A Post-Launch Checklist for Your Shopify Store

You’ve opened your Shopify store, now what?!

Now you need to start driving traffic to your store by promoting and marketing your shop!

First, I highly recommend reading the article 50 Ways to Make Your First Sale. This article is filled with detailed information on implementing each recommended strategy. It’s a great starting point.

Once you’ve gone through the article above, the checklist I created below will give you some advice on additional things you can do to help your new website be successful. Of course, every store is a little different so there really is no one-size-fits-all strategy, but hopefully this checklist will get you started in the right direction.

Post Launch Checklist

After you’ve designed and launched your website*, you’re ready to move on to the next steps.

PHASE 1 – MAIN SET-UP PREPARATION:

1. Add tracking analytics (at a minimum – Google Analytics and Google Search Console).
2. Set up a Facebook Business Page* for your website and add the Facebook Channel to your Shopify store.
3. Set up a Pinterest Business Page* for your website and add the Pinterest Channel to your Shopify store (NOTE: Depending on the country you are in, you may not be able to set up the Pinterest Channel, but you should still have a Pinterest Business Page).
4. Set up a Blog for your website – either within your Shopify store or link your Shopify store to your existing blog (and link your existing blog back to Shopify).

PHASE 2 – PROMOTING AND DRIVING TRAFFIC:

1. Ensure your website is optimized for SEO (titles, descriptions, URL’s, etc.) in order to drive traffic. Research what your competitors are doing. What keywords are they targeting, what websites link to them? There are lots of tools available to help you with this research.
2. Create a social media marketing plan. This includes knowing which platform is going to work the best for you, setting goals on what you want to achieve through marketing, and planning your content and marketing strategy. You should have a marketing plan for at least the first month, a three-month plan is even better. The ultimate goal of a social media marketing strategy is to build a following, and engage with your followers. Engaged followers will share your content, and word-of-mouth marketing will grow your business.
3. Plan blog articles that your target market will learn from, appreciate, and share. Don’t write just to fill a page with keywords – write content people really want to read. Yes, it takes time to plan content and then get it written, but this time investment is a critical component of an effective marketing plan.
4. Network with social media influencers in your market. First build a relationship with them. Get to know them and let them get to know you. Leave thoughtful comments on their blog posts and social media posts. Thank them for something they shared. Compliment them. Be genuinely interested in their work. They will get to know you and then they might feel compelled to promote your website.
5. Advertise your website. Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads have the potential to drive more quality traffic to your website, which could potentially lead to more sales. Select your ad audience WISELY so that you are spending money only on quality leads (versus advertising to someone who has no interest in the types of things you are selling). Be realistic about your budget and set goals of what you want to achieve through your ads.
6. Plan and optimize an email marketing campaign. Some campaigns can be automatic.
7. Provide stellar customer service! When you provide exceptional customer service, your customers will help spread the word about their experience with you, and your customer base will expand.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Improve your website and make adjustments based on customer feedback. You can use tools such as HotJar or Peek User Testing to find ways to improve the user experience of your website.
• Marketing your website is an ongoing process. Marketing is the task that is going to drive the most traffic and attract the most sales.

*If you are a shop that is part of our TheDrawingBoard Slack Help Group, we’ve gone through these steps in great detail with lots of help, tips, and tricks. 🙂