174: Turning Digital Creations into Cash on Shopify

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Welcome to the Creators MBA Podcast your go to resource for mastering the art and science of digital product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destiny Kopp and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desks, constantly live launching or worrying about the social media algorithms. I hope you enjoy our episode today. Hi there Destiny here. And before I jump into today's episode, I wanted to give you a little bit more background here. This particular podcast episode. I first recorded it for the Hobby School podcast. Aaron and is the guest I have on today and she was one of my speakers in my Monetize your craft summit that we had done earlier this year at Hobby School. But Erin is just a whiz at Shopify and I know a lot of you are interested in building a Shopify store to sell your digital products or maybe you're trying to decide between Etsy and Shopify. So. So I wanted to bring this episode on the Creators MBA podcast just so you can hear directly from Erin. And again, I love the tips that she gives us in this episode. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show. And my special guest today is Erin Alexander. Erin is the creator of Product Powerhouse, a web design agency and education resource for production, product makers and seller. She's a wife, mom of two and loves being by the water. And Erin has been building Shopify websites for many years, working with brand new businesses, two seasoned entrepreneurs. She knows a lot about how to build a website that sells online and she loves supporting other strong women building the businesses of their dreams. And Aaron, I am super excited to jump into this topic with you. I have two Shopify my websites of my own so I'm very passionate about it. But before we get into the questions that I have, can you tell the good audience just a little bit more about you and how you help people?

Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Destiny. I'm so excited to chat with you today. So I like she said, I'm Erin. I live in Washington with my family and I have been an entrepreneur for eight years. I am currently I help product based businesses really learn to use and leverage the power of Shopify. A lot of people think it's just a website and it's really much more than that. Like the website is maybe the main piece of it, but there's a lot of ways to use it to really build your business. So I teach people how to get creative with their design, how to get creative with the solutions available on Shopify and really how to to leverage the power of everything Shopify can do for their small business.

Now, Erin, I guess the first question I have for you, and I'm sure you've gotten asked this question quite a bit, if somebody is considering or they know that they need an online presence to sell their. Either their digital products or their handmade products that they have created and they're trying to decide between Etsy and Shopify, what do you generally tell people?

Yeah, I do. I get this question a lot. And I think if you're just getting started, my suggestion is to go with the one that feels like the path of least resistance for a lot of people. They think getting up on Etsy is going to be quick and easy and it's less stressful. And if that is how you feel, if that seems easier, then I highly recommend you go that route. If for some reason, like I would say, like 90% of people think that building an Etsy store is going to be easier than building a Shopify store, ultimately I think you should have both. If you're going to be selling on Etsy, you should also have a Shopify store or at least a website of your own. Even if it's not a Shopify store. They really work well together. Etsy is great at bringing in new traffic because they have like a cult following. People love Etsy and. But you have more control over Shopify and you can do different things on there. So ultimately you want to have both. But if choosing one seems easier to get started, that's the way I think you should go.

And I think that's one of the reasons why I went with Shopify instead of putting up my shops on Etsy was I wanted that control. Right. But I also had the audience built. So that was another. Another thing for me. But I definitely wanted that control. So if somebody is wanting to build out their. Their shop on Shopify, what are some of the first couple of steps that you recommend that they take that won't stress them out, won't overwhelm them in the beginning?

Yeah, that's such a good question. Because I think it's a lot different than what most people would say. When you go into Shopify, the very first thing they're going to do is they're going to be like, okay, pick a theme that is super overwhelming. I kind of think about things differently. The most important thing on your store is your products. So I think that you should start creating product listings first. I think you should go in and set up a full product because you're going to need to Know like what's the name of your product, how are you going to describe it, what images are you going to have? And you can put all of this product listing information in place. And then when you are looking at themes, you have a better idea of what you need and what you want once you start seeing it. So when you start a Shopify store, it's going to come with Shopify's like base free theme, it's called the dawn theme and it's going to come with that already installed. So you can look at your product listings even before you've actually selected a theme. Putting in your products first means that like they will be populated in the different fields where like it's showing you a featured collection or a featured product. It helps you visualize things better if you can put in some product listings first. I also think like your product, like I mean I already said this, but your product is the most important part of the store in the first place. So. So spending your time putting in your products and understanding how that works is going to make everything else inside of Shopify easier.

And I've never heard anybody say that, but that is such an important point is going when you're first starting to build your website, there is to start with the products and I think that's a great tip there. So when somebody is building out their product, what are some things that they need to keep in mind? What do they need to have ready to start doing that?

Yeah, so the basics are going to be things like a good product type title that is descriptive of what the product is. So a description of your product, you know, whether you've already like, let's use a candle maker, for example. If you have a candle and you're going to, you're going to want to create a descriptive title. So something probably around the scent, the size and you're going to want to have that information. Then you have your product description, which is pretty obvious, you know, like describe the product. A lot of people want to like maybe include a little bit of storytelling in this. You also want to have maybe some bullet points that clearly list things out for people who are just going to scan your text because people probably won't read a really long description. However, you do want to have a little bit of a description because that's what Google likes to see. So if you want to get benefit from SEO, you want to have some kind of description on there and then you're going to have your product images so you can have as many images as you want. You know, you're going to probably have an individual image of the product, maybe the product in use, maybe someone holding the product or using the product or you know, flat, lace styled, styled versions of your product. You can have as many as you want. You can even have video in there inside. And then you start getting into some more of the logistics. So that would be like how much does it weigh? Are there other variants as in like different sizes or different colors or different scents or whatever it is that you're kind of doing. And then this is. Then you also are going to put in your inventory here. You can put in the price it costs you, like whatever the base price is. That way you can see your profit margins and things like that in the back end of Shopify. Then you can start building in like even more custom customized things with Shopify's Metafield. So like let's say, let's say you're like a retailer and you want to include the. Well the vendor is already built in but maybe you want to include some custom information like a special size chart or different things like that. You can use Metafields to do that. That's really like the meat of what you need for a product listing. There's a lot that can go into it. It could really be as detailed as you'd like, it could be as simple as you'd like. But those are going to be the things you need to get started.

And would you say that the images are one of the most or one of the most important parts of that product listing?

Oh, absolutely. People are going to look through the images more than they actually read the text. So you want to have really good clear images, a variety of different styles. You know, I always like to say it like at least 3, usually like 1 of the product by itself, 1 of the product on a person or with a person or like next to a person. That way like they can really visualize themselves. Any like details that they need to know, like up close shots. Those things are really, really important.

Now you mentioned a few minutes ago about the theme in Shopify. Can you tell the folks and a lot of people listening here might not know what that means. I'm using the dawn theme, which I think you mentioned was the, you know, kind of the standard or what it, what a Shopify store comes with. And then I think for one of my other stores I purchased one but I can't remember off the top of my head what I purchased there. But can you walk people through what do you mean by that theme and what somebody should look for in a theme when they're just starting out. Because I think when you go to the website, there's a lot to choose from, right?

Yes, absolutely. There's hundreds of Shopify themes. So the theme is what determines how your store looks and it also includes some of the built in functions. So the dawn theme is like the standard Shopify's basic free theme. There are a handful of free themes inside of Shopify like in the Shopify theme store that you can choose from and they are all based on the dawn theme. So you know, if you see one like I think there's one called Craft. Craft is just the dawn theme styled differently. The dawn theme is actually a really great theme. I've been using it more and more. There's a lot you can do with it. Shopify has been investing in building that theme out. However, there are also premium themes and premium themes are developed by third party Shopify developers. They are vetted by Shopify if they are in the Shopify theme store, which means that they have to follow a pretty strict standard when it comes to like their, the way they create their code, the way they respond to customer service, the way that they have documentation of their themes to help you build out your store. The premium themes have a lot more flexibility in terms of the design. So you'll have different types of content sections, you know, like different types of galleries or different types of sliders or different types of ways to display your testimonials. And they also sometimes have built in features. Like they might have built in feature that sends out of stock notifications or like back in stock notifications or they might have trying to think of a good example, like maybe they have some different product tabs built in or you know, there's a bunch of different things. Most of the time all of the themes have the base features. You know, they're all going to allow you to put video in, they're all going to allow you to put images in. But the theme determines how it looks. So like whether things are like maybe full width. Not every theme allow is designed to have images that go from edge to edge of your screen. So those themes really have some different features. Previously I was always like you need to buy a free theme. Previously I was always like you have to buy a theme. The free version is just not good. Like I said, Shopify has been investing heavily in the new dawn theme or it's relatively new. And so I actually I have a second Shopify store that does use the dawn theme and I think it's Fantastic. Especially if you can add in some apps that can really help you customize it, which I'm happy to share those if you're interested too. But when you're really looking for a theme, the main thing you want to focus on are the features. Like, what options does the theme have that you need? For example, some people really want to have a mega menu. And a mega menu is like one of those menus that drops down and it has, like a lot of different layers and sometimes there's an image in it. Not every theme offers a mega menu. So I recommend you do some research. And this, one of the things that helps is if you have your products in place and you know what you need for your products to display the way you want them to, is do some research about the features you need. You know, do you need or do you have something that's going to go out of stock often and you want to have notifications for your people that tell them when something's out of stock, all those different features you can find in a theme built in. Or maybe you'll see a feature in a theme and you're like, oh, that would work really well for my product. So I recommend you research first, find the features that you want and try to find a theme that has those features that's going to save you money in the long run because you won't need to either add them in with code or use an app to get those extra features.

And is it pretty easy? Just, like, start with the free theme, maybe dawn theme. And if you find like two years down the road that it's just not serving your needs anymore, is it pretty easy to move to one of the paid themes?

Yes, absolutely. I totally recommend that. If you haven't been. If you haven't been selling on Shopify and you're, like, not sure and you're just not ready, I would absolutely start with the free theme. When you switch themes, all of your product listings, all of your collections, all of your blog posts, all of your pages, I'm going to say pages with like a little asterisk by them. Okay? All of that content stays. You don't have to redo any of it. What you do have to redo is like building out your homepage and putting the content in place. But if you have an old version, it's really easy to, like, copy and paste. You're going to have a lot. You might have new features, so you might, you know, get to add new things or take things out, but it is really easy to switch. It'll just take you time to rebuild your pages, as in like your homepage. If you have pages that have different sections, like your about page, those might take you some time to rebuild. But overall it's a much better to start with the free theme and then upgrade later.

So let's talk about some of those apps that you mentioned a few minutes ago. I know that some of these apps cost money. Some of them are free and you know, since they cost money, it's extra cost. Right. That new shop owners might not be aware that they have to do. So walk us through exactly how that works on Shopify.

Yeah, so Shopify out of the box does, you know, a handful of things. It's pretty, pretty standard e commerce stuff. But then you can add on these apps that give you additional functionality or additional design options or you know, it can just make your store really customized. Like if you wanted to sell a subscription box on Shopify, you can do that with extra apps. If you want to sell bundles on Shopify, you can do that with extra apps. I always recommend like sending, setting up an app that will setting up an app that will send out a request for your customers to leave a review after they've made a purchase. So different apps cost money, some are free. I would say most apps actually cost money. And I mean like, I know that this frustrates people, but it's really what makes Shopify unique is that it's allowing you to build a really customized store and, and it allows you to get exactly what you need. So for the most part, most apps are like maybe under $10 a month or maybe they have a one time fee. I always recommend looking at the fees in terms of like what is this going to give me and what is it going to save me? Because I'm just like you, I mean like the listeners. I don't want to pay extra for things that I don't need. But if, if an app is going to really like help me get like more sales or you know, do different things and it's worth the price for me. So I, you know, I have a list of like 20 apps that I recommend and you know, depending on the store and depending on your needs, every store is going to need different things. But I always recommend installing an app that will request reviews. I really like stamped IO. The free plan on that one is fantastic. The paid version is only 15amonth and it does give you a lot more options, which is something I love. And I use the paid version on one of my sites and I use the free version on one of my sites. It just really depends on what you need and what you want. And sometimes I think people get a little bit hung up on having to pay for those apps. And so like I said, my suggestion is think about what it's going to bring you in return. But also is this something you could wait on? And you know, maybe you don't set up an automated subscription box right away. Maybe you wait until you have like 20 members or something so that it's actually going to save you time. You can really think about those things. I also don't, don't like to install apps like page builders or things that have reoccurring fees for my design because I feel like I could hire a developer to, to code that for a one time fee rather than like the life of my website. So there's a lot of nuance when it comes to apps, but I think that those are something that you have to kind of think about. Which is another reason why I recommend you research your functions before you pick a theme. That way you could perhaps find a theme that does some of the things you are wanting without needing to add an app.

And I definitely think that those are some good tips and I'm kind of like you. On one of my stores I have some more paid apps and the other ones I'm using some of the free versions. So I think that's some really good tips there. Erin, before we wrap it up here, any last minute tips for the audience?

Yeah, I think the number one tip I have for people building their Shopify store is don't follow the theme. So when you install a theme it's going to have these pre filled in sections. It's going to say like oh, talk about your brand here, put a gallery here. Those are just the way they're designed is to highlight the theme, not to highlight your business. So I recommend you pick out your theme and then clear out all of the sections and start from scratch. I actually have a workshop where I teach people the seven essential sections to or for your Shopify homepage that's going to help tell your brand story and also build trust with your customer. So build up that know like and trust factor so that they want to make a purchase. It also leads them through the buyer's journey. So there's every, every section is very strategic and the reason behind it. And I have a training that's completely free. It's in, it talks about each of those sections, why you want them and how to put them and like how they work in your Shopify store. And I even show examples and things like that. So I have that. Actually you can get it at productpowerhouse Co homepage. And I know I gave Destiny the link, so you. I know you'll share that too.

Yes, absolutely. We're gonna make sure that that link for that free workshop is in the show notes, so everybody has access to it. And Erin, also, can you let people know where they can find you, your website, Instagram, whatever you want to share there?

Yeah, absolutely. So the. Honestly, the number one place to find me is my podcast, which is called Product Powerhouse. You can find that on, well, all the shop. All the podcast apps, but I think that the podcast apps are getting smaller and smaller. So you know, Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, I have the podcast published. My website is productpowerhouse Co and I have a bunch of resources and digital products, you know, like little bite sized things. I also have a full course that teaches like, really how to leverage Shopify for people who want to learn it. Then if you want to hang out with me on social media, the best place would be Instagram, which my handle is Product Powerhouse. That's where I show pictures of my puppy.

And it is a cute little. It's a very cute puppy.

He is adorable. He's my baby. And then that's also where I share like tips. Like, I'll share a lot about apps I'm using, apps I'm loving, and just Shopify tips and things like that.

So, Erin, thank you so much for joining me and sharing all of your wisdom about Shopify. One of my favorite tools to use.

Yeah, thank you so much. I had a great time.

Thanks for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode today. If you love the show, I'd appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.