Shopify Blog - Company

14 Shopify Stores With Amazing Product Photography

2012-05-30T09:51:52-04:00

The importance of having awesome product photography in an online store cannot be emphasized enough. If your products don't look great, they aren't going to sell. Furthermore, since your customers are shopping online, they don't have the advantage of being able to try out your product in person. They can't pick it up, feel its weight, try it on, touch its edges or give it a squeeze. Your product photos need to bring the customer as close to an in-person shopping experience as possible.

Here are 14 Shopify stores that make great use of their product photography:

New Store Fridays - May 25, 2012

2012-05-25T15:11:09-04:00

Another group of inspirational online stores in this week's post.

Each week we're amazed by the beautiful online stores that launch and by the variety and ingenuity of the products on offer. Fashion plays a central role in this week's post, but there's lots of other great products like plush toys and gardening supplies to peruse.

5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make While Working From Home

2012-05-24T14:37:58-04:00

Since many ecommerce entrepreneurs don't have a traditional office, we've been publishing a series of blog posts on how to work best from home. The first article gave five strategies to boost productivity in your home office. Then we showed you how set up a comfortable and effective workspace.

Today, we're going to tell you five of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make when working from home, along with some easy-to-adopt tips that will stop you from falling into these sticky traps.

5 Free Advertising Strategies True Rivalry Uses to Gain Exposure

2012-05-22T14:16:16-04:00

True Rivalry competes in a highly competitive market using advertising methods that don't cost a thing.

Sports apparel is a one of the fastest growing verticals in ecommerce. Sports themed t-shirts, hats, and hoodies are popping up in online stores everywhere. True Rivalry is a successful sports apparel company that sells their goods through their Shopify store. They have steady sales, they've had a few of their products go viral, and they've garnered a whole bunch of local and national press - all without spending money on advertising.

Jason Portnoy, founder of True Rivalry, gives five effective advertising strategies that won't cost you any money:

New Stores Friday - May 18, 2012

2012-05-18T16:02:35-04:00

Welcome to a fresh batch of new stores recently launched on Shopify

There's plenty of quality stores in this week's list. These stores show you can sell almost anything on Shopify, from trampolines to cupcakes to jewelry.

Win a Meeting with Shark Tank's Daymond John

2012-05-17T12:53:28-04:00

Here's your chance to talk about your ecommerce store with a Shark without having to enter the Shark Tank!

To celebrate the season finale of Shark Tank tomorrow night we're giving away a 30 minute 1-on-1 mentoring session with Daymond John via Skype. You'll have the amazing opportunity to speak with one of America's leading business and marketing minds about growing your online store.

How Pinterest Drives Ecommerce Sales

2012-05-16T17:34:56-04:00

Pinterest is now the 3rd most popular social network site in the world, and ecommerce stores can leverage its popularity to significantly increase traffic and sales.

To better understand how Pinterest is effecting the ecommerce industry, we analyzed data from over 25,000 Shopify online stores. Interestingly, referral traffic from Pinterest to Shopify stores is equal to traffic coming from Twitter. Of that traffic, shoppers are 10% more likely to make a purchase compared to those who arrive from other social sites. Furthermore, of those purchases, the average order is $80 which is double the average order from Facebook. Pinterest has already become a huge player in the world of ecommerce.

Check out all of our findings in the infographic below. Please click on the image to view it in full-screen.

Using Customer Reviews to Boost Ecommerce Sales

2012-05-15T09:13:51-04:00

According to Internet Retailer, you can increase ecommerce conversion rate by 14-76% by adding product reviews to your online store.

Furthermore, Jupiter Research found that 77% of consumers read reviews before purchasing online. Adding product review fields to your product pages is easy. Each one of the apps below will give your Shopify store the ability to collect and display customer product reviews. You can read more about their pricing and features by checking out their detailed pages in the Shopify App Store.

New Stores Friday - May 11, 2012

2012-05-11T17:16:51-04:00

Welcome to New Store Friday, Shopify's weekly showcase of ecommerce inspiration.

This week, we have 23 new and re-designed stores for your perusing pleasure.

40 Stunning Ecommerce Stores Built Using Shopify

2012-05-10T10:41:51-04:00

There are over 25,000 online stores built on Shopify, and last week Inspired Magazine featured 40 of their favorites.

Inspired Magazine is a great web design and lifestyle website. Their list of beautifully designed Shopify stores is great inspiration for all ecommerce entrepreneurs, so I thought I'd share them here on the blog. Take a stroll down their digital isles a bit and notice everything they're doing right: their company logos, product photography, clearly defined navigational elements, simple and user friendly layout, convincing call to action buttons, and awesome products!

Facebook Timeline Cover Image Optimization Tips

2012-05-09T09:44:36-04:00

With Timeline pages, viewers spend more time looking at the cover image than they do looking at content.

Facebook Timeline presents a number of new challenges and opportunities for online store owners. Not only are profiles reconfigured in layout and appearance, but the manner in which information is revealed to viewers has changed as well. One of the most noticeable differences to Facebook is its focus on visuals. To capitalize on this overhaul, here are three things every ecommerce store owner should keep in mind:

How To Use Google Remarketing for Ecommerce

2012-05-07T11:14:30-04:00

This is a Guest Post by Aitan Weinberg, Sr. Product Manager, Google

In the world of ecommerce online marketing, there are many ways to find your audience. SEO, PPC ads, search marketing, demographics, interests, and more. Remarketing, also known as retargeting, takes audience building to another level – one that is ultimately a win-win for you and for your customers. You are able to reach highly qualified customers, and those customers get highly relevant, personalized marketing messages that are actually useful. Let’s take a look at how you can put remarketing to work for you today.

New Stores Friday - May 4, 2012

2012-05-04T14:28:27-04:00

Once again, we have an amazing group of new stores, everything from socks to steaks. We also pin some of our favorite products to our Cool Products on Shopify board on Pinterest AND we've started a brand new board for New Store Fridays. Follow our board for a constant stream of awesome.

33 Must Read Books for Entrepreneurs

2012-05-02T13:04:48-04:00

Reading good books is like talking with some of the greatest thinkers of our time, and centuries past.

Reading is particularly important for entrepreneurs. Many authors have spent a lifetime gaining a wealth of knowledge, and learning the lessons in their books the hard way so you don't have to.

These are my favorite books that will help you grow as an entrepreneur. The topics cover a broad spectrum, and you'll find each brings a little something different to the table. There is a link to buy each book, and all of the money earned from Amazon's affiliate program will go to Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture that supports entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Let us know what you think should have made the list in the comments.

Google's Algorithm Update to Benefit Small Businesses

2012-04-30T14:52:02-04:00

Last week, Google announced another update to their search algorithm that will penalize what they call “webspam," and reward high-quality sites that haven't went overboard with search engine optimization. The update, which some SEO practitioners are calling the “over-optimization penalty” has been expected for more than a month, since one of Google's top dogs Matt Cutts made comments about leveling the search results playing field at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in March.

Cutts, who was taking questions as part of a panel titled, “Dear Google & Bing: Help Me Rank Better,” responded to concerns that some markets had been saturated with optimized content that provided poor quality search results and made it difficult for small or mid-sized businesses to compete with larger company with army of optimizers - often a difficulty faced among ecommerce store owners.

New Store Friday - April 27, 2012

2012-04-27T12:33:08-04:00

It's Friday, which means it's time for some ecommerce inspiration. Sit back and enjoy New Store Friday. Because we love so many of these products, we've pinned some of our favorite products to our Cool Products on Shopify board on Pinterest. Follow our board for a constant stream of awesome.

Would you like to be included in the next New Store Friday? All you need to do is post a link to your awesome store in the comments of our New Store Fridays post on our Facebook page.

3 Modern Marketing Lessons from Don Draper

2012-04-26T11:53:39-04:00

After you peel away the cigarettes, afternoon scotches, and office romances, a lot can be learned from Don Draper and his team of copywriters. Of course, much has changed over the last 50 years, but some of traditional marketing techniques they use on Mad Men still work today.

Here are three modern marketing lessons taken from Mad Men that will help you promote your online store:

Shopify App Store Showcase: 10 Helpful New Apps

2012-04-25T09:55:42-04:00

Welcome to the second edition of the Shopify App Store Showcase. The Shopify App Store is a collection of plugins (apps) that extend the functionality of your ecommerce store. We've got about 150 apps for online store owners to choose from and we're adding new ones every week.

Here are 10 exciting new Shopify apps along with a special featured app at the bottom:

Clearleft Launches New Shopify Theme

2012-04-24T09:55:05-04:00

Today we're excited to announce that Clearleft has designed our newest addition to the Shopify Theme Store! To give you some background, Clearleft was founded by design legends Andy Budd, Richard Rutter, and Jeremy Keith and it is one of the most prestigious design and UX firms in the world.

The theme they created is called Clearflex and comes in four different styles: Boutique, Pavilion, Rainbow, and Lighthouse.

New Stores Friday - April 20, 2012

2012-04-20T14:16:59-04:00

Holy cow! We've got 37 new stores in this week's New Store Friday! We may have to hire someone just to work on these posts. As usual, we have an amazing crop of ecommerce inspiration.

We've pinned some of our favorite products to our Cool Products on Shopify board on Pinterest. Follow our board for a constant stream of awesome.

Would you like to be included in the next New Store Friday? All you need to do is post a link to your awesome store in the comments of our New Store Fridays post on our Facebook page.

Introducing: Shopify Marketplace

2012-04-19T15:51:54-04:00

Today we're excited to announce a new site called The Shopify Marketplace. The Marketplace allows people to quickly search over 2.7 million different products sold by every single Shopify store around the world.

Give The Shopify Marketplace a try by typing in a search term in the field below:

Inbound Marketing for Ecommerce

2012-04-17T14:55:33-04:00

While some forms of marketing march up and place their room key on the bar, inbound marketing takes the subtle approach. It takes you out for a nice dinner, strikes up a thought provoking conversation, and kisses you goodnight on the cheek. The result? A long-term, valuable relationship that will eventually lead to... sales.

In this article I'm going to define inbound and outbound marketing. I'll give you the reasons that outbound marketing is on the decline, and I'll also give you 6 reasons you should consider using inbound marketing techniques for your ecommerce store.

5 Ecommerce AdWords Tips from an Ex-Googler

2012-04-16T12:47:20-04:00

Advertising on Google AdWords can be one of the most cost-effective ways to market your ecommerce store – if done right. That can be a big ‘if’- given that AdWords is a complex system which requires constant monitoring of your campaigns, as well as keeping up to date with the latest trends and developments - something which can be tricky for a busy business owner to manage. In this article, I will give you some quick-fire tips and tactics to help you better manage your AdWords campaigns, and to help you capture opportunities your competitors may be missing out on.

Here are 5 tips to improve your Google AdWords campaigns:

New Stores Friday - April 13, 2012

2012-04-13T14:24:17-04:00

After a week's vacation, New Store Friday returns to the Shopify blog with 30 amazing new Shopify stores for your viewing pleasure. Yet again, we're blown away by people's cool products and beautiful site design.

As usual, we've pinned some of our favorite products to our Cool Products on Shopify board on Pinterest. Follow our board for a constant stream of awesome.

Would you like to be included in the next New Store Friday? All you need to do is post a link to your awesome store in the comments of our New Store Fridays post on our Facebook page.

The Joy of Marketing Book Giveaway

2012-04-13T10:15:51-04:00

*Update: All of the Books Have Been Given Away

Last year we teamed up with the experts from The Joy of Marketing to provide you with a three-part series on digital marketing. Thousands of Shopify store owners watched the podcasts and participated in a live teleconference to learn new strategies to market their ecommerce store.

The co-founders of The Joy of Marketing, Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck, are launching a new book on April 24, 2012 entitled Worth Every Penny: Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What You're Worth. The book is about creating a profitable business without getting into a slash-and-burn price war with your competitors. Many online store owners feel the need discount their products in an effort to compete with the big guys, but Sarah and Erin will prove that there's a better way to compete. Your product is worth every penny.

To celebrate the upcoming launch of their new book, we're giving away a free hardcover copy to the first 500 Shopify store owners who sign up. Due to expensive international shipping costs (it's a heavy book), this offer is limited to addresses within the US. For those of you not in the US, we're happy to offer you an e-book version absolutely free! Bonus to our international customers: You saved some trees! Act quick because the books won't last long.

Get Your Free Book

6 LinkedIn Ecommerce Marketing Tips

2012-04-12T12:35:31-04:00

There's more to LinkedIn than simply posting your online resume and hunting for a job. LinkedIn is the largest business networking site in the world, and people go on LinkedIn to do business - not post pictures of their new puppy and link to hilarious YouTube videos. Click around a bit and you'll see the mood is entirely different to it's social media counterparts Facebook, Twitter, and the likes. It's more professional, more about partnerships, knowledge, transactions, and networking.

Online store owners can utilize LinkdIn's company page feature to boost awareness, and network with potential customers, partners, and employees.

Here are 6 helpful tips that will help you get the most out of LinkedIn’s company pages:

How to Sell on Facebook

2012-04-10T10:10:06-04:00

It's easy for Shopify stores to sell their products on Facebook.

Install any one of the apps below to add a "Shop" tab to your ecommerce store's Facebook page. Your products will be automatically imported and customers will be able to browse and purchase items directly on Facebook.

You'll have your Facebook storefront up and running within minutes. The apps run on auto-pilot in the background and automatically sync with your ecommerce store's pricing and stock availability.

Each one of these apps will give your Facebook storefront a different look and feel, so check out the example stores that I link to below. You can read more about their pricing and features by checking out their detailed pages in the Shopify App Store.

Why Great Content Will Increase Ecommerce Sales

2012-04-09T16:53:22-04:00

This is a Guest Post by Mike Anderson

If you're looking for a way to separate your online store from the competition you should consider writing a blog aimed at the type of customer that you're selling products to.

I've spent the last four years building a content driven website called The Resurgence. Our online store portion of the site is bult on Shopify and we currently sell books, DVDs and music. It started out small and now regularly gets more than 30,000 visits in a day. We've won the trust of a lot of folks because of our content—and it actually becomes more fun and fulfilling to create products and services for the people in your newly created tribe than it is to just find customers.

Here are 4 reasons that great content will increase your ecommerce sales:

How to Get your Facebook Fans to Share Content

2012-04-04T12:18:15-04:00

Facebook is one of the only places where people would rather be liked than loved. But while liking may build your numbers base, it’s sharing that gets you the love. It doesn't take much to get someone to click the 'like' button but aside from adding some glamour to your metrics and won't get you anywhere. If you produce quality content people want to share - they'll start to love you, and chances are they'll start to buy from you.

Here are five ways to get your fans to share your content:

SEO for Ecommerce: Get Rank, Get Found, Get Customers

2012-04-02T13:54:59-04:00

This is a Guest Post by Krista LaRiviere, Cofounder & CEO of gShift Labs

You have a great product, a great website and a super great ecommerce platform, and although Google probably isn’t going to buy your products, it is the one thing standing between you selling a handful of widgets versus setting new sales records.

If your prospects can’t find you at the Google search box, then it is well worth your time to optimize your content, keywords and entire web presence for organic search. And you want to because of the 12 billion Google searches that were performed last month; 85% of those searchers are most likely to click on the organic side (left-hand side) of the search results.

Fortunately, the new Shopify search engine optimization (SEO) features provide a solid foundation for your search engine findability efforts. Check them out if you haven’t discovered them yet.

Getting to the top of Google’s search results requires ongoing commitment to optimizing your entire web presence.

Here are 5 SEO tips and tactics that will help you improve your search engine rankings, increase eyeballs to your online store and improve sales: