If you own a Shopify store or are looking to have one created then you may have heard or come across the term Shopify Partner or Shopify Experts. These are basically individuals or Design agencies that work predominantly with the Shopify platform and can provide expertise to design, build and launch your new eCommerce website.
What is Shopify?
If you run an online eCommerce store or are looking into selling products online then you have probably heard of Shopify. Shopify allows you to create and launch a new eCommerce website to sell physical products, digital products or services online. The Shopify platform is super easy to navigate, user friendly and quite frankly a joy to use for both those looking to create their own site and Shopify designers like us, that create stores for those that need help and guidance.
Why is a Shopify Expert important?
A Shopify partner essentially can recommend Shopify to companies and earn commissions for promoting the service. A Shopify Expert on the other hand has a proven track record of professional website design to enable the Expert Status. Our team at Lionsorbet have been working with Shopify since 2014 and are both a Shopify Partner and Expert agency in building a new eCommerce website. You can view our official expert profile at https://experts.shopify.com/lionsorbet. Experts are ranked in a number of categories based on the level of services they offer. These include:
Shopify Set-Up Experts:
Shopify Designers
Shopify Developers
Shopify Marketers
Shopify SEO Experts
Shopify Photographers
Shopify POS
1. Get help with your Website Set-Up from a Shopify Partner
If you are just starting out, have a smaller budget, or already know a little bit about the platform, then getting an expert to help you set up Shopify is a great first step. A typical set up can include a basic theme installation, adding your logo’s and menu options, adding a few products and setting up your postage options and merchant account. With a little training and support, this is a great start to get your business online quickly.
Perfect for: Smaller budgets, just starting out, already have knowledge and expertise
Can we help? Yes. Lionsorbet is able to help you set up your website and can provide extended free hosting time whilst we help set up your website. Contact us to discuss your project.
2. Get help with your Website Design from a Shopify Partner
With so many businesses being launched online it is important to stand out amongst your competitors. Although a simple, free theme installation from the Shopify theme store can work well, a professional design with unique features can improve your online presence and help you sell more.
A Shopify expert will be professionally trained in design for a multi-platform user experience, such as Mobile, Desktop and Tablet. Great care and effort are employed to build brand-centric, effortless and beautiful designs that customers will remember and buy from.
A Shopify Expert will have the expertise and knowledge to ensure all parts of your business are covered and will in most cases provide help and guidance in how to get the most from your store, increase your traffic and your sales. The value this provides over the life of your store can impact your sales and revenue in a huge way.
Perfect for: Companies looking for a professional, beautifully designed website and those with little or no experience in setting up an eCommerce store.
Can we help? Yes. Lionsorbet builds a beautiful, modern and responsive website for retailers around the world. We look to understand your project and business to ensure we create a website that best suits your goals and can scale with you as your business grows. Contact us to discuss your project in more detail.
3. Get help with your Website Development from a Shopify Partner
If you already have an existing Shopify website but require help adding new features, changing design layouts, installation apps or making theme changes then a Shopify Developer that is skilled in working with the coding language behind a Shopify theme is important to have on board. Shopify’s coding language is called ‘Liquid’.
It is important to note that not all Shopify Designers and Experts have the knowledge and expertise to make changes to the code of the website to make these changes.
A good developer will be able to help you add well-written code to your site that is fully tested before being published to ensure there are no errors or usability issues. Shopify development is usually more expensive as the skill base of developers is in high demand.
Perfect for: Those needing help making changes to a theme design, adding new functionality or apps, and fixing site errors.
Can we help? Yes. Lionsorbet has skilled in-house developers that can build custom themes, features and apps. Contact us to discuss your project or website.
4. Get help with your Website Marketing from a Shopify Partner
Marketing is the cornerstone of a successful business. Having a great product, service and website is step one. Step two is to put these in front of potential buyers. Traditional marketing involves advertisements, leaflet drops, trade-shows and networking and although these can work very well it’s a lot harder to quantify their impact. The new-age marketing leverages platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter for both growing an engaged network of followers and also for targeted advertisements. The use of content marketing such as blog writing, educational guides and videos can also help grow your audience and increase your reach. Add to this the use of Google My Business profiles and Google Ads and you can reach a huge audience in no time. If you have launched your store here are some things you need to do:
Set up your Social media accounts. Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are a great start, then start considering Twitter, Linkedin and TikTok as alternatives. understand each platform and learn how best to create content that is well received, liked and shared.
Start writing good quality blog posts that engage your audience and help them make better decisions. Post these articles on your social media pages to help reach a bigger audience.
Set up your Google My Business Profile and start collecting reviews from your customers.
Set up an Email Subscriber Form on your website with a free account with Mailchimp. Grow your subscribers and email them with exclusive offers, product updates and information.
Create some low cost targeted Pay Per Click advertisements through Facebook, Instagram and Google. You may need the help of a professional to get started with this.
Set up Google Analytics and Google Console to track website visitors and overall site health.
It might seem like a daunting task to undertake but take one part at a time, set up and implement and track its impact. If you try and do too many things all at once you’ll get bogged down with data overload. Take your time and understand each area before you build it into your workflow.
Perfect for: Those that are serious about growing their business, reaching a wider audience and increasing sales.
Can we help? Absolutely! Lionsorbet can help you set up all of the areas listed above and formulate a marketing strategy that will see your traffic increase and grow your top-line revenue. Contact us to discuss your project in more details.
5. Get help with your Website SEO from a Shopify Partner
SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimisation, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. The better your SEO strategy, the more traffic you are likely to drive to your website which will lead to more engagement and more sales.
SEO is a fundamental part of your business success and a foundation on which your online store should be built upon. Formulating a good strategy is vitally important to not only enhance your website but increase your overall site traffic.
Adding content such as blogs and pages, adding titles and descriptions to all pages within your site, adding pictures and video as well as optimising site load speeds can help improve your overall SEO.
Perfect for: Those looking to optimise their site to increase organic search engine results and traffic to your website to scale sales and enquiries.
Can we help? Yes. Lionsorbet is able to help with your SEO strategy and help grow your traffic and online sales. Contact us for free website analysis and discussion of an SEO plan that suits your company.
6. Get help with your Website Photography from a Shopify Partner
Good, clean beautiful imagery is one of the most important things you can do for your online store. Detailed and high-quality shots are a critical part of helping your customers connect with your products, understand their features, and also make you stand out from your competitors. All products are varied and will require a different approach, but no matter how cheap or expensive your products are don’t scrimp on photography. It can quite literally make or break your sales.
Not everyone is a photographer and getting great shots can require a lot of expensive kit. So what can you do to help this process?
Invest in a decent DSLR or Mirrorless camera and simple lighting setup to take your own professional photography in-house.
Invest in a simple Photo Lightbox system to take simple well-lit shots of your products
Contact the manufacturer of your product range and see if they can supply photographs of their products.
Consider investing in 3D Visuals to support your marketing. This can produce super cool, high-quality images and video that makes your products look unique.
Find a good, local photographer to help you take shots of your products. Product Photography is very different to lifestyle photography featuring people and environments so be sure to check a photographer’s portfolio of work to understand their style and quality.
Perfect for: Those looking for help in creating great images to showcase their products and services
Can we help? Our Team at Lionsorbet is skilled in 3D rendering for product marketing and we also work with a number of skilled photographers. Contact us to find out more about our services and hopefully, we can put you in touch with the right person.
7. Get help with your Website Support and Maintenance from a Shopify Partner
Support and Maintenance of your Shopify website can be a valuable service to employ. If you don’t have the time and knowledge to update your site on a regular basis, a maintenance package can come in very useful. Typical updates may include:
Simple site design tweaks
Setting up Collections, products, and prices.
Adjusting postage options
Site Backups (Including Orders, Customers, and Theme files
Installation of apps to help marketing
Low-level and basic SEO work.
Analytics and sales reports
Perfect for: Busy teams with no internal support. Those looking for peace of mind that expertise is on hand to help at any time.
Can we help? Yes, Lionsorbet provides a simple, cost-effective Support and Maintenance Package for Shopify Website. Contact us to discuss our options.
8. Get help with Shopify POS from a Shopify Partner
Shopify offers a Point of Sale (POS) system for business that has a physical shop presence as well as an online store. Shopify’s POS system allows you to sync your products and orders with both your retail store and online store. This includes inventory management and pricing. This system allows you to do away with an old, out fo cate till system and run your business from an iPad. What are the POS features?
Manage both your online and retail store from one place
Update inventory across your stores. If a product is purchased in-store it will update the amount you have left online too.
Manage refunds and customer data all in one place.
Use Barcodes and scanning to speed up in-store purchases.
Link to a Till via Bluetooth to manage cash transactions and receipts
Perfect for: Businesses that have an online store and a physical retail presence or multiple sites and want to manage inventory and stock across all platforms.
Can we help? Yes. Our team has helped set up companies with the Shopify POS system along with continued training and support. Contact us to discuss this option in your store.
Picking the right Shopify Expert
If you are looking to set up a new online retail store for your business and you have looked at Shopify as your platform of choice then you might be thinking about finding an individual or Shopify Design Agency that can help you out.
If you are quite tech-savvy and have managed websites like WordPress or Wix before then you may be able to set up your own account and work your way through the set up on your own.
Although challenging this can be quite rewarding and you can develop a set of skills that will carry forward into new projects or help enhance and develop your store over time.
If however, you wish to find the best expertise straight away then finding the right help can be just as challenging. If you fail to do your homework you could end up with an expensive site that doesn’t work with little or no customer support to help you make sales. What areas can you look at to ensure you have found the right help?:
Communication
Talk with the company or individual and see how responsive they are to your business, suggestions and ideas. Do they get back quickly with suggestions and options? Do they seem excited to be talking to you? Do they ‘get’ your business and understand your target market? All of these are subtle things that you can pick up on quite easily within the first few conversations with a new company.
Red Flags: Little or no replies to your emails. Takes ages to formulate a quote, doesn’t really understand your business.
Marketing Expertise
If the agency you find also has services in SEO and Marketing then they are more likely to build a site that encompasses this expertise and help formulate a marketing plan upfront, getting the most out of your investment. They can discuss your current business plan and give help and advice on what to start thinking of before you launch.
Red Flags: They don’t seem to understand basic marketing principles or how they can help you grow your site traffic. Their own website doesn’t look high quality and little care is taken over their site copy and graphics.
Design Portfolio / Case Studies
Designers care about their work. That’s why they are designers. They like to create beautiful things, disrupt the status quo and wow their audience. An agencies portfolio, case studies, graphics and wording around a particular project should be top quality and well-considered. In essence, look at a companies website designs for their clients and if you like what you see then there is a good chance your website will follow a similar pattern of design. If you don’t see this then no amount of sales spiel is going to make your site look any different.
Red Flags: The portfolio is low quality, graphics are bad quality and grainy. Too many stock photographs (although in some cases this cannot be helped) and the promise that most of their portfolio is not online yet. If this is the case ask for links and judge for yourself.
Client List
Okay, so not all design agencies or designers get the chance to work with big brand names but some do. This can give an indication of their success and position in the industry. Rather than look for top names look to see if they have worked with others within your industry. Similar industries can lead to knowledge transfer and a benefit to your project. Our team at Lionsorbet for instance have built many websites for Jewellery Retailers and Manufacturers for many years. This has led to a deep level of knowledge and understanding of the market and its products.
Red Flags: No clients or too few to make a decision about the quality of their work. If they are a new company then check past work and reviews where possible.
Independent Reviews
The use of independent review systems such as Google and Trustpilot for instance have made it easier to gauge how good a company is. It gives us a quick snapshot of who they have worked for and what their clients have to say. Don’t trust a static page on a website that lists reviews. These can be easily made up. Check for independent reviews outside their website. Be mindful of low-quality or bad reviews and don’t write them off instantly. Read the review and also what the response of the agency or individual was. How a company deals with it’s problems can be a great way to understanding how you will be treated if things go wrong.
Red Flags: Ensure they have some independent reviews and check the overall quality. Are they all negative or just the most recent ones? Try to understand why this might be the case.
Conclusion
Shopify out of the box is a simple and intuitive platform to get started with your online journey. Installing a simple theme, loading products and setting up a payment gateway can be a straight forward process. If however, you lack the time or inclination to set up a site and would prefer the skills and expertise of a professional agency or individual to guide you through your build then looking for a Shopify Expert and Partner is a great way to start.
Our team at Lionsorbet have been working with Shopify for over 7 years and have worked with companies large and small around the world. We are keen to understand your business, your marketing and SEO plan and love to help you formulate one if you are not sure where to start. We are proud of our Portfolio and Case Studies and have multiple 5-star reviews from clients that we love working with.
If you feel we are the right people to work with please call us on 01604 422356 or email us at info@lionsorbet.com at any time.
