So you want to start your own e-commerce business? Congratulations! No other platform has made starting an online business easier than Shopify. This incredible resource offers you nearly everything you need to get started, including secure hosting, user-friendly design templates, and automated sales tracking. But there’s still more to do before you’re ready to sell on your own. The more prepared you are when you finally launch your store, the more successful it will be in the long run. That’s why we’ve put together this list of beginner tips to help make your first Shopify store a success.

Do your research
Research your target market. Research your competitors. Research your suppliers. Research your app partners, if applicable. Get to know everything about everyone involved in creating and running your new e-commerce business so you can design it around their needs instead of yours. Once you have an idea in mind, do plenty of research before committing to anything; chances are high that others have already done what you’re thinking of doing, and they likely did it better than you will—use their work as inspiration to make something even better!
Know what you are selling
Before you begin building your website, you must know what it is that you are selling. Answering these questions will help you better determine what design and functionality your ecommerce site needs to support sales. For example, if you’re selling fashion clothing online, customers should be able to browse clothing by category or brand. On your website’s homepage, visitors should be able to easily view featured items and featured collections.
Pick the Right Theme
When you’re setting up your e-commerce store, you might think that it makes sense to spend as little as possible on each individual element. However, choosing an excellent theme can give your website high-quality features and customer support—not to mention help you stand out from competitors—so it’s worth putting in some extra time and money upfront.
Set up your social media accounts
The first thing you need to do when starting your e-commerce business is create social media accounts. Don’t worry about creating Facebook ads or building an email list yet, just get your account up and running. These are easy to set up, but can have long-term benefits for your store—and Google loves social media sites. If someone’s tagged in an Instagram photo of you selling clothes, they’re more likely to find you when they search.
Create great product photos
When you’re building your store, think carefully about how you want it to look and feel. You might not think that product photos are important at first, but they play an integral role in your store’s success. Why? According to research from Nielsen , 92% of consumers rely on visuals when shopping online.
Use SEO Best Practices
Shopify is one of most popular e-commerce platforms, but it has many unique features that may surprise you. Use SEO best practices to optimize your store to rank higher in search engines and attract more visitors. Here are some tips on how to use SEO with your Shopify website

Conclusion
This brief guide will help you get started on your path to developing a successful ecommerce website. If you have any questions or need any clarification on how to build your store, feel free to reach out by using our contact page. We're always here to help! And if you'd like more tips on setting up your store, check out our getting started with Shopify series of articles that provide an in-depth look at just about everything you need to know. We have a great platform for everyone where you can easily hire a Shopify developers team at a reasonable cost.