well as numerous free themes. The themes, also known as 'templates', are beautifully designed. You can brand and customize your template to give it your unique look and feel – no one else will have the same store because of your customizations.

6. Customizable

The Shopify App Store has thousands of free and paid apps. These expand the functionality of your store by adding more features and capabilities. The apps provide features such as: email marketing, accessibility options, subscriptions, pre-orders, local delivery, etc.! So many options, but that’s the topic for another blog…

If you can’t find the functionality you need in one of these apps, you can hire a Shopify expert to build a custom solution.

7. Excellent Loading Speeds

Shopify is constantly updating technology to provide a faster, more flexible and improved shopping experience. They utilize a content delivery network, a large network of servers placed around the world, to ensure that stores load quickly.

8. Scalable

With servers able to handle thousands of transactions per minute, Shopify’s uptime is typically in the impressive 99.9% range. Increased transactions will not slow your store’s performance and Shopify can scale with you to manage high or sudden store growth, whether for a small business or an enterprise.

9. 24/7 Support

You’re never alone if you run into an issue, no matter what day or time. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can contact Shopify support by email, live chat or phone. There is also an extensive community that you can search by Discussion, Group, Event or Blog.

10. Easy Payments

Setting up payment methods in Shopify is very easy. You can quickly set your store up to accept all major payment methods, by using the Shopify Payments option. Shopify Payments is included in your subscription plan and the only other fee you’ll need to pay is the credit card fee. The credit card fee can be lowered by upgrading your subscription plan. The accepted payment methods will vary depending on your country. Other payment choices include Paypal, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay and more, and carry their own service fees.

11. Powerful Marketing Tools

Shopify has several powerful built-in tools to help with your marketing efforts. These include:

→ e-mail marketing

→ discount/promo codes

→ chat functionality

→ ad integrations with Facebook, Pintrest, SnapChat

→ automations like post purchase offers and abandoned cart recovery

12. SEO Optimized

Shopify has built-in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that simplifies your management of these features and helps you to optimize content so you can get found in web searches. Why is that important? Making your store search engine friendly will bring more traffic to your store and more traffic means more sales!

Some SEO is automatically generated from themes, but you can also optimize your content by editing title tags, meta descriptions and URLs for webpages, products, collections, and blogs.

13. Gift Cards

Gift cards are currently available on all Shopify plans. Gift cards can be sold online as a product, shared via link on social media or issued to customers as free rewards or incentives.

14. Reviews

Shopify’s free review app allows you to collect import feedback from customers who have purchased. This helps build trust and encourages more sales.

15. Shipping

Most shipping rates can be set up with the native Shopify shipping. More complex shipping options may require the addition of an app. Shopify works with major carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL, among others. You can purchase your mailing labels directly from Shopify with excellent discounts on carrier rates.

How Do You Set Up Shopify?

You can get your Shopify store up and running pretty quickly. Here are 12 steps to help you set up easily and efficiently.

• Determine what you’ll sell

• Create your branding (colors, logo, etc.)

• Sign up for a free Shopify trial

• Choose a theme

• Add products

• Add collections

• Build out your website

• Set up shipping

• Set up payments

• Add apps, if needed

• Determine your marketing strategy

• Start selling!

How Much Does Shopify Cost?

Shopify's pricing model is based on monthly subscriptions. The most popular Shopify plans are:

Basic ($29/mo): Good for new ecommerce businesses with occasional in-person sales

Shopify ($79 (mo): Good for growing businesses selling online or in-store

Advanced ($299/mo): Good for scaling businesses that require advanced reporting

Read our full Shopify pricing blog here.

Where can I sign up for a free trial?

You can sign up for a free trial here. Take Shopify for a test drive and see if it's the right platform for you.

https://www.shopify.com

In a nutshell, Shopify eCommerce is the perfect solution if you are a looking for a plug and play option that you can set up quickly and easily. It looks professional, is customizable, offers lots of free and powerful features, plus security and scalability.

Have a question? Get in touch!

Marjella Talks

15 Tips for New Shopify Store Owners: The Ultimate Guide

→ Filling out the ‘Search Engine Listing Preview’ in your product pages

10 Reasons to Hire a Website Designer

Do It Yourself Option (DIY)

Benefits of Hiring a Professional

Ongoing Changes and Updates

How to Find a Professional Web Designer

What is Shopify? How to Start a Store with Shopify

﻿ What is Shopify?

﻿ Why should I choose Shopify?

﻿ How Do You Set Up Shopify?

﻿ How Much Does Shopify Cost?

Where can I sign up for a free trial?

What is Shopify?

Why should I choose Shopify?

How Do You Set Up Shopify?

How Much Does Shopify Cost?