Last updated - December 19, 2023
Shopify is an extensive eCommerce platform. It has everything you need to sell your products online, from payment processing and shipping to inventory management and customer support. Shopify supports 20 languages and is one of the most widely used platforms. In addition, you can customize your store with different themes and templates, and there are plenty of apps and plugins that can help you grow your business. Since it is so extensive, many entrepreneurs use it to grow their businesses. In fact, this year, 1.75 million sellers are using the Shopify platform.
In this competitive landscape, one of the biggest challenges for eCommerce entrepreneurs is how to make their Shopify site stand out from all the other online stores. It’s not easy to create a site that attracts new customers and helps them find what they’re looking for. So it’s no wonder that many store owners give up after a while, thinking that they’ll never be able to build a successful Shopify site. The truth is, anyone can create an amazing Shopify store if they take the time to do research and employ the right tools.
1. Use a custom domain name
It’s no secret that a custom domain name can make your website stand out. It’s one of the first things potential customers will see when searching for your business online. In addition, having a custom domain name helps you stand out in search results. When customers search for information about a product or service, they often type keywords into Google and other search engines to find what they’re looking for. If you have a keyword-rich domain name for your Shopify store, it’s more likely that people will be able to find you by typing in those keywords.
Another benefit of using a custom domain name is that it gives people an idea of what your company sells. For example, suppose you sell seashells. Owning the domain name “sallyssellsseashells.com” gives people an idea of what you do right away, without having to click on anything or do any research on their part! This naming convention will help with client retention and memory of your brand name in the future. You can purchase domain names right from Shopify to set up your store or from another domain provider like GoDaddy or Bluehost.
2. Choose a theme that represents your brand best
Choosing the right theme is essential for website performance. You need to put effort into picking the theme that fits your brand well and is fun to look at and use for your customers. A good way to choose the right theme for your Shopify site is to use the carefully curated industry-specific templates that Shopify has designed. These templates are grouped by industry, so you can pick which category your business fits into, and auto-generated template theme options will come up for your use. If you are having difficulty choosing a theme, work with a freelance developer who has experience developing Shopify sites. Freelancer designers have vast experience growing eCommerce websites and are an affordable way for many entrepreneurs to commit to their first theme design.
3. Set up social media accounts
Social media is not just a platform for social connection but has become inherent to business, including eCommerce. If you don’t have an active social media presence, it will be more difficult for customers to find your business, but it will be impossible for them to create a personal connection with you and your brand. As a Shopify merchant, you should have active social media profiles regularly updated and actively promoting your business.
4. Make your site faster and easier to run than competitors
A big part of reducing your Shopify store’s bounce rate is page loading speed. If your pages load slowly for users, there is an increased probability that they exit the website and visit your competitors whose page loads faster. Therefore, making your site quicker and more efficient will have effects on your overall site visits and the engagement rate of page visitors. There are many Shopify apps dedicated to page speed that can help make your site run quicker without putting in a lot of effort.
Speed optimization apps like Hyperspeed, Page Speed Booster, and Fuzz help optimize different aspects of your site to be as fast and efficient as possible. They carry out functions like image optimization, improving stack time, and reducing page latency automatically. Do your research, and choose the best apps to use with your Shopify site.
5. Use Shopify apps to your advantage
As was mentioned earlier in this blog, Shopify is an incredibly powerful eCommerce tool. However, if you are only using them as a site host, you have not unlocked the platform’s full potential yet. One of the best ways to improve your Shopify store and make it stand out is installing apps. Some of the most important features are available as free plugins, and some are paid. So if you want to improve your sales and convert more visitors into customers, it’s worth investing a few extra minutes of your time or a few dollars for a plugin that can help you grow.
As an example, there are product-related plugins such as Product Upsell, Product Reviews, and Discount Codes. These tools help you automatically upsell products, get customer reviews, and offer discount codes, respectively. And those are just 3 of the 4,000 potential plugins you can use in your online store in every area of growth possible.
6. Use SEO strategies to improve rankings
If people can’t easily Google your business, it’s not likely your website will get many hits. The fact of the matter is that organic search is a massive part of website traffic in 2022, so if your site is not SEO-optimized, it will fall to the wayside, especially when it comes to sales. Find some SEO strategies that work for your brand, and capitalize on them.
One quick, easy thing you can do on your Shopify site is to create a blog. This improves your search result rankings, especially if you write specific blog posts that answer questions people are looking for. This also helps build people’s trust in your site: When people visit your store, the first thing they see is your blog. If it looks good and has useful information, then they’re more likely to stick around and buy something from you. Another quick way you can boost your SEO is to use the Plug In SEO app on your website. This powerful plugin will optimize your backend SEO and detect broken links for you, saving you time and money on SEO efforts. Finding the right tools and SEO strategies for you is essential to your success.
7. Update regularly
If you haven’t updated your website in the last few weeks or months, it may start to look stale and outdated. If you want to attract more customers, it is not enough for you to leave your site online as a static site. You should update it regularly to keep your customers as engaged as possible. Regularly updating your website, whether by posting to your blog or news feed, changing promotions, adding new imagery, or updating your product list, is vital to keeping your brand fresh. Making your brand fresh and showing customers that it is not stagnant will make them more inclined to revisit your website to ensure they haven’t missed any of the latest updates.
8. Create original content for your site
Something that goes along with regularly updating your Shopify site is creating original content for it. This content could be anything that suits your brand image, from articles, videos, podcasts, or any other number of media products. Having original content on your website is important to stand out because it engages site visitors and can convert them from visitors to enthusiasts of your brand. In addition, media products help highlight your brand personality and build up a personal connection with site visitors. Another great way you can use original content to help boost your website’s traffic is by adding an email marketing app to your website and regularly updating your customers on promotions and new product releases. The more your brand is shown to customers in different outlets, the more likely it is to become top of mind when it comes to buying products.
9. Build up brand loyalty
As with standard brick-and-mortar stores, customer loyalty can make or break your business. Repeat customers are intensely profitable for eCommerce businesses because they are more likely to make purchases than other users. They even spend more on each purchase than new customers do. So, building up brand loyalty and bringing customers back should be a top priority for you when trying to make your Shopify site stand out.
One of the ways you can do this is by encouraging reviews from previous customers. If customers do reviews, they will think about their experience with your site and whether they want this experience again. If it is positive, they are more likely to visit again, and their review will help encourage other customers to become loyal. Some great product review apps are at your disposals, such as Ryviu (best review app for dropshipping), Loox (photo review app) and Stamped.io (personalizable review app). Another plugin you can take advantage of to build brand loyalty is the Free Trust Badge. This plugin allows you to add payment trust badges to your site, which help encourage user trust and better your chances of getting repeat purchases.
10. Use promotions to catch customers’ eyes
You’ve got your legacy customers locked down but might still be trying to develop strategies for standing out to new customers. We encourage you to take advantage of promotions! Offering coupons and discounts for first-time visitors is an effective way of standing out to new customers. A fun plugin to try for discounts is the Discount Reminder, which notifies customers when a product’s price lowers.
Another way your store can stand out from the competition is by offering free shipping on certain order levels, such as those that order over $50 or $100 worth of product. The best plugin to help with free shipping is the Hextom Free Shipping Bar, which displays how much the customer needs to qualify for free shipping, encouraging them to add more items to their cart. It’s a simple yet effective plugin that ensures you deliver the best value proposition to your target audience.
Conclusion
The world of eCommerce is very competitive, and as an entrepreneur using Shopify, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd. Hopefully, by using the tips, tools, and strategies introduced in this blog, you will be able to build up your brand and stand out from the competition.
However, regardless of your strategy and the tools you employ, building a successful eCommerce business is primarily about the product and your determination to succeed. If you have a great product and are willing to put in the work to achieve online success, you have what it takes to create a booming Shopify business. Happy merchanting!
