How to Make Money on Shopify (Step-by-Step Guide with Examples!)

Interested in building a thriving online business that earns thousands of dollars a month or more? One you can work on from anywhere?

Hey, who wouldn't love it?(Especially those of us on a website called Niche Pursuits!)

We all share the goal of a successful company, but it can be hard to know which direction to take when you're still getting started.

I'm here to help!

Now, I'm sure you're thinking about building your online business for a while, so you're probably already familiar with Shopify, an ecommerce platform that provides you with the infrastructure you need to make things happen.

But you also know that it's not enough to have a tool to build your online store, payment processing, and shipping.Does owning a lawn mower automatically mean that your lawn is well maintained?

To have a real business, you need more than an online store: you need something to sell!

In this insightful post, I want to share how to make money on Shopify.Hopefully, this guide can get your gears spinning and help you find the right business for you on Shopify!

And of course, if you want to know more about Shopify, check out our full Shopify review here.You can also try Shopify yourself with the link below.

Try a 14-day free trial with Shopify right here

TRY SHOPIFY FREE FOR 14 DAYS

WHAT IS SHOPIFY?

If you already know everything about Shopify and how it works, move on to the next section on business ideas!For everyone else, I'll go ahead and explain what Shopify is all about.

Basically, Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce platform that helps streamline all the logistical stuff that can be intimidating and time-consuming for a small business owner who's looking to sell online.

Here's just a short list of what it helps you do:

• Build an ecommerce store (includes predefined themes)
• Create product listings
• Optimize your store for SEO
• Install a cart
• Manage credit card transactions
• Automate cart abandonment emails
• Collect sales tax automatically
• Manage fulfillment
• Offer discount codes, sales, coupons, and gift cards
• Measure results with analytical reports
• Make your mobile store responsive

You can create your entire store directly through Shopify with its hosted platform, pointing to your domain there, and even adding a blog through Shopify's comprehensive content management system.Or with the simplest plan, Shopify Lite, you can simply add embeddable products to an existing Facebook page or website on WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace!

The easiest way to say it is this: Shopify helps you sell items online.

On the other hand, you need to understand that Shopify is NOT a marketplace with an existing audience like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon.

In the same way that a specialized business needs local marketing to drive foot traffic, your Shopify store is virtually invisible without all the online marketing techniques we teach here at Niche Pursuits.

I'll talk more about traffic generation strategies later in this post.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON SHOPIFY: BUSINESS IDEAS

Now that you have an idea of what Shopify is, the next thing to think about is what business you want to build with it.To make money on Shopify, your most important decision will be to choose a viable business model.

Of course there's more, but you have a huge advantage if you really choose a strategy that others have successfully used for their online businesses.

So, here are some of the approaches that people commonly use to make money on Shopify!

PHYSICAL GOODS

In my experience, physical assets are Shopify's weak point.It's hard to do all the work to create your own ecommerce store for physical goods from scratch, but thankfully, Shopify allows you to connect your products and go.It's seriously fast!

Now, you might be wondering: why bother with Shopify instead of just selling physical products with something like Amazon FBA?

Good question!

Both require a monthly subscription fee if you plan to sell a decent volume of products, and both provide an ecommerce solution to mow your wares.

But here's the thing about Amazon: While it has huge traffic, it also has great competition.Amazon also takes a lot of your control away, including everything from how you set up your product listing to your branding.

Worse, it's super easy for a buyer on Amazon's product listing to click on a competitor's product without even thinking about it: most sellers on Amazon are invisible to shoppers, making brand loyalty an issue.

With Shopify, you can build a strong brand on your store, as well as create an email and content list that draws organic traffic to your website.All this control gives you a big advantage!

(Of course, like many big brands do, you can always sell your Shopify products on Amazon in addition to your store, but we'll get to that later!)

That said, the two most common ways to use Shopify to sell physical goods online are dropshipping and print on demand.I will also touch on the launch of retail products, if this is your cup of tea.

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You've surely heard of dropshipping many times already in ecommerce and online marketing circles.

The basic business model of dropshipping is just one method of making for the physical products that people have ordered online.There's nothing inherently magical about dropshipping, except that it lowers the barrier to entry for us mere mortals who don't have our own warehouse space to store inventory.

As a dropshipper, you're actually in the marketing industry: Your job is to sell another manufacturer or branded products to an online audience, then the manufacturer will execute the order.It's a symbiotic relationship where you can focus on marketing and sales without thinking about inventory and fulfillment, and the shipper can do the same in reverse.

Your approach to dropshipping on Shopify should be to partner with distributors who sell expensive items.As a marketer, you can then use SEO content and Google Ads campaigns to deliver results to people who are actively searching for the type of product you're selling.

With dropshipping, your primary expenses are fairly minimal – only paid ads and a Shopify subscription are often enough.Eventually, you might hire people to help with product uploads and customer service, but in the beginning, if you're doing the work yourself, that's pretty much it!

Your margins may not be as good with dropshipping compared to managing all your inventory yourself, and you're dependent on the supplier or manufacturer for your brand's success, but dropshipping is a pretty low-capital way to get into the physical products business.

PRINT ON DEMAND

The entire print-on-demand point is eliminating the need for large upfront costs for item inventory and instead of creating them only when orders arrive. It basically works the same way as dropshipping, but the types of products you sell with print-on-demand are a bit more specific.

If you're ready to try printing on demand, you can connect your Shopify store to a print-on-demand service, typically a third-party print-on-demand app like Printful in Shopify.

The simple process proceeds like this:

1. Add products for sale in your store.
2. A customer orders the product from your store.
3. Your store sends the customer's order to the print-on-demand service.
4. The print on demand service ships the order to the customer.
5. Profit.

You can do this for all kinds of "printed" products, either by creating your own products or by adding a custom design or logo to existing products.Some of the items you can sell on demand include:

• Books
• T-shirt
• Art
• Cups
• Cloth bags
• Baseball hats
• Accessories

One great thing about print on demand is how easy it is to get started.Other companies have spread the risk by buying these physical products in bulk that you can then customize with your own design.

Even better, it's easy to use Shopify to test your different ideas.Your only initial expense is the time and money invested in creating a project for the print on demand company, so you have very little risk in A/B testing on different product options and seeing what's most popular.

And since no one else will have your exact design or brand, you can carve out a niche for yourself in the market!

LAUNCH PRODUCTS

There is an intrinsic value in physical assets, which means that there is always potential for a small thing called arbitraggior retail.

Don't worry, it's not as complicated as it sounds: refereeing is just a fancy word for "flip," like those annoying people on HGTV who act like they understand they're turning the house upside down.But instead of the insane amount of capital involved in buying and selling an entire home, you can do it on a much smaller scale with everyday items and your Shopify store.

Here's the basic premise: Go to a retail store like Target, Staples, Walmart, Home Depot, Ross, or Gamestop — or an online source like eBay or Craigslist — to buy products at a lower price than they could sell online.It helps to grab items on sale or for sale, and you'll typically buy dozens of the same product once you've determined that it can get a higher price on your store.

This arbitration process is commonly done with Amazon FBA or eBay, but it's a perfectly legitimate option for your Shopify store as well.(And again, you can always list your products from Shopify on Amazon or eBay if you want.)

While there's nothing wrong with throwing out all the products you find, I recommend choosing a handful of categories that will represent your brand, such as children's clothes, electronics, toys, or fishing gear.No matter what areas you focus on, you'll become intimately familiar with what these things cost over time, so you'll be able to spot deals right away and then you can build a brand that people come to associate with those items as well.

Now, throwing is NOT for the faint of heart.Unlike dropshipping or print-on-demand, YOU are responsible for pretty much everything: procurement, inventory management, pricing, and fulfillment.

If you're good at retail arbitrage, you can make a LOT of money, because you have much more control over the process – but if you're not, you might end up with two hundred boxes of fidget spinners sitting in your basement that you thought would always be popular (ahem).

The bottom line is that a great deal of time, effort, money, and strategies need to go into retail arbitrage, but your Shopify store is a perfect place to build your brand, list these products, and make a lot of sales!

PRODUCTION SERVICES

Not sure if you want to deal with physical products?No problem!

On Shopify, you can also sell all sorts of "productive" services like freelance web design, SEO packages, live events, online classes, and consulting.

A common way to do this is to treat each separate service "level" as a different SKU.So, as a guitar instructor, for example, you might have options for 30-minute, 1-hour, and 2-hour lessons that the buyer can select.Each of these would be sold at different prices and represented as a different "product" in the system.

Produced services make sense in the Shopify model because they are standardized and easy to sell immediately in an online transaction.Both the buyer and seller understand exactly what is being offered.

In contrast, any custom service that would require a quote is still feasible, but somehow fits Shopify.Unless you're selling these services alongside real products in the same online store, it's pretty easy to sell custom services using a traditional website.

For example, if you sell graphic design and always need to provide a custom quote, you might simply want to set up a call-to-action for buyers to schedule a call.You don't need Shopify for this: slap a button on your WordPress website (any visual builder will) and link it to a scheduling service like Calendly for an automated process to get these contacts scheduled for a call.

If you're determined to use Shopify to generate leads, here's another cool possibility: Rather than selling a product, you can choose to "sell" a completely free course or live event.Shopify doesn't require you to charge to use its ecommerce feature, so you can use it for lead generation by charging $0 and advertising a FREE workout, webinar, coaching call, etc.

Regardless, we recommend disabling shipping for this type of product-level purchase, as the transaction does not involve shipping a physical good.

DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Nowadays, most people feel comfortable making 100% digital purchases.

Using Shopify, you can easily sell digital products, either yours, or someone else's.This is great because there is no inventory to worry about or the cost of goods sold.With your expenses practically fixed, each unit sold is basically a 100% profit.

Here are some of the possible digital products to sell:

• Video courses
• EBooks
• applications
• Licensed goods (stock photos, music, videos)
• Digital tools (WordPress templates, spreadsheets, After Effects templates)
• Accessing membership sites
• Digital downloads (music, art, wallpapers, ringtones)

The fact is that here you have all the possibilities and can offer different types of products in the same store.You can also mix and match physical and digital products, as well as services!

And as I said before, you don't have to invent your own products unless you're ready.If all you want to do is open a store that sells affiliate products, you can absolutely do it in Shopify.Most affiliates offer you some creative ads like banner ads or descriptions that you can use in your store, either on Shopify or on your website.

SET UP YOUR SHOPIFY STORE

Now that you've had a chance to think about your business model, are you ready to really get started with your Shopify store?

If you have never registered before, don't forget to take this nice 14-day free trial!

GET STARTED ON SHOPIFY FOR FREE HERE!

Now, the first thing you do when you sign up is enter your name and your store name.For mine, I chose the latest "Thrasher's Store" (yes, Thrasher is my real last name).

Next, you can tell Shopify where you are on your ecommerce journey.

Once you are completely in, you are in a sense abandoned.Yes, there is a bit of training, but at first it is a bit overwhelming.

To get your bearings, note the sidebar on the left side of the screen.This is where you'll handle everything on the backend, including orders, products, and marketing.

You'll also have sales channels where you can manage what your customers see on the front end.

Okay, so there's a lot going on now that you've opened your Shopify store, but what steps should you take?

Well, on the homepage, they suggest you add a product, customize your theme, and add your domain.Here's what I recommend.

STEP 1: ESTABLISH YOUR BUSINESS

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you should REALLY think about what your business model will be.Especially when you start, you can't do everything at once and expect to do well.

Consider what makes sense to your brand, what you like to do, and in which area you're most informed.What would you realistically be able to start making sales pretty quickly?

For many of us, it could be a service – and that's okay!Countless companies start with services and later develop information products or physical products based on the core offering.

Or maybe you want to take the opportunity to learn something new, like dropshipping.Do it!

My advice is to choose ONE thing and commit to 3-6 months before thinking about changing.Resist the syndrome of shiny objects.It's not easy, but it's important!

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Finally, once you understand what type of product or service you're going to sell, you need to finalize the name of your business.

If you're really serious about this, I highly recommend taking a few minutes searching the internet for the name to see if you can rank for it, and you should also browse the TESS (Electronic Trademark Search System) to make sure it's safe to use the name on the market.

Once you have a business model and a name, you're ready to start building an ecommerce store!

STEP 2: CUSTOMIZE YOUR THEME

Do you have your business name and strategy in mind?Great, back to Shopify!

Under "SALES CHANNELS", this is where you customize what customers see on the front end.To get started, your only channel is the online store that comes with Shopify – and it's pretty bland before you start adding products and customizing images.

How bland?Well…

I can't say I didn't warn you!

As with the default WordPress theme, the theme you start with in Shopify (appropriately called "Debut") REALLY MUST move forward – if only for the fact that thousands of other people probably never bother to change theirs from Debut.

The type of business model you've decided on could affect which theme makes sense to you.Now that you have the business in mind, let's have a better theme for your store!

Right below your online store in the sidebar, you'll see a tab for "Themes." Click on it and choose free or paid themes to browse.

If you're willing to make some money, paid themes offer a lot more features and flexibility – and they can be sought out by the industry!

For the purposes of this post, I won't be spending $180 on a premium Shopify theme, but just know that this one-time expense can greatly open up your options with your store.

I went with the free Brooklyn theme, which is theoretically intended for a clothing store.Let's see what products I can find!

STEP 3: ADD YOUR PRODUCTS TO THE SHOPIFY STORE

Well, now the real magic happens!You will actually put some real products in the store that can be sold.

This is not too difficult.Go to the "Products" tab in the sidebar and click "Add Product".

Once on the Products page, you can fill in all the details for your product and upload the product image.

If you don't have products to sell yet, you have another option: next to "Add product" there is a small link called "Find products".

This leads you to a Shopify blog post filled with third-party apps that offer physical products that you can sell on your store.Here are some of them:

• Oberlo
• Shapeways
• MXED
• Printful
• Printify Property
• Creative Hub

These include both free and paid options and give you a useful starting point when you don't know what you want to sell.

We can start with pretty much any of them, but let's see what Oberlo has to offer.

Once I installed Oberlo, I saw that there are literally millions of items that you can import wholesale via AliExpress (a China-based retail service owned by Alibaba) and sell on your store.

I chose a hammock and clicked Import to take it to my store.So, I selected the option to change the product… and voila!

It filled a lot of details for me, but I would definitely customize the product title, images, and so on.

You can also create collections (manual or automatic) that group certain types of products in your store.

A manual harvest is one that you take care of on an individual basis, while automatic collections are based on the conditions that the products meet.

Now, this was just a demonstration: I would recommend being a little more strategic than that in choosing your products.But there's nothing wrong with adding several apps to Shopify and exploring all the items you can sell!

GET TRAFFIC TO YOUR SHOPIFY STORE

Big!We have a theme and some ready-to-use products.

Now, let's take some sales!

As with any online business, there are plenty of ways to get traffic to your Shopify store.Of course, Shopify is a bit different from a content website, so I'll help you focus on the best choices for an ecommerce store.

I'll start by saying that you should ALWAYS look for PPC ads to market your Shopify store.

Because?

Well, the problem with direct SEO is that it usually takes months to rank and even then, you have to be lucky enough to come up with a bunch of keywords with low-competition buyer intent that work for what you're selling.

Shopify does have a blog feature included, and I recommend using it – simply don't rely on your blog original content for providing all incoming traffic.

Finally, keep in mind that every vertical is different, so you may need to experiment to see which marketing approach gives you the best results.

PPC ADS

If you try PPC ads, you want to make sure you put the odds on your side that your ad is suitable for your buyer and products.

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Text ads can be effective, but consider starting with Google Shopping ads – they'll display real images of your product.For physical products, image ads can be much more powerful.

You also need to think about the landing page you'll use for your PPC ads.This is a common mistake: if someone searches for a specific type of shoe like crocs and clicks on your ad, don't just leave it on your generic store page!

SOCIAL MEDIA ADS

Social media ads can be tricky when you're trying to get people to buy something right away.Unlike Google search, people on social media typically aren't there trying to make a purchase, so you need to keep this in mind when creating your own ads for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

Done right, social ads can work very well!You just have to think like your buyer and use demographic and psychographic data to pinpoint who your target audience really is and what they want.

Alternatively, you might think of social media ads as a great way to build your email list.These users may not be ready to make a purchase yet, but they may be perfectly willing to join your list in exchange for a free gift.This is one of the best things about having your own ecommerce store: you have the chance to build a following and a long-term relationship with your customers.

INFLUENCER MARKETING

I don't have the same experience with influencer marketing, but it's definitely worth looking into, especially if your product has an "interesting factor." After all, there's a reason why people are climbing to become "Insta famous" – you can cash in!

The reality is that micro-influencers get high engagement from their followers, especially on sites like Instagram and YouTube.By getting free or paid mentions from influencers in your space, you can get a stream of new traffic to your site – and these are motivated people to buy, because you're essentially getting word of mouth.

As with social ads, the value of influencer marketing goes beyond immediate sales.This strategy can help you reach a new audience and increase awareness of your brand.It also helps you build connections with people in your space, which opens up future opportunities!

CONTENT MARKETING

With blog content on your Shopify site, you can organically attract shoppers through Google search.You can do the same with videos on YouTube.You can create a podcast that mentions your store.You can publish guest posts on industry blogs.You can also manage social media accounts or pages focused on a topic related to your store and link there.

In any case, creating original and valuable content is a time-tested way to get traffic to your website.But the key is to produce content for people at EVERY stage of the buyer's journey.

While it's tempting to just write content about what you're selling (product or service), most people aren't looking for it, but ARE looking for something that explains what their problem is and offers them solutions.

It's a little harder if your brand is more artistic and less at providing solutions to problems, but art is also essentially a solution to a problem: people look to art for entertainment, inspiration, status, comfort, etc.

Find out what your potential audience likes and where they're online, then post to channels where you can showcase what you do.This could include Reddit, Pinterest, Instagram, Imgur, DeviantArt… the list goes on!

If you want to figure out how to make money on Shopify, sometimes you have to be creative.

SHOPIFY APPS AND THIRD-PARTY INTEGRATIONS

One of the most useful features of Shopify is that it connects with other third-party platforms and apps to extend its functionality.Similar to WordPress plugins, they are sometimes free and sometimes paid, but they can greatly improve the way you sell.

In the sidebar, you'll see a tab for apps.From there, you can visit the Shopify App Store, which will extend your store's features with apps for everything from dropshipping to live chat to marketing automation.

As with themes, you can easily find free or paid versions of almost any feature you're looking for.Here are some of the main categories:

• Inventory management
• Customer service
• Seo
• Internal realization
• Email Marketing

You can also work with a developer to create a private app for Shopify, if you have the resources to make it happen!

As for third-party integrations, if you click the small plus button next to "SALES CHANNELS" in the sidebar, you can easily add new channels with other platforms, including Facebook Shop, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, and the universal "Buy Button" that applies to any website or blog you manage.

Of course, any of these options may require additional costs associated with selling on another platform.

SHOPIFY PLANS & PRICING

Of course, you can try Shopify for free to make it, but you'll ultimately want to settle for the right plan for your business.The good news is that Shopify plans are actually pretty simple!

While their main plans are listed prominently, technically you have five options:

• Shopify Lite: $9/mo
• Basic Shopify: $29/mo
• Shopify: $79/month
• Advanced Shopify: $299/mo
• Shopify Plus: $???? /month

You can try one of these plans for free for 14 days!

TRY SHOPIFY FREE FOR 14 DAYS

SHOPIFY LITE

Shopify Lite isn't heavily emphasized on the pricing page, partly because it doesn't really give you the entire ecommerce store I've talked about in this post. Instead, the Lite version only allows you to sell on your website, social, or offline for an affordable $9/month using an embeddable buy button.

This might be perfect for you if you've already created your blog or Facebook page!

SHOPIFY BASIC

At $29/mo, Basic Shopify is a solid starting point for your fully hosted ecommerce store.If you have products or services sold at a decent price, you will quickly refund this subscription fee.

Basic Shopify includes most of the features we've talked about, so it might be easier to point out what Basic Shopify doesn't have: gift cards, professional reports, or the biggest discounts on credit card fees and shipping costs.It also gives you just two staff accounts, compared to 5 or 15 with the more advanced plans.

SHOPIFY

The regular Shopify plan costs $79/month and adds some perks like gift cards, 5 personal accounts, professional reports, a better discount on shipping, advanced reporting, and other point-of-sale features.

It also gives you a significant drop in fees for non-Shopify payment providers.

ADVANCED SHOPIFY

The most expensive standard plan, Advanced Shopify costs $299/mo.This makes sense if you're doing A LOT of volume, because it gives you substantial discounts on all shipping and payment processing charges for each unit sold.

It also comes with advanced reporting so you can customize reports and keep track of what's most important to you.This plan also includes real-time carrier shipping.

SHOPIFY PLUS

This is Shopify's enterprise-scale solution and requires a custom quote, but it plans to pay more than thousands of dollars per month for Shopify Plus.Includes a dedicated support team and 24/7 support.

This is for large companies, so most of us won't need to watch it, but I wanted to make sure you knew it was an option, just in case!

HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH SHOPIFY WRAP-UP

There's so much you can do to build a successful online business – I couldn't cover everything in a single post!

However, I hope this has given you a great starting point for setting up an online business with Shopify.By choosing a business model, choosing your products, defining your brand, customizing your theme, and attracting traffic to your store, you have the foundation of a thriving online business.

Finally, I want to remind you that this is all an evolving process.Paid ads that work for you today may not work tomorrow.The algorithms will change .New marketing opportunities will open up: products will decrease and increase in popularity.

As long as you keep an open mind and test your ideas, you should go far!

Ready to get started with Shopify?Buy your FREE 14-day trial now!