How to make a Shopify store go live and other FAQs that new Shopify owners ask

Our agency works with brands that want to switch to Shopify, integrate with other apps, create a store or optimize an existing one. That’s why we come across a variety of issues that new merchants have when they open a store on the platform. In this post, we would like to cover the most popular ones. Let’s start with the question in the title, that is, how to make a Shopify go live.

How to make a Shopify store go live?

Shopify’s configuration is fast and easy. Basically, right from the start, you get access to every feature that a Shopify admin panel offers. You can change the theme of your store, upload products and organize them into collections, connect your own domain and so on.

Yet, you can’t let visitors into your online store until you perform one simple action – remove password protection. If you don’t do that, your customers won’t be able to access your store unless they know the password to it. Shopify does that to prevent customers from ordering anything from an unfinished online store. That’s actually pretty useful. It gives you space to plan your launch to the last minute.

To make a Shopify store go live, remove password protection. Log into the admin panel. Go to Online store > Preferences. Scroll down to password protection and uncheck the box that says “Enable password”. Save the changes, so they may take place. It’s done. Your store is live.

What to do before launching a Shopify store?

Oftentimes, our clients feel lost when it comes to preparing to launch. We prepared a short action plan you can follow to make sure your store goes live without any hiccups. Here it is.

Configure account – fill in your address, credit card info, tax details, etc.
Configure domain – remember to add Shopify to your DNS, so you can send cart abandonment recovery emails (read more about tricks to prevent cart abandonment)
Choose a template – follow our guide on how to pick, install and edit a Shopify template
Add products and organize them into collections
Sync with social media accounts
Paste Google Analytics and Google Ads tags
Integrate with payment and delivery systems
Run a test order to see if everything works great
Install apps and add-ons from the Shopify App Store
Generate a discount code for early customers

Those 10 steps are a great way to launch your store. If you have any doubt, regarding any of those points, write to us and we can write a detailed guide on launching a Shopify store. Let’s move on to the next question.

Can I remove the “Powered by Shopify” tag?

Shopify puts “Powered by Shopify” in the footer of most themes. Thanks to it, visitors can tell that a store uses Shopify, and in theory, it brings Shopify more customers. Some merchants might want to remove this inscription, as it doesn’t fit their design, or they don’t want people to know that they are using Shopify (cue: you can still inspect what platform a store is on if you used a Wappalyzer or a similar add-on).

You can remove the “Powered by Shopify” tag. How to get rid of it? One way of removing it from your site is editing code. Don’t worry. It’s not complicated. Just click “Online store” in the left-hand side menu and go to Themes > Actions and choose “Edit code” from the drop-down menu. Next, open the folder for “Sections” with the “footer.liquid” file. Click Ctrl + F (Command + F) > Search “powered_by_link”, and delete each theme’s {{ powered_by_link }} element you can find. You’re done.

Should I buy a domain on Shopify?

When setting up an account or starting a trial, Shopify asks you to put a name of your store that will be a part of your URL. Every account has a “myshopify.com” domain’s ending at the beginning (i.e. your-store-name.myshopify.com). You can manually add your own domain instead of using the “myshopify.com” one.

You can use a domain that you already have or buy one through Shopify. If you go with the latter, Shopify will be your domain host. But if you have a domain that you want to connect with Shopify, you need to have hosting for it, and add it as your root domain in the Shopify Admin Panel.

Is Shopify secure?

Shopify is compliant with all the necessary security standards, such as Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, it was issued SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports. Shopify connects with external apps via API, which is a safe way of integrating with third-party solutions. It protects you and your customer’s data from getting hijacked.

Moreover, since Shopify is a hosted solution, as a merchant, you don’t need to worry about server side issues or security upgrades. It’s all handled by Shopify, which is said to maintain ~99.98% service availability. It has a team who is dedicated to looking over platform’s availability.

So long as you protect your password, keep it strong, and share it only with authorized employees, there’s slight to zero chance that you get hacked, or that your customer personal information gets stolen. There’s nothing to worry about.

Nonetheless, it’s always a good idea to make a backup of your store. We can help you with that. Just use a contact form below the article to reach out to us.

What tasks can I automate with Shopify?

Shopify can streamline a lot of tasks, but the extent of automation depends on the subscription plan you’re on. No matter which plan you choose, you can post a product across channels, such as online store, Point of Sale, social media stores, such as Facebook or Instagram, etc. as well as collect data about orders. A huge deal of automation can be set up with apps, especially if you’re using lower plans.

However, Shopify Plus merchants have special tools to put their work on autopilot. They can use Shopify Flow or Launchpad. You can learn more about those features in our blog post 8 things you need to know about Shopify Plus.

What kind of payment gateway should I choose?

Before you’re ready to launch your store, you need to connect a payment gateway to Shopify. You have a lot of options. If you live in a country that has Shopify Payments enabled, choose that method. Yet, there’s a handful of countries that work with Shopify Payments as of today (see the list of eligible countries in the Shopify help doc).

Nevertheless, there are tons of apps that enable you to get paid, so don’t worry if your country is not on the list for Shopify Payments. You can use Stripe, PayPal, Baselinker, and other integrations. And anyway, it’s best to use a system that is well-known in your country. You can integrate your own system by asking a Shopify developer or Shopify agency for help. We’ve integrated two of the most popular payment systems in Poland: PayU and Przelewy24.

Can I add my own theme to Shopify?

Yes, you can build your own unique theme from start to finish and connect it with Shopify. It gives you control over your store look and feel, as well as the buyer’s journey. It’s an attractive option for those who want to build a one-of-a-kind online shopping experience.

Having a unique theme is not necessary to run a successful Shopify business. Free themes and the paid ones are good choices too. All of them are responsive, nicely-looking and were designed by specialists who took care of their User Experience that can be easily adapted to your needs. So, you don’t need a unique theme to rock in e-commerce world.

Read more about it in our blog post: Should you build your own Shopify Design?

Can I sync Shopify with third-party systems and apps?

Shopify works more like an ecosystem than a single app. The creators of that ecommerce platform do a lot to make integrating apps to Shopify extremely easy. As a Shopify merchant, you can sync your account with CRM, PIM, ERP, and many other systems, so you can feel comfortable with it. It should be a no-brainer that an e-commerce uses more than one piece of software to organize their work.

Check out our portfolio to see what other brands integrate Shopify with.

What are the must-have apps from the Shopify App Store?

Shopify runs its own app store where developers can sell their apps that seamlessly connect with Shopify. You, as a merchant, can find an app that pushes your sales, marketing or customer service forward. It’s tough to enlist every app, because there are so many of them, but we’ve chosen a couple that we always recommend to our customers:

Tidio – live chat app
Klaviyo – email markeing app
Swagify – cross-selling and upselling app
Shogun – landing page builder
Recostream – personalized product recommendation system

Those apps are essential, but every store has different needs, so it is not easy to build a must-have list without looking at your business goals first. If you need advice, leave us a message and we can find you a great app for a requested feature or help you build your own Shopify app.

What’s the difference between Shopify plans?

Shopify offers 5 subscription plans if you come to look at it. The crudest out of all plans is a simple “Buy now” button – Shopify Starter. You pay $5 every month to install it on your site. You use Shopify as a shopping cart. If you want to have a storefront, you need to look at the more expensive plans. What are they?

Basic – $32 per month ($24 per month – yearly)
Shopify – $92 monthly ($69 per month – yearly)
Advanced – $399 monthly ($299 per month – yearly)

No matter which plan you choose, you get:

online store
social media as sales channels
access to Google Ads and Merchant Center
discount codes and coupons
support 24/7
API keys enabled

Then, there are small variations between plans. But the most pronounced difference is between regular Shopify plans and Shopify Plus, which is an enterprise version of the platform. See our comparison of Shopify Advanced and Shopify Plus.