Tag: shopify

What is Shopify’s Partner Program? And What are Its Benefits?

Shopify is, hands down, one of the best and the largest e-commerce platforms that offer startups as well as established businesses a platform to reach new prospects, sell their goods and generate sales. In fact, more than 30% of the e-commerce market share is dominated by Shopify as of 2022. Furthermore, with millions of active shoppers on the internet, sellers can leverage plenty of opportunities to grow their brand.

However, it’s not only the online merchants who can benefit from Shopify. Individuals, also, through Shopify’s unique partnership program can grow their reach and increase revenue. Shopify partners are basically a community of experts in different fields. These experts have signed a contract with Shopify to help online merchants achieve more success through their knowledge in the domain.

What is the Shopify Partner Program?

The Shopify Partner Program involves an agreement between Shopify and selected businesses that join. When you sign up as a Shopify partner, you agree to promote Shopify and in return, get access to exclusive Shopify benefits. You can start earning by recommending Shopify to others, building apps, designing themes or just by posting affiliate links on your website. As you do this, you earn a commission from Shopify.

Signing up for the Shopify partnership program is absolutely free, so you don’t have to assign a separate budget for that. The formal contract you sign with Shopify is renewed on an annual basis. You can sign up as one of the following:

  • Developer
  • Designer
  • Marketer
  • Influencer
  • Photographer
  • Freelancer

Shopify’s partner program is a great way to start passive income, but you will need to put some time and efforts to make it worth your while. If you possess any of the skills mentioned above, you can start an income stream just by doing what you love.

3 Exclusive Benefits of Becoming a Shopify Partner

When you join the Shopify partnership program, you are entitled to several benefits, which are all well worth the time it takes to sign up.

#1 Leverage the company’s reputation

One of the major benefits of joining the Shopify Partner program is you can exhibit your skills through the platform’s reputation. As a part of the joining process, you will be required to take the necessary tests that demonstrate your efficiency in a particular field, which qualifies you to become a Shopify partner. In other words, joining the Shopify partner program means you are a qualified professional with an excellent proficiency in the software.

Even if people don’t know what it means, seeing ‘Shopify Partner’ label on your website will make you sound more knowledgeable and professional.

#2 Extra income

The best benefit of Shopify partner program is that you get paid. For your contribution to Shopify’s partner program, you will earn a monthly income directly from Shopify. If you are looking to start a passive income, this is a great way to do it.

Earning with Shopify as a partner involves recommending Shopify to your merchants or creating themes and apps for Shopify. When you sign up with Shopify, you also get access to plenty of materials, which you can utilize to build apps and hone your skills.

When you sign up with Shopify, you will be provided with an affiliate link. When a Shopify merchant purchases a membership through your link, you earn a commission.

#3 Access to Shopify Partner Academy

Another benefit of partnering with Shopify is you get access to exclusive entry to the Shopify Partner Academy. The academy offers plenty of online courses, including how-to articles, FAQs and live chat free of cost. It is an invaluable resource if you are looking to learn more about Shopify and how it works, and drive more e-commerce sales. You also get a certification on completion of the course.

Moreover, on joining the Shopify Partner program, you can create unlimited Shopify stores. You can also enjoy discounts on numerous items, which you can use to design your apps, manage your projects and develop your business.

How to Join the Shopify Partner Program

Now that you know what a Shopify partner program is and what perks you can enjoy, let’s discuss how to sign up for the program.

Step #1 Visit the Shopify Partner program website

You will land on the Shopify’s partner page from where you can begin your partnership journey.

Step #2 Click on the Join Now button

You will see several ways to join Shopify. Click on Continue with Email.

Step #3 Type your email address and click on Create Shopify ID

Submit your email address and other personal details required to create a Shopify ID.

Step #4 Verify your email address

As soon as you click on Create Shopify ID, Shopify will send an email verification link on your email ID. You need to verify your email promptly because the link will expire in 24 hours.

Step #5 Select ‘Shopify Partners’

After you have confirmed your email, you will be directed to the Shopify’s accounts screen. Select ‘Shopify Partners’ and then click on ‘Create a new partner account’.

Step #6 Enter your details

Fill up all the details about your business in the form. Also, choose your business goals, agree to the terms and conditions and click on View your Dashboard.

Step #7 Get Started with Shopify’s Partner Program

Select the partner category you wish to apply for and click on Apply Now.

And, you are done!! While you wait for the approval of your application, you can browse Shopify’s partner academy resources available to you. Once approved, you can start boosting your revenue.

Conclusion

The digital expansion and constant e-commerce growth present an incredible opportunity for Shopify store owners and entrepreneurs alike. If you have a good understanding of how Shopify works and have relevant skills, you can apply to become a Shopify Partner. Setting up a Shopify Partner account is simple, but if you need some assistance, Island Wizards has your back. We are one of the leading shopify development service providers trusted by hundreds of merchants, so feel free to get in touch with us.

Top 7 E-Commerce Development Trends to Boost Your Shopify Store

The e-commerce industry is evolving at a rapid pace and this year is no different. More and more merchants are shifting to e-commerce or improving their existing online business to meet customer needs. It is anticipated that until 2040, about 95% of all purchases will be made through e-commerce sites. That means e-commerce is here to stay, and if you don’t keep abreast of industry e-commerce trends and technologies, you may lose potential business opportunities.

Hence, having a top-notch Shopify storefront should be the first priority for retailers looking to boost their online sales. Let’s dig into the latest e-commerce trends that will help you shape your business in 2022.

#1 Mobile commerce will help you target more prospects

Smartphones have taken our lives by the storm. Nearly everyone today owns a smartphone, and its number of users is only growing. That means mobile commerce offers new business opportunities daily. Therefore, it is essential to optimize your store for mobile devices.

Powering your e-commerce site with Shopify means your website comes mobile-optimized right out-of-the-box.  With mobile commerce, shoppers can make purchases from anywhere. If your e-commerce site is responsive on mobile devices, you will automatically leave some of your rivals behind in the organic search results. Furthermore, a mobile optimized site also plays a crucial role in reducing bounce rate and cart abandonment rate.

#2 Artificial Intelligence is getting everywhere

Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t a new trend, but it has made a big impact on the e-commerce industry over the past few years. Integrating AI into your Shopify store can help you deliver personalized shopping experiences, such as offering product recommendations, product discovery, personalized marketing, customer segmentation and offering customer support.

AI will continuously collect data about what customers browse and buy, when they buy, how much time they spend in your store and what they look for in your products and services. Using these customer data and preferences, AI can provide tailored experiences that match their needs. This makes your prospects feel that you care about them and are willing to put all the efforts to offer personalized experiences.

#3 Augmented Reality for immersive online shopping experiences

Augmented reality is skyrocketing in popularity and it has been a complete game changer for e-commerce industry. One of the common problems with online shopping is the restriction of interacting with the product as you would do in a physical outlet. AR can create engaging and interactive experiences for users as they can see and feel the product in real-time, which helps them with their buying decision.

AR truly transforms the shopping experience, especially if you are running a Shopify fashion or home décor store. Users can try on clothes without having to visit the store or see how new furniture would look in their home before buying. Over 120,000 stores have already implemented AR in 2022 to give shoppers a greater level of confidence while shopping online.

#4 Voice Search is growing rapidly

Voice search has become a new normal and it has already transformed the way consumers search for products and services online. Using voice search in your Shopify store allows your customers to search for products without using a keyboard. It works pretty much the same as Alexa and Siri, but in this scenario you are using it to search for brand names or particular products.

Voice assistants use AI technology to understand the phrases that people speak. They are used to purchase products, book tickets, order food and much more. Since voice searches are easy to navigate, it makes easier for prospects to find what they are looking for. Voice search also offers an opportunity to boost search engine rankings through keyword and content.

#5 Chatbots are the new customer support executives

Chatbots are one of the most adopted technologies in the recent times. Powered by AI/ML, chatbots are extensively used to address customer queries and provide support at any time of the day without requiring human intervention. Chatbots interact with users much like an in-store sales executive would do and add a personal touch while interacting with them.

Moreover, using chatbots can give a boost to customer engagement. You can recommend products, make new product announcements or urge them to perform an action. Studies have shown that using chatbots can directly improve your sales. In 2022, we will continue to see chatbots delivering personalized customer support, and ultimately, more conversions.

#6 Personalize Experiences for better customer satisfaction and retention

Whether you run B2C, D2C or B2B online business, the importance of personalized shopping experiences prevails everywhere. Buyers of all sorts look for personalized experiences, and one way to make it possible is by using the data collected from AI.

Implementing personalized experience on a Shopify website or marketing channels has shown to have a drastic rise in the revenue. In fact, you can boost revenue by 20% by reducing cart abandonment and increasing user satisfaction through personalized shopping experiences.

#7 Multiple Payment Methods integration to let customers pay the way they want

Customers today have become very much conscious about making online payment. They might cancel placing the order if they cannot see their preferred payment method. Integrating multiple payment methods in your Shopify store is a good way to reduce cart abandonment rates and boost conversion rates.

Customers tend to trust and shop from your Shopify site more confidently when they see their preferred payment method listed. In addition, if they can save their payment details on your website, they can checkout even more quickly the next time they will buy from your site.

The Bottom Line

E-commerce is going a phenomenal shift because of the convergence of these technological trends. If you wish to shape your business for future success, the aforementioned trends cannot be avoided. These trends will not only help you set yourself apart from your competitors, but also improve customer acquisition and retention.

If you are a Shopify e-commerce owner and wish to benefit your business from these technologies, then get in touch with us today. Island Wizards have a team of Shopify development experts who can help incorporate these technologies in your Shopify store to fulfill your growing business needs.

Top Tips to Choose the Right Shopify Theme and Make Your Store Stand Out

E-commerce industry is blooming at a faster pace, and more customers are shopping online than ever. Hence, if you don’t have an e-commerce store, then there has never been a better time to start one than now. Shopify emerged as one of the best platforms to build a robust e-commerce store. One reason why many online store owners love Shopify is the flexibility it offers with plenty of Shopify themes.

A Shopify theme is a template that defines how your store will look and feel to the users. Themes come with different layout and styling options that can be customized according to your needs. It is crucial to have a good store design that reflects your brand identity and keep your shoppers engaged for longer. Furthermore, a theme can have a significant impact on the performance of your e-commerce store in terms of customer experience, trustworthiness and conversion rates. Therefore, it is imperative to choose a theme that would suit your store without a wrinkle.

In this post, we will guide you on how to pick the perfect theme for your Shopify store.

#1 Prepare a list of key features and functions you want

Before you start finding a perfect theme for your Shopify store, list down all the primary features and functions you would want in your store. Whether you want video player, forms, blog, landing pages, cart drawer, large catalog size, email pop-up or new product highlight section, having a list of required features in hand will help you find the right theme more easily.

If you see a theme that has one feature you want, but have five other features missing, then move on. Look for a theme that offers more features, and get remaining missing features added with the help of a Shopify developer.

#2 Research your competitors

If you are not sure what do you want in your theme, it doesn’t harm to get inspiration from your competitors to get an idea about what you can add to your store. Learn about what theme they are using, what elements they have included in their storefront, what color combinations look best and what elements are distracting.

Learning about features and elements will help you choose a suitable theme for your store. Moreover, you can identify missing critical features in your competitor’s website and implement those to get a competitive edge.

#3 See whether it is mobile-friendly and light-weight

Another important thing to consider while picking a Shopify theme is to check the mobile view of the theme. That is because the number of mobile users is growing every day, so there are high chances that most of the website traffic will come from mobile. If you fail to deliver a great mobile experience, you may lose a potential sale. Therefore, ensure the theme you choose make your website easy to access from the mobile device.

Website speed is also crucial to its success. It can directly impact bounce rate, conversions and search rankings. Many Shopify themes come with fancy features, which may look attractive, but they slow down the speed of your website. So, look for themes that are lightweight, meaning they are not loaded with unnecessary elements, and focus more on performance.

#4 Inbuilt SEO features

SEO-friendliness is another important factor to consider while choosing the right Shopify theme. A beautifully designed site is of no use if it doesn’t rank in search engines. When your Shopify store has an SEO-optimized theme, it means it follows the best SEO practices to help you increase search engine rankings. SEO-friendly themes welcome more organic traffic to your website and boost conversions. Shopify offers a number of themes that are SEO-friendly right out-of-the-box.

When looking for the right Shopify theme that helps your store get discovered organically on Google and other leading search engines, make sure it is compatible with all devices, have clear navigation, support rich snippets and loads quickly.

#5 A great theme design and aesthetics

Attracting and retaining customers is a key to building a successful Shopify store. You can attract prospective customers to your site using SEO best practices, but retaining them is all about delivering a great experience. If your website is not attractive or interesting, then visitors may not stay on your store for long and may quit using your site.

A good theme contains many elements, such as matching color palettes, appealing user interface, proper background, readable font style and font color and so on. As your customers can’t really feel your products, they depend on visuals to experience them. So, if you succeed in grabbing their attention, they are more likely to buy from you.

#6 Shortlist based on your budget

Shopify themes are available at varying price points, ranging from zero to $250. Before you decide to buy a theme, determine what features you need and how much you are willing to spend on them. As with everything else in life, you get what you pay for, and it goes same with Shopify themes. Hence, differentiate between must-have and nice-to-have features.

Free themes are good, but if you are looking for a theme that offers a greater level of customization and features, then go for the premium ones. Since premium themes are designed to expand your store functionalities, there are good chances that you will find most of the features in your theme.

Choosing the Right Shopify Theme

With so many factors to consider, it can be overwhelming to choose the right theme for your Shopify store. You want all the necessary features and convey your brand message, and at the same time you want to ensure it fits in your budget and can be customized the way you want. At Island Wizards, we help you go through this theme selection process and offer theme customization service that will not only suit your store, but also make your shoppers fall in love with your brand.

6 Effective Ways to Speed Up Your Shopify Store

The global e-commerce market is blooming at a massive rate. People are now accustomed to shopping online without leaving the comfort of their space. E-commerce has simply bridged the gap between the sellers and buyers, and Shopify offers a great way for small as well as large businesses to leverage that opportunity. However, just like any other website, a Shopify website needs to be optimized for its speed and performance. That is because poor site speed can severely impact your website traffic, credibility and revenue generation.

Why High Page Speed Matters?

Before we discuss on how to improve your Shopify site speed, let’s first understand why it matters in the first place. There are two reasons behind this – Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and User Experience (UX). SEO is about ensuring your website gets found on the search engines and UX is about ensuring your users find convenient to use your website.

All the major search engines consider site speed as one of the crucial ranking factors. That means if your site loads quickly, your search engine rankings will improve. This brings a lot of potential leads to your site. And, if prospects can access your site immediately, there is a good chance that they will stay longer on your website and make a purchase.

Now, let’s dig into some effective ways to improve your Shopify store speed.

#1 Use only necessary Shopify apps

Every store needs external apps to extend its functionality. When these apps are added, they add script into the theme to run efficiently. Be aware that even if the apps are not in use, the script runs in the background, which can slow down the page speed.

Hence, it is essential to frequently review your apps and find the balance between the store features and speed. If you think some apps are interfering with your site speed, then disable some features of the app, or remove them completely if you don’t need them. Also, while removing the app, be sure to remove any code that was added as a part of the installation process. Removing unnecessary app code will most certainly help in improving your store performance.

#2 Install responsive and fast theme

Choosing a theme is crucial for a Shopify store owner. Besides enhancing the look and feel of the website, a theme also affects the page loading time. When themes are not optimized or installed properly, they can slow down your website. Furthermore, themes are made of HTML, CSS and JavaScript code, and when you customize themes, the file size can increase and affect your store performance.

Therefore, before you install any theme, check whether it is fast and responsive. See the live demonstration of the theme, so you get to try its features and analyze its performance. Once you install the theme, ensure to keep it up-to-the-date.

#3 Make your website super fast with AMP

Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP is a standard framework developed by Google to create fast-loading mobile pages. In this fast-paced world, over 50% of shoppers buy through mobile devices. Hence, it becomes imperative for businesses to develop a mobile-optimized site, so users can access their site conveniently through mobile phones.

Shopify enables you to create AMP sites quickly and efficiently with the help of RocketAMP or FireAMP apps. Both these apps can assist you in transforming your webpages to fast-loading pages on mobile, which can also help you improve user experience.

#4 Optimize images to improve page load speed

Images are an important asset when it comes to enhancing the visual appearance of your website. Over-size and un-optimized images are often the most common reason that can significantly slow down your website. If your images take too much time to load, users might perceive your website to be slow.

Image compression is necessary and critical for faster loading websites. While optimizing images, make sure you compress images to an acceptable size and don’t add a multitude of images on a single page. Also, while compressing images, ensure you don’t compromise on the quality of the images. TinyPNG and TinyJPG are great tools that can help you reduce image sizes without losing its quality.

#5 Fix broken links and minimize redirects

Too many redirects and broken links can result into performance issues. If your website is experiencing the same issues, consider removing unnecessary redirects and fixing broken links. Shopify offers a builtin redirect function called ‘URL redirect’ that allows you to apply 301 redirects.

Broken links on your site can give a rise to too many unnecessary HTTP requests, which can cause a poor user experience. With tools like, Xenu and Broken Links Checker, you can identify and fix broken links across your Shopify store.

#6 Check your store performance with Google PageSpeed Insights

If you are not sure what is decelerating your website speed, you can analyze the performance of your web pages using Google PageSpeed Insights tool. With this tool, you can identify the elements in your store that bog down your store and fail to load quickly, and then work on the provided recommendations to enhance website performance and minimize load time.

Google PageSpeed Insights can give you insight on critical elements of your store, such as server response time, browser caching, landing page redirects and many more, so you can find what hampering your store speed and how it can be corrected.

Conclusion

Store with fast-loading pages is essential to attract and retain your prospective buyers. If a website loads quickly, more people will explore your store and learn about your brand. It can also boost conversion rates if your website displays all the relevant content quickly and seamlessly.

We hope these techniques help you performing Shopify store speed optimization. Shopify stores are designed to deliver pleasant and rich shopping experience to its users. Therefore, if you miss to install some features correctly, your online store may slow down. If you are not equipped with adequate technical knowledge to resolve these issues, seek professional help from skilled Shopify developers who can help you speed up your Shopify store and get massive traffic to your site.