Building a Shopify website? Here are 7 common mistakes to avoid

Did you know that 55.4% of internet users use their mobile phones to buy online? Often touted as “mobilegeddon,” this established that mobile search was no longer an afterthought. Given the data, imagine what you could be missing out on if you did not optimize your Shopify site for mobile users.

Building an e-commerce website can be daunting, especially if you’re new to the process. There is much to consider when building a Shopify website. From choosing the perfect template to having a clear navigation structure, optimizing for mobile, and using high-quality images, it can be easy to miss some key steps during the process.

7 common mistakes while building a Shopify website

Most eCommerce Shopify websites fail due to typical errors that you ignore. Understanding these common blunders and correcting them before going live will help you maximize the platform’s potential and create a successful online business. Let’s look at seven of the most common mistakes e-commerce entrepreneurs make when setting up their Shopify store so that you don’t have to learn them all the hard way.

1. Slow loading time

Shopify serves as a dynamic platform but only when optimized for high speeds. Unfortunately, Shopify websites that don’t take the steps necessary to speed up their loading times are far too common. Thus, resulting in poor user experience and low website traffic. Making sure that your Shopify site is running at maximum speed is critical not only for boosting revenue potential but also for increasing credibility. A few practical tips you can use to speed up Shopify include

  • compress your images
  • optimize the usage of Shopify apps
  • implement AMP

2. Poor user experience

Contrary to popular belief, The design and feel of a website have little to do with user experience. It is more about utility and experience.

An e-commerce store won’t get good conversions with a sub-optimal user experience.

A few issues to keep at bay for a good user experience are:

a complex website design

Confusing navigation

Slow load time

Complicated checkout process

Not enough payment gateway options

3. Poor clarity on your target audience

Without a clear understanding of who your target market is, you may struggle to effectively market your products and services, resulting in poor sales and low customer engagement.

A study found that businesses saw a revenue increase of up to 760% when they segmented their market and targeted specific customer groups.

Also, without identifying ideal customers, it is more difficult for companies to provide unique services like tailored product recommendations or personalized discounts – features that are crucial for standing out in an increasingly competitive market.

4. Not optimizing for mobile phones

  • In 2021, mobile commerce accounted for 72.9% of all e-commerce traffic worldwide.
  • By 2024, the mobile commerce volume is estimated to reach $620.97 billion.

Thus, paying attention to your website’s mobile purchase process is crucial for ensuring a positive client experience and lowering shopping cart abandonment.

5. Not using high-quality images

Not using high-quality images on a Shopify website can negatively impact an e-commerce business in many ways:

  • Reduced sales: Poor-quality images can make products appear unappealing and discourage potential customers from purchasing.
  • Reduced conversion rates: Images with higher quality and aesthetics are more likely to convert customers into buyers.
  • Reduced brand credibility: Using low-quality images can make your brand appear unprofessional and untrustworthy, negatively impacting customer perceptions of your business.

6. Not using clear, consistent branding

Inconsistent branding can make it difficult for customers to trust your business, negatively impacting conversions and sales. Clear and consistent branding helps communicate your unique selling point and what sets you apart from your competitors.

A study by HubSpot found that consistent branding can improve conversion rates by up to 33%.

Furthermore, inconsistent branding can make it difficult for customers to engage with your business, negatively impacting customer loyalty and repeat business.

7. Not using SEO optimization

Shopify is a great e-commerce platform with many features to help businesses succeed. However, keeping the default SEO settings can harm a business’s visibility and traffic. It could lead to poor visibility in search engines which could mean fewer potential customers find your website and spend money there.

Also, it can be difficult to target specific keywords related to your business and industry with default settings in your Shopify website’s SEO. To ensure your website is more visible online and attracts the right audience, you need to take control of Shopify’s SEO functionality and customize it depending on your needs.

How can iView Labs help you avoid these mistakes and build an efficient Shopify website?

iView Labs can be a potential partner to turn your Shopify vision into reality. IView Labs are dedicated to partnering with SMEs to fulfil their needs and requirements that can deliver a successful Shopify website for any business. With a decade of experience in eCommerce, iView Labs have the right set of skills and experience to help you avoid common mistakes when building your Shopify website. Furthermore, iView Labs provide excellent customer service and after-sales support to ensure that your website functions smoothly.
So if you’re looking for a customized Shopify app for your business, contact us at https://www.iviewlabs.com/talk-to-us. Our team quickly responds to your queries, and if you are interested, we can get started in no time. Visit our website www.iviewlabs.com for more information.

5 things to keep in mind before building a Shopify website

Over 4.4 million websites globally use Shopify as of 2023, making it one of the most popular e-commerce platforms for e-commerce businesses. Whether you’re a first-time business owner who wants to launch an efficient store quickly or an experienced pro looking to expand the reach of their existing website, building a Shopify platform requires thorough planning and strategy development.

This blog post will discuss five things to remember before embarking on your e-commerce journey with Shopify. So you can ensure 100% efficiency and maximum success with your online store!

1. Find a name, theme and target audience for your e-commerce

First things first, select a name for your store – a critical step in building a successful brand. Choose a name that resonates with your target audience. Then add a custom domain to your e-commerce site and guarantee instant audience recognition. By selecting the right name and domain name, you are giving your brand personality and visual appeal, which sets you apart from competitors.

Furthermore, carefully select a theme that relates to your products and is aesthetically pleasing to attract customers. With the number of US digital buyers estimated to reach 285 million in 2025, as per data by Statista, it’s even more important for retailers today to be able to reach buyers through multiple sales channels online.

To reap the benefits of multi-channel retailing for your e-commerce store, choose the top social media and marketplace channels that will work best for you, then add the available sales channels to your store.

2. Optimize photos and videos

Secondly, you must ensure your website is visually appealing. Use high-quality photos and videos to showcase your product. First impressions matter and potential customers should stick around long enough to learn more about your products or services. 

Shopify optimizes images and videos on your website for fast loading since speed is vital for online stores. Not only does it give your users a better experience, but it can also help boost your search engine performance and conversion rates. The platform ensures you get the best of both worlds: fast loading times and great visuals.

3. Easy navigation

Thirdly, your website needs to be easy to navigate. Customers should be able to find what they’re searching for quickly and easily. Use clear and concise labelling for your menus and keep the most important information above the fold.

While navigation techniques may seem like a breeze, there is much more to it than text links. Descriptive titles are incredibly important as your site’s navigation menu needs to give users a clear idea of what content they will access if they click on something. Moreover, navigation should be structured so that users can easily spot the navigation bars and properly understand their hierarchy. 

Finally, having an XML sitemap helps search engine bots index your site’s pages and ensure navigation appears correctly for all users. With this combination of navigation best practices, you’re sure to create an intuitive navigation system for your site!

4. Focus on e-commerce search engine optimization

49% of product searches begin with Google. Therefore, your Shopify website must be optimized for search engine ranking. This means using the right keywords and phrases and creating quality content that will help you rank high in search results.

Shopify helps you to begin with the following strategies built within the platform.

Keyword research is the first step in building effective SEO strategies: choose terms related to your product and optimize them on product descriptions, category descriptions, H1s, URLs, meta titles and file names.

Additionally, ensuring you have schema markup enabled on your website helps search engines find your content better. Then create a sitemap that provides information about your website’s content to Google. Lastly, optimize site speed by choosing more lightweight versions of codecs and minifying elements like JavaScript and CSS.

Finally, don’t forget to promote your website! Spread the word through social media, email marketing, and other channels. The more people who know about your Shopify site, the more likely you will get sales.

5. Providing Multiple Payment Methods

If you want your store to reach a broad range of customers and maximize sales, offering multiple payment options is key. It seems like a small detail, but research shows that 6% of shoppers will abandon their baskets if they cannot make an online payment in their preferred way. Services like Shopify provide multiple payment solutions, including credit cards, debit cards, Amex, and digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, Amazon Pay and PayPal. Offering multiple payment methods not only creates trust with consumers but can attract new customers and reduce cart abandonment due to the lack of available payment options.

How can iView Labs be a trusted tech partner for e-commerce businesses?

Whether you are an e-commerce company or a traditional company looking to expand into e-commerce, iView Labs has the skills and experience to help you build the best Shopify website for your business. With their decade-long experience, iView Labs can understand even the most complex challenges for SMEs. Plus, their excellent customer service and after–sales support ensures that your website is always performing at its best.
So if you’re looking for a customized Shopify app to tackle a specific problem, contact us at https://www.iviewlabs.com/talk-to-us. Our team quickly responds to your queries, and if you are interested, we can get started in no time. Visit our website www.iviewlabs.com for more information.

Why is Shopify the ideal platform for building an e-commerce website?

Meera is eagerly waiting for Flipkart’s Big Billion Sale. She hopes to get a good discount on a premium phone she has been eyeing. Besides the phone, Meera’s shopping list includes electronics, beauty products and Diwali gifts for friends and family.  Millions like Meera prefer online shopping, which clearly reflects in sales figures at Flipkart clocking a whopping $5.5B in 8 days of the Indian festive season in 2022.

Yes, e-commerce has transformed how we shop, eat or even travel and the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated just how important online retail is. As per research by eMarketer and Statista, online retail sales will hit $6.51 trillion by 2023, with e-commerce websites accounting for 22.3% of total retail sales.

According to statista.com, eCommerce is expected to rise by 50% over the next four years, reaching a staggering $7.4 trillion by 2025. So, if there was ever a time to jump on the eCommerce bandwagon, it is now.

And if you don’t know where to start, Shopify is the perfect platform to launch your e-commerce business. From its simple website builder and easy payment integration to its powerful marketing tools, you’ll have all the features and support you need to build a successful online store. With this blog post, we’ll explain why Shopify is an ideal choice for anyone looking to break into the lucrative world of e-commerce.

What should a good e-commerce website consist of?

When creating a website, it is critical to optimize it so that your clients get the greatest online buying experience possible. Your website is your company’s online home and a primary spot to lead your target audience. Therefore it has to be on point, on-trend, and up-to-date with all the newest eCommerce capabilities. Some vital features that any eCommerce website should include:

  • A responsive web design that fits both in the browser and mobile environment
  • User-Friendly Navigation
  • Multiple Security Features to protect sensitive customer data
  • Offer Multiple Payment Options
  • Display high-quality photos and videos because that is all you have to catch customers’ attention.

What is Shopify, and what are its features?

Shopify is an e-commerce platform you can use to build an online store. Shopify is the perfect option for entrepreneurs and business owners who want to get their online store up and running quickly. Shopify is incredibly easy to use, even for people without coding experience. Hence ideal for beginners.

  • Shopify runs over a million online shops across 175 countries.
  • Shopify has around 2.1 million active daily users.
  • Shopify has handled over a billion orders.

Shopify can be used both online and in person, with a point-of-sale app, giving you all the tools you need to make your e-commerce dreams a reality. Shopify costs $5 per month with the Starter plan and $29 per month with the Basic Shopify plan. More advanced Shopify plans are available too.

Top 5 benefits of using Shopify to build your e-commerce website

With Shopify, you gain access to a comprehensive suite of sales tools, marketing automation platforms and innovative customization options – perfect for building a fully functional online store. Key advantages include:

  1. Quick & easy to set up & use: Shopify helps launch an online store quickly without the hassles of servers and development costs. The platform offers a neat, intuitive and user-friendly admin panel which is an owner’s delight. Best part! You don’t need to know any coding to launch a basic Shopify store. Shopify takes care of all software and hosting.
  2. Secure & reliable: E-commerce websites require secure handling of sensitive customer information, including credit card details. With a hosted solution like Shopify, users get lightning fast page loads, unmatched security, and regular updates to ensure the best shopping experience for users.
  3. Mobile responsive: Most website visits are from mobile phones, so having a mobile-optimized site is key. Shopify’s mobile responsive themes include a free built-in mobile commerce shopping cart. Thus, your store is easily accessible through smartphones and provides an enjoyable shopping experience.
  4. SEO & Marketing tools: With Shopify, you can access super-effective SEO and marketing tools that will give your website visibility. SEO features make sure customers can easily find you in search results. At the same time, advanced analytics tell you exactly where visitors are coming from – allowing you to craft marketing strategies perfectly tailored to each.
  5. Own payment gateway: Shopify offers dozens of payment gateways, but they also provide their payment service powered by Stripe. It doesn’t require a merchant account and has zero transaction fees – plus, you’ll get the bonus of lower credit card fees.

Build your dream website with iView Labs

Hence it is clear that Shopify seems to be the obvious choice for building your e-commerce website. However, there are a few things you must do before you can set up your Shopify account. 

This comprises your business concept, name, things to offer, logo, and even product photos. Before you begin, you must also have high-quality, optimized product photos. Next is to create your Shopify account, Add products, Add pages to your site, set up a payment gateway, tax profiles and so on. One option is you go ahead and DIY.

However, if all this is too overwhelming for you, iView Labs has covered you. iView Labs has been assisting start-ups and SMEs successfully launch their e-commerce businesses. With over a decade’s experience, iView Labs is an expert in Shopify app development. We create high-quality e-commerce apps designed to meet various needs, using either waterfall or agile development methodology or Rapid Application Development (RAD).
So if you’re looking for a customized Shopify app to tackle a specific problem, contact us at https://www.iviewlabs.com/talk-to-us. Our team quickly responds to your queries, and if you are interested, we can get started in no time. Visit our website www.iviewlabs.com for more information.