The journey of starting a new online business

Shopify is by far one of the most well-known and popular eCommerce platforms available. Over a million sellers use Shopify and that number is only growing.

If you are a new online store and have just launched a Shopify account, be sure to check out this hand list to optimise your store for 2020.

Let’s dive right in.

SEO Matters

You have opened your store and are (not so) patiently waiting for the traffic to start. If you haven’t employed any Shopify SEO services (Click Here). You may be in for a long, sad wait. Here is a quick checklist you can use to see how your site will hold up.

Content is King

Products will not sell themselves no matter how great they are, so include great content with the right amount of keywords so your potential customers flock to your digital door. A blog is a great way to connect with your shoppers. Write about things your reader wants to read. Keep it engaging, informative, and entertaining.

The written word is a great way to give a personal touch to your store. You can use Google Keyword Planner. Ahrefs. Moz, SEMRush or other great keyword tools to make sure your content has natural, long-tail keywords that will rank your site appropriately and get your more traffic.

Speaking of Rank

If you are wondering how your site is ranked here is the simple SEO tips you need to implement:

  • Avoid duplicate content
  • Create keyword page links
  • Have a responsive site
  • Keep loading time under 3 seconds
  • Unique page titles with meta descriptions
  • Add alt text
  • Navigation (more on this in a moment)

I also recommend using Shopify SEO service (Click HERE) to make sure you have top-quality backlinks, make sure your store is free of 301-redirects and 404-errors.

Shopify also offers a FREE product review app that is a must. Reviews will drive traffic to your site. Free advertising anyone?

Navigation

Unlike a physical store, people have to be incentivised to browse. Making sure your site has easy and clear navigation. Your home page is the most important page on your site. Make sure your text offers navigation links gives your customers an easy path to follow through your store.

Pro Tip: Always link your HOME page to your products page!

Let’s Get Technical

Now that your content is optimised and your site is easy to navigate and look at let’s talk “back of the house” for a minute. Outsourcing this part is a great option as the pros do this sort of thing all the time. Here are some technical SEO bits and bobs you will need:

  1. Sitemaps should be added to Google Search Console
  2. Verify ownership on
  3. Install Google analytics
  4. Fix your crawl errors
  5. Make sure your Heading Tags are right (H1, H2, H3 etcetera)
  6. Analytics

Last but not least….

Get Shipping

Okay, that might have been a little underwhelming but FREE shipping makes a big difference. One of the number one reasons for cart abandonment, also known as the online store kiss of death, is sudden shipping fees. These extra fees send shoppers right t your competitors. Its been shown that shoppers will actually pay more for products if the shipping is free. Go figure, but it works.

Recap

If you have a Shopify store be sure to make sure it is optimised and convenient for your customers. Using the latest SEO techniques will ensure you have a great flow of organic traffic and good rankings on SERPs. Enjoy watching your Shopify store go from average to amazing!