Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Category: eCommerce

  • What should I expect from a website audit?

    What should I expect from a website audit?

    A website audit can refer to many different ways of analyzing your website, from SEO assessments to UX analysis, cloud optimizations, and code reviews. 

    A reasonably-priced audit can give you a boost when attempting to improve the performance of your website, and even help save you money in the long run. Website audits can also serve other purposes:

    • Get a fresh pair of eyes on your website to check for gaps
    • Help you plan ahead for major web projects, streamlining the process
    • Get the expert opinion of a specialist

    Take a look at some of the most commonly requested website audits from Atlantic BT, why they are popular, and what you can expect:

    1. Technical Audit
    2. Content Audit
    3. UX Audit
    4. SEO Audit
    5. Accessibility Audit
    6. AWS Cloud Audit
    7. Site Performance Audit

    1. Technical Website Audit

    Why are technical debt audits popular?

    With accrued technical debt, you face tough decisions in regards to weighing costs and benefits. Will the amount of time, energy, and budget poured into refactoring your website’s technologies be worth it?

    A technical audit can help you uncover hidden forms of debt and give you a starting point to make informed decisions.

    What can I expect from a technical audit?

    An overall review of your code, infrastructure, and integrations are part of a technical website audit. We can also help with a skills assessment of internal staff to make sure it lines up with the applications and infrastructure they need to support.

    A technical audit on code could include several tests to manually review code, static and dynamic analysis, Linting, and unit test coverage reporting. 

    Atlantic BT will additionally review documentation for weaknesses and hold conversations with your internal teams around coding practices, software methodologies, CI/CD, and DevOps.

    2. Content Audit

    Why are content website audits popular?

    A content audit is usually an early step in a website redesign. Content audits help provide clarity for what content needs to stay, where it should be placed on a new website, and what content is excessive. 

    These website audits not only enhance messaging and provide user information, but also shed light on opportunities for SEO and enhancements for page structure.

    What can I expect from a content audit?

    Traditionally, a content audit includes:

    • Taking inventory of what content exists
    • Analyzing the performance existing content to determine quality
    • A gap analysis to find missed opportunities and build a plan for new types of digital content

    Atlantic BT also ties information architecture into a content audit. That means beyond planning for new content types, we also assess the best way to categorize, structure, and optimize content for findability. 

    Within a content inventory spreadsheet, we also map where the content should go on the new website while providing an optimal URL structure.

    3. UX Audit

    Why are UX audits popular?

    A UX audit is also an important step in redesigning a website. It involves evaluating an existing website’s design, messaging, and performance to drive business value.

    While many businesses would like a UX audit to boost revenue, others are looking to boost efficiency for employees with their internal systems or reduce call volume by making information easier to find online.

    What can I expect from a UX audit?

    A UX website audit involves defining business goals, digging into user data, and gathering insights to build a plan to improve your website’s performance. 

    A full-scale UX audit from Atlantic BT might include:

    • Compare to business objectives – the first step is to see if the page or website being evaluated does what you want it to do, from driving conversions to enhancing customer satisfaction.
    • Evaluate against user objectives – next we see how well the users’ needs are met, for information or task accomplishment. We look for clarity, ease, efficiency and effectiveness.
    • Heuristics evaluation – this is evaluating how well the site performs against broad-based standards of performance against expectations users have based on the best sites they use.
    • Analytics and feedback – we love to ‘listen to the customer’ directly from sources like website analytics, comments and feedback from forms, customer service, or any other inputs you may have, and see what they tell us about your website.

    Any website audit includes evaluating to a set of criteria; business objectives are defined through things like mission statements and OKRs – user needs are often defined by marketing personas, and so on.

    We use whatever criteria you have available, or we can perform stakeholder interviews and persona workshops to help refine or update those definitions to evaluate against. 

    • Requirements gathering – Stakeholder interviews, surveys, and workshops
    • User research – Gather customer feedback, review analytics and website behavior, create persona profiles 
    • User testing – Surveys, tree testing, contextual inquiries, and card sorts
    • Design review – Make recommendations for design to meet industry best practices and accessibility requirements

    4. SEO Audit

    Why are SEO audits popular?

    Without SEO specialization, it’s hard to know exactly what search engines are looking for. And there’s no tool that will single handedly spot weaknesses.

    What can I expect from an SEO audit?

    Atlantic BT will use a combination of tools and personalized review. We provide recommendations for the following areas:

    • Technical SEO – page speed, site structure, and schema 
    • Content optimization – content structure and keyword optimization
    • Event tracking – Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager setup
    • SEO Strategy – Existing position analysis and prioritization of focus areas

    5. Accessibility Audit

    Why are accessibility audits popular?

    Accessibility audits are important to prevent lawsuits in many sectors where accessibility is mandated by law. However, even if there is no legal risk for your business, if you aren’t making your content accessible to all, your business could still be missing out on a large population of users with disabilities. Furthermore, most accessibility UX enhancements end up being beneficial to all, providing a better user experience and positive image of your brand.

    What can I expect from an accessibility website audit?

    Many businesses provide accessibility audits by running a website through an automated scanner. The issue here is that there are many elements that tools cannot see. 

    Atlantic BT offers a comprehensive scan which includes a broad software scan, careful review by a trained professional, and a follow up consult to build a roadmap based on findings. 

    You can also try our WCAG color testing tool for free!

    6. AWS Cloud Audit

    Why are AWS cloud audits popular?

    A website audit could help you optimize your current cloud environment or help you streamline a migration to be as seamless as possible.

    What can I expect from an AWS cloud audit?

    Cloud optimization audit

    For those who already have an AWS cloud environment, a website audit will help take full advantage of the services purchased and eliminate whatever is unnecessary.

     Atlantic BT will collaborate with your IT team over several calls, review code (or review infrastructure with read-only access), and provide a consult to review findings.

    Cloud migration audit

    On the other hand, others may be looking for a website audit to help them access their situation and plan for a migration. Atlantic BT will gather workloads and business requirements, determine which AWS services will best support your business (keeping efficiency in mind), and create a plan to test and securely migrate data.

    7. Site Performance Audit

    Why are site performance audits popular?

    When your website loads quickly, it ranks higher on search engines and boosts conversions after users land. Not to mention, Google rewards ads connected to fast websites.

    As the benefits of fast websites become widely known, your competitors are beginning to invest in page speed optimization. They are now better equipped to “out-perform” you in every sense!

    What can I expect from a website performance audit?

    There are many free tools to help you scan your website for performance issues. After using a vetted tool to scan your website, Atlantic BT will:

    • Review the recommendations and prioritize based on impact and effort
    • Build a roadmap to help you start implementing these optimizations
    • If you wish – proceed with the implementation and continue to monitor and test results

    Ready to get started?

    If you need some help but aren’t sure if a website audit would benefit you, we’ll get you on the right track with a free consultation. We’ve been building websites since 1998 and thus have 25 years of experience identifying the key issues that are holding websites back from outperforming their competitors.

  • Five fixes for your top eCommerce SEO challenges.

    Five fixes for your top eCommerce SEO challenges.

    Local or service-based SEO is fairly straightforward: you optimize service pages, start a Facebook page to drum up local interest, build some relevant links to pages, write some keyword optimized blogs, and ultimately cover the SEO basics.

    But for something like an online learning system, a media platform, or eCommerce; SEO presents new challenges. The sheer breadth of these websites is a challenge in itself. All SEO tasks will have to be prioritized by effort and impact, regular audits become essential to stay on top of site health, and you’ll likely be coordinating with several internal or external marketers to keep things afloat.

    Aside from page volume, eCommerce websites have a unique structure that presents industry-specific challenges. Digital ads will be closely tied to your revenue and technical SEO becomes a priority.

    Take a peek at 5 of the top challenges that eCommerce SEO experts face and how they are handling them.

    1. Implementing custom product descriptions.

    Custom product descriptions are an opportunity to create unique content on product pages. Custom descriptions will also help you add several relevant keywords in one place.

    Better still, you can incorporate some tricks in your product descriptions to make them convert – such as using sensory adjectives or suggesting some common product uses, helping buyers picture a product in their everyday lifestyle. 

    Here are some methods to create a consistent practice of unique product page content.

    Train site users for SEO.

    Train the people who actually upload products and add descriptions in keyword research. For example, we wrote a blog on SEO basics for this reason. We can share these simple tips with clients who have larger site sizes so that they can train blog writers to incorporate best practices.

    A blog post isn’t always the best way to train. Try having an SEO expert audit some existing pages and show teams how they would fix them. Showing tangible examples is usually easier to digest than having people read an overview.

    Make sure you house a writeup or presentation as an internal resource. SEO is complicated, and you’ll need to make it easy for learners to refer back to this material.

    Automate unique descriptions.

    A unique description does not necessarily need to be manually written. There are a plethora of tools and AI solutions that could be implemented to help. For example, these four software businesses offer Natural Language Generation (NLG) product descriptions:

    Boost custom product reviews. 

    If you have enough good reviews on a page, you may eliminate the urgency for a custom description. 

    While a high quality product may generate reviews on its own, using a tool like Power Reviews to ask for feedback after a purchase is a better way to ensure ratings.

    Remember to ask customers to write something a few paragraphs long… or provide them with an example. 

    2. Prioritizing keywords with thousands of products.

    There’s no single correct way to zero in on certain products. But here are some options to help you prioritize:

    • Pick keywords around your largest revenue-driving product
    • Pick keywords involved with a new product you are trying to grow
    • Pick keywords that are the easiest wins for your business – or “keyword mapping”

    eCommerce keyword mapping.

    Pick an “easy win” keyword by looking at traction you’ve already built. Do you have any page 2 rankings for promising keywords? You might be able to bring them to page 1 with a simple internal linking strategy.

    Focus on product landing pages.

    Another approach is to manually optimize product landing pages, given there is a manageable amount. These will be your high level category pages.

    Optimizing these landing pages eliminates the issues of having similar products compete with each other. If your site offers a high volume of similar products, this is probably your best bet.

    3. Defining an unclear blog strategy.

    What is the goal of your eCommerce blog? Likely, you’ve discovered that a blog is the easiest way to get unique content on your website in bulk. It’s also a great way to attract organic traffic from buyers in the “awareness” phase. 

    Maximize the ROI of your blog by using it for internal linking opportunities and faster conversions.

    Boost sales by internal linking in your blog.

    Backlinking from external sources can help boost the authority of your web pages and demonstrate relevance. Internal linking is an easier way to do the same thing, helping you capitalize on the authority you’ve already built.

    First of all, find blogs that have the most or highest quality backlinks to start with. These will be easy to pick out because they likely generate the most traffic.

    Then, link these top blogs to products that you’d like to focus on using keyword anchor text.

    The keyword anchor text will signal relevance to search engines, and the blog posts’ backlink authority will pass through to the product page.

    Conversion optimization in your blog.

    Boost product conversions throughout your blog by incorporating featured product callouts, adding a recommended product widget in the blog, or adding popups with limited offers and coupon codes.

    You could also go the longer (but less pushy) route: gather newsletter signups on your blog and nurture them with emails including offers and featured products.

    4. Optimizing URL structure.

    There are a couple of optimal URL structures for eCommerce.

    Most optimized eCommerce stores today are using one of these two structures:

    • storename.com/category/sub-category/product-name
    • storename.com/product-name

    Using the first option works like a breadcrumb, showing users exactly where they are on the website. 

    On the other hand, the second option can keep your URL short and reduce confusion (especially if you have many levels of categories on your site). To give you some more schema markup opportunities, you can use a breadcrumb on your product page along with this shorter URL.

    For instance, Best Buy uses this URL structure for a product page:

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dyson-cyclone-v10-animal-pro-cordless-stick-vacuum-copper/6373040.p?skuId=6373040

    Also note that Best Buy is a large website with similar products. They need to add unique identifiers like an SKU in the URL to prevent duplicates. 

    Should you restructure if your site is organized differently? 

    Changing your site structure and implementing a high volume of redirects will hurt your SEO initially. However, cleaning up your website should pay off over time if you’re willing to take a temporary hit. And if you’re already suffering in the organic department, you have nothing to lose!

    5. Third-party scripts are slowing down your website.

    With sales tied closely to marketing spend, you probably have all sorts of third-party scripts to track conversions (Google ads, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.). An easy precaution to take is uploading scripts in Google Tag Manager so that marketers can pause them  when they are not in use.

    A Google study proved that  53% of mobile ad clicks immediately exited when load times exceeded 3 seconds. Now calculate your site conversion rate and average sale to determine the revenue impact. 

    Site speed is worth the investment! And as frequent deployments can affect your site speed, the only way to stay on top of it is to perform regular audits. We recently compiled a prioritized list of 6 key factors to boost website performance to give your team a starting point.

    Marketing and Development are tied closely together.

    You’ve probably noticed that all of these SEO best practices are closely tied to eCommerce web development. For this reason, you’ll need to rely on a development team that is well-versed in eCommerce SEO, or make sure that you’re investing in appropriate training. 

    Ready to get the ball rolling?  Give us a call – we offer free consultations to get started building your eCommerce digital strategy.

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  • Take full advantage of the new Instagram Shopping.

    Take full advantage of the new Instagram Shopping.

    Instagram has slowly been increasing its features for advertisers and sellers. The new Instagram Shopping experience provides an additional revenue stream for the app itself (as they charge a fee for sales). But it’s also providing a whole channel for brands to gain exposure and drive sales!

    Read on to learn more about the ins and outs of Instagram Shopping and see what brand value is in store for you.

    Whats the new Instagram Shopping experience like?

    Instagram Shopping began with the rollout of tagging products within posts and video descriptions. Users were able to click on these products and either save for later or click through to purchase on the brand’s website.

    But this month, Instagram began rolling out a whole new shopping experience in test phases.

    How do users get there?

    Instagram shops are now a tab in the interface, letting users browse products when they’re in the mood to purchase.

    How do users browse products?

    Products are organized into collections, making it easy to stumble upon appealing items. Product recommendations are based on the brands that Instagram users are following, meaning this shop is completely customized towards an individual’s preferences.

    What other features should I know about?

    Instagram influencers and creators are also able to tag products in their own posts. This means that affiliate programs are now more useful to sellers than ever before.

    Better still, users now have access to a seamless in-app experience. Since all of their information is already stored in Facebook pay, the checkout process is simple.

    How does Instagram Shop benefit eCommerce sellers?

    Bypass larger brands – get exposure through targeting your niche.

    eCommerce is a growing, competitive space; especially since Covid forced many stores to rely on digital sales. 

    While you are enjoying the benefits of more people shopping online, you likely noticed that traditional channels are becoming more competitive at the same time:

    • Search engines driving organic traffic
    • Paid ads targeting through custom audiences and search intent
    • Social media exposure through relevant hashtags or the Instagram Explore page

    Now, Instagram Shop provides a channel with less barriers to entry. Focus on growing your Instagram following and affiliate partnerships to tap into a ready-to-buy audience, without worrying about search engine bloodbaths or the Instagram Explore page’s ambiguous algorithm.

    Tap into an audience that is more likely to purchase.

    Not only are Instagram users getting an extremely personalized shopping experience while they’re in the buying mindset, they also have a convenient checkout experience. 

    Buyers shop with Facebook pay, meaning there is no hassle to input all of their billing information. For you, that means less cart abandonment.

    How do I set up my Instagram shop?

    If you’re new to social media selling, make sure your domain is verified through Facebook Surfaces and Instagram Shopping. Then, connect to a business Facebook page.

    Next, you’ll need to connect a product catalog to your Instagram Business Account. You can either manually upload your products, or you can sync your website if it’s built with a supported platform (like Shopify or BigCommerce).

    Heres an example of syncing your catalog through Shopify.

    Once you’ve configured your catalog, you can submit your Instagram account for review. If your account is approved, you’ll be able to enable shopping in your settings.

    What’s next for Instagram Shopping?

    With new features that make Instagram’s shopping experience streamlined and personalized, this is becoming an essential branch of eCommerce strategy.

    And it doesn’t stop at setting up your Instagram store. Live shopping is coming soon! That means that influencers using an Instagram Live can tag products within the video.

    This is valuable real estate! When someone posts a live, all of their users are notified immediately (jumping to the top of everyone’s feed).

    It’s a great time to start setting up influencer marketing programs to take advantage of upcoming features.

  • Is Shopify the best option for my eCommerce store?

    Is Shopify the best option for my eCommerce store?

    Shopify provides the ability to have a fully functioning eCommerce website without having to do any coding or hosting. 

    Because it is a Saas offering, all you need to do is sign up for an account and start adding products to your store. It is very simple to use. 

    Some customizations are able to be made through its API and Liquid templating. While Shopify is not easily customized like Magento 2, it works well if you would like to start a small, simple store.

    In what scenarios should you use Shopify?

    You have a small product catalog.

    Shopify is a great starting point for a business with a small number of products. It simply wouldn’t make sense to use a robust platform like Magento 2, which would include a large upfront investment and unnecessary features for inventory management. 

    eCommerce is not the main focus of your website.

    If you would like a store in addition to your main website, Shopify is a simple way to do this. For example, many businesses need a side store to sell merchandise for the brand – like t-shirts, mugs, or stickers. 

    Because Shopify is a low time and monetary investment, it’s quick to see a return with this secondary revenue generator.

    You need a quick proof of concept.

    Many businesses wish to test selling some products before focusing on expansion. Due to the low cost barrier and how quickly a store can get running, Shopify can be a great way to dip your toes into having an eCommerce site without having to commit capital. 

    For those needing a store up right away, but still want the customization of Magento, a solution could be to have a store running in Shopify while the Magento 2 store is being built out. Once the Magento 2 store is complete, you can rely on a partner to help migrate the products.

    There are little customization and integrations required.

    If the eCommerce site requires very little customizations and very little integrations with other services, then Shopify becomes the obvious choice. 

    Shopify allows some customizations using its Liquid templating language. However, with the amount of effort it takes to truly customize Shopify themes, another option often makes more sense. 

    You’re on a tight budget.

    If you are not willing to invest a lot of money upfront, Shopify will help you get going at a smaller cost. Because it is a Software as a Service (SaaS), you won’t have to worry about monthly hosting fees, maintenance/upgrades costs, and other expenses involved with using a platform like Magento 2. 

    Shopify does take a percentage of every sale, so as the store grows and does more business, the cost savings will lessen. At that point it’s time to consider migrating to something else.

    You are mostly selling through third-party marketplaces.

    Shopify has built-in support for various third-party marketplaces. Many storefronts are supported, including Amazon, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you’d like to mostly sell in these places, but also want a centralized place to maintain products and have some web presence, Shopify is the optimal solution.

    In what scenarios should you not use Shopify?

    You have a B2B store.

    Most B2B stores require more integrations than B2C. Also, many require more advanced customer management such as login portals and history of past orders. 

    For these reasons, Shopify is rarely a good fit for B2B stores.

    You have multiple websites.

    If your setup includes multiple stores which share some products, Shopify does not offer a solution to handle this. In Shopify, you’d have to use multiple accounts for each store and consider each store its own entity. 

    Magento, on the other hand, supports multiple stores out of the box, enabling products to be shared across multiple stores and websites and to be managed from the same codebase.

    You need multilingual support.

    If your eCommerce website needs to be multilingual, it can be challenging to set up in Shopify. While there are apps on Shopify’s marketplace that offer this type of support, it is not built-in or easily managed. 

    You need extensive integrations.

    Shopify provides a simple API that can be used for integrating the stores into different services, but for more extensive integrations it can become impossible. 

    A team experienced in many platforms can guide you.

    Need help evaluating your situation and choosing the best eCommerce platform? Reach out for a free consultation with one of our experts. We’re happy to help you get started with your solution.

  • Coping with COVID-19 and preparing for the future of digital.

    Coping with COVID-19 and preparing for the future of digital.

    Take a look at how COVID-19 has impacted our organization, what to expect in a post-pandemic world, and how we are embracing the future.

    A new normal: working fully remote.

    I personally am settling into week 9 of isolation and social distancing, it’s been fun to watch other people adjust to becoming remote workers.

    In 2019, Atlantic BT decided that we needed to open our minds to people working full-time remote. This would help us recruit top talent across the East Coast and give employees flexibility they needed. This change also aligned well with my move to Ottawa, Canada, as I took the plunge into working fully remote for the first time.

    We encouraged the remaining ABT-ers in Raleigh to explore working from home a few days a week to avoid traffic and maximize their flow.

    What this means during this time of “Business as Unusual” is that Atlantic BT is already prepared to be fully operational as a remote team. We are still managing web applications, writing quality code, and settling into video conversations. Some of the benefits we are seeing include:

    • Better written documentation
    • More chatter that’s searchable and archivable
    • Finding creative ways to socialize (We are still having our 2 4 7 mini game breaks for some virtual games at home.)

    How will reopening impact our digital future?

    While we understand that these unusual times are putting a strain on many of you in all facets of life, I think it’s important to focus on the post-pandemic world and look to our digital futures. 

    At ABT, we are taking this time to streamline our processes to provide more value at a lower cost, develop more useful and value driven baselines for our favorite platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Magento, Shopify, React), and tackle enterprise integration as we never have before. 

    If there is one thing we can count on, it’s that we as a collective humanity will emerge from this as changed for better and worse. While popular media wants to emphasize the worst, I want to think about the better for a bit.

    Industrial Automation

    We will emerge a truly digital society where curbside pickup and take out persist outside of the restaurant industry as a way to do business. This will force us to rethink industrial automation as it is related to B2C eCommerce.

    Hopefully we can move a bit past the Gig Economy into the Robot Economy (I for one welcome our robot overlords, just wanted to get that out there before the Singularity).

    IoT and Healthcare

    We will be socially distancing for a bit and need to come up with new ways to take care of each other. In the digital world, we will see an explosion of IoT healthcare monitoring that will change the way we travel and we convalesce.

    This explosion will put more pressure on privacy and security frameworks to encrypt and make portable this data that ultimately belongs to the individual. We will be better off for sharing this information globally in a secure way.

    eCommerce transactions and shipping

    Ecommerce will continue to grow at a covid-19 like pace (too soon?) – but we need to be prepared. Current credit card and shipping solutions won’t cut it.

    As merchants see profound impacts to their ability to earn revenue, the credit card industry is going to have to ease costs and provide more security around transactions using biometrics, cryptocurrency, and temporary transaction numbers.

    Shippers are going to have to figure out machine learning and how it applies to density and logistics in a new way.

    We all see multiple delivery trucks pass our houses/apartments each day. We need to see true improvements in payment technology and logistics/supply chain improvements past what Amazon Prime has already taught us. 

    Increased work-from-home opportunities

    It’s clear that working from home will become more common. We are already in the habit and have become comfortable with these setups. New tools and processes will continue to improve, and companies are beginning to realize to the benefits of remote work. Furthermore, we may use work from home as a solution to prevent the spread of future illness.

    Reduced commuting will also allow our earth to heal a bit from the over consumption of fossil fuels and maybe actually put a dent in global warming.

    While it’s hard to look to these long-term, more pressing issues, we will be able to make the case for more remote work and better integrated digital platforms to allow for connected remoteness while keeping our communication secure.

    Let’s have a conversation.

    As ABT prepares to thrive in the future and comes out of this “Business as Unusual” time hardened and ready to tackle these problems with creative agility, let us know if there is anything we can do to support you. We are truly a people-first company and no digital ask is too big or small. If you need help, let me know!

  • Shopify Guide: a Simple Solution for eCommerce

    Shopify Guide: a Simple Solution for eCommerce

    Is Shopify right for my business?

    Because of its scaling capabilities and easy integrations, Shopify is an all-encompassing solution that fits the requirements of many businesses.

    Shopify might be the best choice for you if you identify with the following:

    • I need a quick and easy way to transition into eCommerce.
    • My business is a startup, and I need to be able to manage my store easily (without technical knowledge).
    • I only have a few products/services now, but I will be adding many more in the future.
    • I can invest in a web partner to get me started, but then I’d like to manage my store independently.
    • I have an online store, but I am too busy running my business to keep up with eCommerce improvements.
    • My small product catalog site is taking off and needs a more reliable solution.

    You may need a more complex solution, like Magento, if you identify with these issues:

    • I want full control over the customization of my eCommerce store.
    • My store needs to integrate with specialized software.
    • At times, I have large surges in traffic and need highly scalable hosting.
    • I’d prefer to rely on a website partner to fully manage my upgrades, feature development, and integrations.

    Shopify feature breakdown.

    While each of Shopify’s plans includes hosting, staff accountants, a blog, and other basic features; some additional features can be purchased through the Shopify app store.

    What’s included in each tier?

    Most businesses choose between one of Shopify’s main tiers: Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. Each of these three tiers include an online store, unlimited products, staff accountants, discount codes, SSL certificate, and abandoned cart recovery. Other features – like gift cards, professional reports, and cubic pricing – will come at a price.

    Shopify also offers Shopify Lite – which adds simple features to an existing website or social media page for $9/month.

    At the other end of the spectrum, Shopify Plus offers enterprise features and scalable hosting at $2,000/month.

    Shopify web design.

    Shopify offers hundreds of professional themes to choose from, from free options or templates closer to $200.

    All that is needed to tweak your design is a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. However, Shopify uses a template language called Liquid for web design and development, and for some this presents a steep learning curve.

    It may be in your best interest to rely on a partner who already has experience with Shopify’s designer-focused programming language.

    Shopify Inventory Management.

    Shopify allows for unlimited products as well as product types. You can group products into many different types of categories, simplifying product recommendations. Avoid tedious counting and never disappoint customers with out-of-stock items.

    • Smart Collections: Shopify collections will help you sort products according to inventory level, price, and vendor to make automations quick and easy.
    • Barcodes: You can use barcodes to keep track of products, and access a wireless barcode scanner to instantly ring in customer orders.
    • Inventory Tracking: Keep track of your stock count, and set up automations to place orders as they dwindle.
    • Inventory analytics: An analytics dashboard displays behavior on your website and gives you insight that helps with forecasting, creating marketing promotions, and planning orders.

    Shopify fulfillment and shipping.

    Shopify Shipping allows you to purchase labels as you fulfill orders through Shopify. Prices are automatically calculated based on product weight.

    There are several fulfillment options through Shopify:

    • Manual fulfillment
    • Automatic fulfillment
    • Use a fulfillment service with an app
    • Use a custom fulfillment service

    Shopify Point of Sale solutions.

    Streamlining in-store and online sales with simple hardware can help you gain better business insights.

    Shopify has varying POS solutions, including options for pop-up shops, businesses with 1 retail location, and more.

    Shopify Email Marketing.

    Email is an essential part of driving sales, encouraging existing customers to make purchases, and building loyalty.

    The Shopify App store offers integrations with many popular email platforms, including Constant Contact, Drip, and Jilt. Check out the full list of Shopify’s email app integrations.

    Furthermore, Shopify recently announced its own email marketing software, Shopify Email. While you can apply for early access to see for yourself, Shopify Email will allow you to create templates and track results all within the platform.

    Shopify Product Reviews.

    Shopify offers an app to help you easily collect and display product reviews. Import and export reviews using a CSV, respond to them within the platform, and add a simple snippet to your website to help Google find and display your ratings.

    Shopify and SEO.

    Shopify’s app store offers an SEO Manager at $20/month to help you manage the SEO basics, including:

    • Edit meta tags
    • Scan for issues
    • Access keyword suggestions
    • Add structured data
    • Review sitemap

    What can I do myself, and when will I need a partner to help?

    While Shopify was designed for easy setup and use, relying on a trusted partner will facilitate the process. An experienced agency can help you:

    • Navigate technical setup – like your domain, hosting, and email
    • Narrow down the right apps to use
    • Categorize your products effectively
    • Design your site to maximize conversions
    • Build a marketing and email automation strategy
    • Comply with eCommerce best practices
    • Migrating from another eCommerce platform

    Ready to get started?

    Whether you are interested in building a new website or moving your store from another platform, our team can help you get started. Contact us for a free consultation.