Category Archives: Shopify

eCommerce, Shopify

Vulnerabilities in eCommerce Web Development that Hackers Can Exploit

With more and more sales going online, many eCommerce Web Development companies are finding it difficult to address privacy and security concerns. According to Statista, global e-commerce sales were $3.53 trillion in 2019, and are expected to reach $6.54 trillion by 2022. As technology advances and hackers become more sophisticated, the sorts of security flaws in e-commerce become increasingly diverse and complex.

According to a 2019 global online buying survey, around 76 percent of online customers value data privacy and security when determining where to buy. So, what are the top security concerns that eCommerce Web Development Company should be aware of? And how can online merchants safeguard themselves, and their consumers from frequent e-commerce threats? Let’s investigate.

How Hackers Find Your eCommerce Website

There are many ways, really. Here are a few of the more common methods:

1.  Attacks on open-source software

Because they are usually very easy to identify and exploit, these assaults are one of the most common. The assaults are aimed at businesses that employ open-source code and technologies in their apps. These websites are seen as “low hanging fruit” by many attackers.

Because open-source technologies are free and allow for relatively easy customization by low-cost, entry-level programmers, many organisations prefer to use them to develop their websites. Unfortunately, inexperienced programmers frequently make configuration and code modifications without fully understanding the security implications.

Because many eCommerce systems and online programming languages are open-source, hackers, pen testers, and white hat researchers are continually discovering, testing, and exposing found vulnerabilities as well as the ways that were or could be used to exploit them. Wannabe hackers and script kids typically exploit easy-to-use tools developed by skilled hackers to compromise vulnerable websites.

WordPress and Magento Web Development are two of the most popular open-source tools targeted by hackers. These two tools are appealing to attackers since they’re easy to set up and adapt for organisations while also having a very complex code base with numerous attack avenues.

  • Magento is a popular open source, off-the-shelf shopping cart that is used by tens of thousands of companies.
  • WordPress is both a content management system (CMS) and an e-commerce platform.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use these tools. It simply means that because they are open source, they may be more vulnerable to security flaws; as a result, extra caution should be exercised when customising them. Also keep in mind that, at the same time that hackers are discovering vulnerabilities, people are working to fix them. That’s why, if you use these kinds of website tools, staying up to speed on security fixes is vital.

When working with any open source system, it’s a good idea to work with trustworthy experts and recommended plug-ins as a best practise. Experts from Magento or the WordPress community can assist you with this.

2.  Third party plugins

Open-source programmes like Magento and WordPress are often updated with new features. At times, attackers will create and publish new plugins, as well as modify existing open-source plugins. These plugins appear to be helpful and innocent, but they may have hidden backdoors or intentional or unintended flaws. When using third-party plugins, users should exercise extreme caution.

3.  Zero-day attacks

Zero-day attacks occur when an attacker discovers a vulnerability before the vendor does and begins exploiting it. Users are occasionally forced to wait for a “hot fix” from vendors. However, fully fixing a vulnerability can take several months in some circumstances. Your website could be vulnerable to hackers between the time it’s identified and patched, and the time it’s discovered and patched.

4.  PHP and other web languages are vulnerable to attacks.

For web development and back-end application programming, PHP (hypertext preprocessor) and comparable open-source scripting languages are utilised. One issue with open-source languages is that hackers know a lot about them and can uncover flaws in even the most boring lines of code. Hackers go into overdrive every time a new language or version of the language is published, looking for new vulnerabilities to attack before they are identified and patched by the support community or developers.

5.  Injection of code into the input field

SQL injection attacks are well-known among website owners. Despite how simple it is to prevent, this method continues to be a hacker favourite. An input field is a section of a web form where specific information is requested (date, phone number, credit card number, etc.).

However, input fields aren’t the only way to convey information to a web server. In many cases, the URL line contains input fields that can be easily modified by an attacker. Attackers can exploit particular coding characters to cause the backend programming language to run malicious code instead when input fields aren’t properly sanitised.

Even if fields are cleaned, the way the server responds to odd input data can reveal useful information that can be leveraged to gather extra insight.

6.  Attacks on Buffer Overflow

Even if incoming data is cleaned, if it is not also verified for things like right size and data type expectations, hackers could employ a clever method like uploading massive volumes of data to a website, perhaps causing the web server to malfunction. If the problem is severe enough, hackers may be able to take advantage of it and take control of the web server.

7.  Reconnaissance of Error Messages

Most users quickly hit the back button when they see an error notice like the one below.

However, this might be a gold mine of information about the server for an experienced hacker. These types of error messages are common on websites, and hackers can utilise them to obtain vital information that can be used to establish a successful breach later.

To avoid this danger, make sure that every data is sanitised and validated. Any programming characters found in any incoming data fields are removed during sanitization. Programmers sometimes overlook the need to sanitise and validate data from sources such as their own database, assuming that because they control the data source, sanitation and validation are not necessary.

However, if a web application comprises a database, the attacker has uncontrolled access to the database. A smart hacker can compromise the entire website and web server if the website uses tainted data from the database. Sanitization is the process of removing potentially harmful characters from any incoming data stream. Validation verifies that the data is what it should be, that it is the proper type of data, and that it is the right amount of data.

What can you do to avoid being hacked?

The good news is that, at the same time as hackers are discovering vulnerabilities in open source resources, a large number of individuals are identifying and resolving issues. The goal is to stay current on security issues and to adhere to all recommended best practises. Listed below are a few of the most important best practise tips for running a secure website:

  • Install and run an application for file integrity monitoring (FIM): Changes to individual files or all files within defined folders are monitored by File Integrity Monitoring. FIM can notify IT personnel if an attacker successfully modifies a file, allowing them to respond quickly and rectify the incident. FIM is frequently installed, but alarms are sent to an email account that is rarely accessed or a log file that is rarely inspected. Many FIM systems now allow alerts to be issued to both IT personnel and a management through text message, allowing incidents to be dealt with immediately and with complete accountability.
  • Keep up with security patches and hotfixes: Security patches and hotfixes should be deployed as soon as feasible after publication, but no later than 24 hours. When new patches or releases are available, many applications send out notifications. Policies should be in place to ensure that patch updates are applied as soon as possible.
  • Use intrusion detection systems (IDS): IDS monitor logs for signs of a breach. IDS notifications should be dealt with as soon as possible.
  • Use intrusion prevention systems (IPS): Like IDS, IPS monitor traffic in [near] real-time, looking for signs of real-time attacks, and will create an alarm if suspicious activity is identified.
  • Avoid exposing weaknesses: Customizing your website and tools can be beneficial for your business, but it can also expose you to risks. When changing code, programmers should exercise utmost caution. Regular code reviews should be performed to check for security flaws and unintended consequences.
  • As previously stated, every incoming data should be sanitised by removing potentially harmful characters and evaluated to ensure that the data satisfies the necessary type and size limits.
  • To test new code and third-party plugins, use staging or development servers: Website modifications, as well as any plugins and outsourced development, should always be tested and assessed in a non-production environment.

One of the most serious difficulties with eCommerce security is that criminals have plenty of time to hunt for and exploit flaws. To have a successful breach, they just need to be correct once. IT personnel, pen testers, programmers, and security researchers must all be correct at all times. Of course, this is unachievable, and data breaches will happen from time to time. If you make something hack-proof, the world will breed better hackers. Is this a sign that the situation is hopeless? Not in the least!

Remember that hackers are drawn to low-hanging fruit, and there is plenty of it available. Implementing a few easy, reasonable security safeguards and methods can swiftly elevate your eCommerce environment to the relative safety of higher branches.

Naturally, the more lucrative your eCommerce environment appears to data thieves, the more thorough your security procedures must be. The most important best practices to follow is to never assume that your security is complete. What is today’s ultra-secure app, web server, or computer code could be tomorrow’s Achilles’ heel.

In order to act proactively and respond effectively, business owners, IT employees, developers, and management must be up to speed and thoroughly schooled on security risks. This frequently necessitates a significant investment of time and resources, and the return on that effort is often missed when things go well. Thousands of firms that have endured the mental, moral, and financial toll of a severe security breach can attest that none of them ever wished they had invested less in the first place.

ONLINE PAYMENT FRAUD

We have all witnessed a movement from physical to online transactions in recent years. People no longer need to display a card to retailers when placing an order and making a payment. Because credit card information is not physically provided to third parties, it appears that the number of credit card fraud cases have decreased. However, credit card theft incidents have grown to 25% of all instances. According to the 2019 Trustwave Global Security Report, CNP (Card Not Present) data incidents account for 84 percent of all occurrences in e-commerce. Payment fraud is one of the most common types of security flaws in e-commerce.

Historical data, such as that from the 2009 recession, demonstrates that fraud increases during downturns. As a result, there will be an increase in friendly fraud (such as buying a high-value item online like a large, flat-screen TV, and then claiming that it was a fraudulent transaction). While retailers contest chargebacks when they detect friendly fraud, just 32% of them are successful in disputing chargebacks more than 45 percent of the time.

Furthermore, CNP fraud is anticipated to climb by 14 percent by 2023, with retailers potentially losing $13 billion by that time. Online payment fraud can take many forms, but the most prevalent include identity theft, friendly fraud, triangulation, and clean fraud. It’s no surprise that during peak spikes like the holiday season, there are more attempts at online payment fraud. This is especially true of benevolent fraud.

In addition, an increase in internet buying during pandemic lockdowns has increased the number of online payment fraud cases. In the United Kingdom, for example, research suggests that 16,352 persons were victims of online purchasing fraud. So, how might transaction fraud be combated?

Today’s ERFM solutions only give customers a limited amount of insight into and control over their AI and machine learning (ML) models. This presents major problems for merchants, who rely on their investigators to figure out why the AI programme rejected a transaction and explain it to both customers and auditors. The good news is that suppliers are emphasising in their roadmaps that their AI/ML models should 1) “rely less on black box models” and 2) provide explanatory features.

HOW TO AVOID IT:

Online shops may do a few simple steps to protect themselves and their customers from online payment fraud:

  • Attain and maintain the PCI standard, which assures that credit card information collected online is safely transported and stored, or select a reputable PCI-compliant payment system provider.
  • Use an Address Verification System (AVS), which verifies a customer’s billing address to the information on file with a credit card provider.
  • Use Secure Server Layer (SSL) certificates to ensure that all sensitive communications on your website take place over a secure channel protected by data encryption.
  • Change to HTTPS protocols to protect client data and sensitive information.
  • Use required CVV for all e-commerce transactions involving credit or debit cards.
  • Ensure multi-factor authentication and urge customers to create more secure passwords.
  • Use AI/ML algorithms to combat e-commerce and retail fraud (ERFM).

WEB APPLICATION MISCONFIGURATION

To meet the expectations of the customers, e-commerce enterprises require several types of web apps. Web apps make it simple to establish product or service listings, product/service descriptions, a personal profile, a shopping cart, and secure e-payment alternatives. Furthermore, mobile devices account for the majority of online purchasing traffic. Since 2016, mobile commerce (or “m-commerce”) has grown at a 33.8 percent annual rate. As a result, web apps are the greatest choice for increasing engagement and income.

However, when it comes to security, many online shops fail to implement appropriate security measures throughout the software development life cycle and underestimate the need of encryption.

This results in many forms of security vulnerabilities in e-commerce web apps, which result in compromised user accounts, malicious code installation, lost sales revenue, consumer confidence loss, brand reputation harm, and so on. The following is a list of the most prevalent web application attacks:

  • Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of code injection attack that occurs on the client-side.
  • SQL injection entails inserting harmful code into SQL statements via web page input.
  • Cookie poisoning is the alteration of a cookie in order to obtain unauthorized information about the user.
  • Remote command execution refers to the execution of arbitrary commands on the host operating system through a susceptible program.
  • File-path traversal is a technique that allows you to navigate through files.

The case of an order’s auto increment id is another common misconfiguration that could allow your competitors to gain a better understanding of your sales. You can place an order and receive an email with your order-id, then place another order a week later and obtain a different order-id to compare. This is a method of obtaining sensitive information about your sales that someone could exploit. Using a universally unique identity (UUID) instead of an auto incremented id is all that is required to avoid such an issue. This is an easy thing to do, but it can save you a lot of grief.

HOW TO AVOID IT:

Online retailers should consider the following factors to ensure that their website apps are secure against harmful threats:

  • Choose the best web host for your e-commerce website: based on your demands, you can go with shared hosting, virtual private server hosting, or dedicated hosting.
  • Implement effective monitoring and alerting: you should set up a Web Application Firewall to detect malicious requests and respond in a way that prevents any loss.
  • Never save highly sensitive or vital information in cookies, and always encrypt the information stored in cookies.
  • To avoid XSS attacks, use the x-XSS-protection security header.

ATTACKS ON DISTRIBUTED DENIAL OF SERVICE (DDOS)

Denial of service (DDoS) attacks are used to bring down a web server or online system by flooding it with traffic from a large number of infected devices. The initial signs of DDoS are an abundance of spam emails, delayed file access, Internet outage, and so on. Without professional instruments and a thorough diagnosis, it can be extremely difficult to recognize these signs.

HOW TO AVOID IT

The major goal is to distinguish actual network traffic spikes from fraudulent traffic and to restrict “bad” traffic before it reaches the site. There are various steps you may take to prevent and minimize DDoS attacks:

  • Use a DDoS mitigation solution that filters traffic and prevents DDoS attacks from taking impact.
  • Configure your firewall and router to reject inbound ICMP packets and to reject DNS replies from outside your network.
  • Switch to a cloud-based supplier with high bandwidth and various points of presence in data centers around the world.
  • Set up a load balancer to optimize the network, server, and app performance by dispersing harmful traffic over multiple data centers.

BAD BOTS

Bad bots behave like real users and can be used not only by hackers to steal your users’ credit card numbers, CVVs, and log-in credentials, but also by your competitors to manipulate your product prices, block shopping carts, and create an artificial traffic spike to slow down your e-commerce website.

HOW TO AVOID IT:

If you wish to defend yourself from bot attacks, there are some simple steps you can do right now to begin tackling the issue:

  • Always assess traffic sources.
  • Look into sudden traffic increases.
  • Keep an eye out for failed login attempts.
  • Safeguard exposed APIs and mobile apps.
  • Use content delivery networks and web application firewalls.
  • Install a CAPTCHA test.
  • Consider purchasing a bot mitigation solution.

Wrapping Up

An e-commerce website is a sophisticated system comprising numerous components such as a product catalogue, a shopping basket system, online payment systems, personalised profile pages, a contact us page, and many others. And there is a diverse set of attack vectors aimed against each of these components. Hackers typically hunt for vulnerabilities in your server, infrastructure, network environment, databases, APIs, integrations with third-party vendors, and so on in order to obtain illegal information about users. To ensure that your e-commerce site is well-defended from cyber-criminals, security should be included in every stage of website construction.

eCommerce, Shopify

15+ Shopify Speed Optimization Tips to Boost eCommerce Revenue

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Shopify merchants do their utmost to make their storefront unique and converting. Do you know how it can affect the speed of your site? Speed is important. And it heavily impacts the customer’s shopping experience. When the pages of your store load fast, your store becomes more discoverable. As you know, loading speed is an important ranking factor for Google. You can also visit our article How to start a Shopify Store?

Besides, most customers are likely to click out of a page when it loads slowly. For an online store, it reduces the chances of purchase. Therefore, the conversion-rate becomes higher when your store’s speed is fast. Now we know how important speed is for your Shopify store. Let’s come to the point. Whenever you add new functions such as images, videos, themes, analytics, apps, etc. to your store, it becomes slower than before.

The reason is simple; these functionalities need resources to work on your store. And the more resource-heavy the store becomes, the slower it gets. Then what can you do? Should you stop adding new features? We must not do that. A perfect blend of functionalities and optimal store speed are both required to drive sales.

There are 15 excellent tips following which you can optimize your Shopify speed for stable e-commerce revenue.

Check Your Store’s Performance

From the overall performance of your store, you can find out if it’s fast or slow. We don’t recommend random customization. Before optimizing your store for better speed, you should check out the store’s performance. Several free tools are available online to analyze your store’s performance. You can try Test My Site, PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Pingdom. All of them provide easy-to-understand reports on how you should optimize your store.

But for the Shopify merchants, we would suggest Test My Site. It’s a Free tool that gives the easiest reports. And it directly shows a rating for your site. It will tell you if your store speed is poor or good. You can also download their report containing customized recommendations. Suppose you want to scale the performance for the mobile and desktop users separately. In that case, PageSpeed Insights will be the best tool. GTmetrix and Pingdom are also useful tools if you want to test the speed from multiple server locations.

Optimize Your Store With an Open Mind

When you use third-party tools to measure your store’s performance, you must not follow them blindly. No, they don’t show the wrong results. Their results will be similar and data-driven, but these tools don’t analyze them in the same way.

Before making changes to the features and load speed, you should think about a few things-

  • What features and functionalities actually prompt your customers to make their purchase decisions?
  • What are the most essential functions that you should display at the top of each page?
  • What are the features which loaded late won’t cause any problem?

Third-party tools will let you know about the mistakes and features that are making your store speed slow. But don’t immediately work on them. Instead, try to do a balance. Even if some features or apps slows your site, you must keep them to drive more sales. You will know what you should keep and avoid while maintaining an optimal speed from our next tips.

Use Fast & Responsive Theme for Your Store

While choosing a theme, always look for responsive ones. You can check your theme preview in the page performance tools before installing it. If you installed a theme and it’s not that fast, try to fix it. Check if you have installed any unnecessary or trial apps from Shopify.

Uninstall them. If you are not good with codes, you can hire a developer to fix the code and remove the app leftovers. Minifying the code is another excellent way to make your store super-fast. You can ask your developer to make the code light and help you optimize the store speed.

Always keep your themes updated. The up-to-date versions are usually fast and lightweight.

Never Use Too Many Apps

Okay, I get it. Shopify apps help a lot to build a personality. And it reduces so much manual work and allows you to add promising functionalities. However, you must be aware it makes your site sluggish. It might cause an app conflict. On top of that, a vast amount of resources are loaded with these apps. As a result, the apps will make your site slow.

Here is a solution to this issue. You can install Xoot.io. It has features of 40+ apps in one app. After installing it, you can try their features and customize them according to your needs. You don’t have to use all apps at once. You can turn ON several features of this app and then turn any OFF when you don’t need them.

Xoot apps solves a lot of problems at once. It lets you use tons of fastest apps for Shopify without doing any coding. Anyone can use Xoot Shopify apps. Also, these apps are perfectly designed so that they never conflict with your theme. And most importantly, Xoot allows you to use Shopify 40+ apps, but it’s a single app. That means it never bothers your customers with slow speed and error pages. Thus, you can easily boost revenue on Shopify store.

Create AMP Pages for Mobile Users

Around 50% of your customers will shop using a mobile device. AMP technology will help you make the mobile experience lightning fast. If you are a developer, you should create AMP pages for mobile users. Such web pages load faster on mobile devices. You can also use Fire Amp or Rocketamp apps to generate AMP pages without trouble.

Optimize Your Images 

Too many images are not suitable for your store. If you load a web page with too many images, the store will turn slower. Like that it will reduce the shopping experience of your customers. You can compress your images and make them lightweight without ruining their quality. And try to use a minimal amount of pictures on a page. 

On your Shopify store, you can use JPEG, JPG, Progressive JPEG, GIF formats. You can use online tools like TinyPNG to compress JPEG, JPG, PNG images. After compressing the files, you can then upload the acceptable sizes to your store. Or you can try Shopify apps. Apps like Image Optimizer will optimize and compress the existing images of your site automatically. 

Both the online tool and the Shopify app will reduce the image weight (megabytes). And they will not change the dimensions plus will maintain optimal quality. Installing the Shopify app is much easier. Because you have to do nothing but install the app. But keep in mind, it’s a third-party app. You might need to remove it later for speed issues. TinyPNG is also easy to use. 

Resize Large Images

Oversized images are a problem. They contribute a lot in increasing the load time. Smartphone users will especially meet slow load time when you are using large images. 

According to Shopify, 2048 x 2048 pixels are the ideal dimensions for product images. If you have images larger than that, you can resize and reupload them. 

You can do resizing on Photoshop or use Shopify’s Online Image Resizer tool. If you want to use Photoshop, open the images in Photoshop. Then click File, select Export, and finally Save for Web. A window will pop up. You will find an Image Size field there. Put 2048 in both W and H fields. And then click Save. It’s done. 

For the Shopify Resizer tool, you just need to upload your images in the tool. Then select the dimension Medium. Resize and download them, that’s it. 

Avoid Using Multi Hero-Sliders 

A multi hero slider with 5 to 6 images may seem appealing to you. But it has a downside as well. The sizes and quality of these hero images should be standard. Therefore, these slides drag the page loading speed. The impact is enormous. As you know, it drastically reduces the user-experience. 

Most visitors don’t click on the slides ( only 1% click on them ). Moreover, many of them get annoyed with the slugging page speed. Instead of using a multi hero slider, we recommend using a single hero slide with a persuasive Call-to-Action. 

Or if it’s vital to use a multi-hero slider, you should create one with 2 or 3 images max. You can then keep its impact to a minimum. But we always suggest you use just one hero image. Many of the giant stores and service websites follow this strategy to get a good ranking push and improve customer experience. 

Use the External Platform for Hosting Videos

You might want to use video content to convert your visitors into customers. However, uploading video files on Shopify is a bad idea. And there is no need for that. You can host your videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia. These platforms work fine with Shopify. You can embed their videos on your posts with ease.

First, find the video files that are already uploaded to your store and then download them all. Go to Settings on your Shopify account and then click on Files. Now you can download the files to save them on your device if they aren’t saved already. You can also remove them from Shopify. Because you’re going to host them on a different platform. 

Now pick any platform to host your videos. Upload your videos to that platform. Then copy its embed code and place it on your post’s HTML editor to display the video. 

Lazyload Video & Images 

Lazy loading is a smart way to make your page load faster. Whether they are images or videos, you might want to load them quicker. But is that really necessary? If a lot of content loads at once, a web page might get slower. But if the top content of a page loads faster than the rest, your visitor can have a great experience. 

You can ask your developer or IT team to implement lazy load scripts for both images and videos. This process might require some effort and time. But it’s really worth the page speed you get. 

 Analyze Popup Performance 

Quick view popups are famous for their high conversion value. You can add them to product pages. So that your customers can see the product information without actually clicking a product. 

But they insert a lot of data inside the page. And, of course, that slows down the site. Yet again, don’t reach a conclusion. We are not saying popups are junk. For some stores, they do help in driving customers. And for some, they don’t. So before you make any decision about using quick view popups, make sure to do further testing. You can use tools like Hotjar to test your pages with and without popups.

 Check the Number of HTTP Requests 

Is your store still slow after doing many optimizations? You should check out the HTTP requests. Use this HTTP Request Checker to find out how many HTTP requests your site makes. It shows easy-to-follow results. You can see exactly how many requests are made by various resources. 

By reducing the number of design content, combining CSS, Javascript files, and many more, you can reduce HTTP requests. And eventually, it will boost the overall speed performance of your store. 

 Use Google Tag Manager 

Every day your store will be loaded with a massive amount of customer data. You can use such data to boost your revenue. By using Javascript tracking tags, you can collect customer data. But it hampers your page speed. And here, the Google Tag Manager plays its role. 

It’s a tag management system. There will be multiple tracking tags like analytics, conversion, remarketing, goals, etc. But the Google Tag Manager makes it simple by condensing all these tags into one. That means, instead of a separate request, this system lets your site send only one Javascript request. Which makes your site much faster. 

It also improves site performance. Your whole site can collapse if even one tag fails. But with this tool, you can easily remove that tag and recover your site. 

If you are applying 302 redirects, then it’s making your store slow. It’s a redirect that shows a page has been removed temporarily when your customers click on an unavailable link. But this redirect only adds up HTTP requests and also causes delay data transfers. This is not good for your site speed nor for SEO. 

You can overcome this problem and use other redirects such as Catchable Redirects. Or you can apply 301 redirect with Shopify’s built-in redirect function, which is called URL redirect. 

Broken links are another problem. Because they drag the site speed with a high amount of HTTP requests. It’s necessary to fix broken links. You can try Broken Link Checker; it will help you find your site’s existing broken links. Remove all the broken links. And create custom 404 error pages to inform your customers if they entered the wrong URL. It will also improve their experience.

Fix Collection of Products

Shops with a wide number of products create various collections. It might enhance the shopping experience as the customer can easily find out what they want. However, you have to sacrifice your page speed because of that. There will be loops inside of loops on your codes that cause low site speed. The store has to run excess loops for every product of your store.

Suppose you have 20 collections with a total of 500 products. Then your store runs 20×500 = 10,000 loops. So it really hurts the store speed. But there is a solution. You can minimize its effect by fixing your codes. Try to delete the duplicate and conflicting codes and make the codes smarter.

You can also use Findify. It’s an incredible tool that lets you implement advanced filtering features on your store. And this does not slow your store but boosts the customer experience. With Findify, you can make the product searching process even better.

Bonus-

Right Hosting Can Speed Up Your Store

If you have lots of visitors and customers, you should pick a better hosting plan. Are you a Shopify Plus user? If yes, then you can skip this suggestion. The lack of suitable hosting can always cause various speed issues and clashes. Better stay prepared and avoid such circumstances, especially during holiday seasons, when your store gets flooded with visitors.

If your current hosting isn’t enough for you, consider upgrading to the next Shopify plan. Shopify has 3 plans. If you are already using the advanced one, you can try Shopify Plus. However, Shopify Plus is not for every business. When you are eligible for this plan, you can contact Shopify agents to get this one.

Bottom Line:

There are many ways to improve your site speed and boost your revenue. When you are optimizing your store, always reflect the customer experience. And by putting in some time and effort, you can apply many of our tips and optimize your store for better speed.

Author Bio:

Author Name:- Ajay Suri
Author Bio:- Shopify Expert and Marketer, Help merchants to improve site conversions and Increase revenue.
Email Address:- Support@xoot.io

eCommerce, Shopify

How to create a profitable Shopify store from scratch?

Over the years, the demand for e-commerce platforms that can help you kick-start businesses has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, you have a dozen options to choose from. However, one such platform that stands apart would be Shopify. 

Shopify is a sophisticated tool for creating flawless e-commerce websites. It helps in loading thousands of products, without any worries about performance, functionality, or aesthetics. 

These are three main reasons why Shopify has a sturdy place in the industry. Moreover, the process of integrating third-party libraries in your Shopify store can be achieved in a breeze.

Additionally, the platform allows entrepreneurs to integrate multiple payment gateways with their stores too.

Why Should You Use Shopify over other ecommerce platforms?

There are many perks in using Shopify over other ecommerce platforms. 

One, you have two different options to choose from. You can opt for Shopify or Shopify Plus. The latter comes with add on services and a variety of features that can improve your store’s look and functionality. 

Two, Shopify offers a secure platform for building a store. This is extremely important because you will be dealing with thousands of customers and their data. 

Three, Shopify comes with a unique payment method for newbie businesses. If you have not activated stripe or PayPal for your brand – Shopify’s payment gateway will be useful.

How to set up your Shopify store?

1. Start your free trial on Shopify

Firstly, visit the Shopify website and create an account. To sign up, you need the following steps:

  1. Pick a name for your store. The name of your store has to be unique.
  2. Choose “start the free trial”
  3. You need to provide basic details like your address, contact number, and email address.
  4. Mention if you have products for hosting in the store. Else, you can select “I am playing around”.
  5. Finally, select “I am done”.

This will create a Shopify store for your business and will be ready for you to try the platform.

2. Pick a theme and customize your Shopify store

Shopify is famous for its inbuilt collection of themes. However, you can always use customized CSS and HTML. The platform is open for designers and developers to customize as much as possible. 

  1. Navigate to Shopify themes for choosing a theme. When you pick a theme from Shopify, you don’t need to do much work. Mainly because Shopify takes care of all the coding for you. Many times, newbie entrepreneurs don’t have to write even a line of code.
  2. Once the theme is chosen, you can brand. This includes adding your pictures, font, and logos.
  3. If you have a customized code, you can introduce them to your Shopify store. Customized code can be integrated without any hassles or tussles.
  4. Once you make all the required changes, you’d not have any trouble saving. In fact, Shopify does save all the changes automatically.

3. Add Shopify Apps that make your Life easy in your store

Once the theme and basic structure of your store are in place, you can integrate applications. This is one of Shopify’s key selling features. there are thousands of shopify apps to choose from. These apps will help you manage and configure the store better.

  1. To choose a Shopify app, you need to navigate to the App Store of the platform.
  2. Choose apps based on what you need. For instance, Shopify has a range of apps for search engine optimization, configuration, and even controlling the cookie bar. Handpick these apps with care.
  3. Once you finalize the app, integrate it with your store. This can be controlled from your Shopify dashboard. This is how simple the process of including apps is!
  4. After the app is loaded, you can configure it from the Shopify dashboard. This is where you can add, remove, and modify the settings of your apps.

4. Add The Products You Want To Sell In Your Store

In your Shopify store, you can add and remove products quite easily. This is one of the platform’s key selling features. The dashboard has all the features you need for controlling the way products are configured in the store. Here is a brief overview of how to add products to the Shopify store.

  1. Navigate to the Shopify dashboard. Here, you need to navigate to products and choose “Add products”.
  2. Add products will guide you to a screen with a big blue button. This is where you find products, or add products.
  3. Clicking add products will let you add products, along with images.
  4. Configure the product with details like description, title, and price.

5. Group And Categorize Your Products

Grouping alias collection is a way of bringing products together in your Shopify store. The groups can be created in a number of ways. Regardless of the method, you need to ensure that the products are closely related based on the preferences of target audiences.

  1. Manual collections can be created by you, based on certain conditions that you have in mind. You can handpick products, and include them under a specific collection.
  2. Automatic collections are created by the store, based on certain criteria.
  3. A single product can be shown in multiple groups. It depends on the rules you create.

6. Create Necessary Pages For Your Store

Every product in your store needs a separate page. This is because customers will have customized searches, and they should lead to an “exquisite” product page.

  1. Navigate to your store’s admin page. Here, you will find the “online store” option.
  2. In online stores, you will find “Add Page”. Choose this option and create content.
  3. Give the page a name.
  4. Once the content and name are populated, save the page.
  5. Then, add the newly created page to your store’s menu.

The above method can be used to create as many pages as required by your store.

7. Change your shipping settings as per your preferences

Shipping settings are certainly an integral component of any e-commerce store. After all, shouldn’t the order reach its owner on time, and intact? 

This is one of the reasons why every e-commerce platform has separate shipping settings. In Shopify, you can modify the shipping details quite easily.

  1. Navigate to the admin dashboard of your Shopify account. Now, you need to choose settings, shipping, and delivery.
  2. On the shipping page, begin by adding rates.
  3. On the shipping page, add the zone. Click on add rate and zone. This will create a new shipping preference.
  4. You can add price and weight-based conditions too.

8. Setup Your tax Settings

Unlike the other parameters, taxes depend on the product. This means the workflow for setting up product taxes is a little different.

  1. First of all, navigate to your admin dashboard, and then the products page.
  2. Click in the name of the product, for which the tax details need to be applied.
  3. Look for “variants”.
  4. Select the option “Charge Taxes”. This will activate taxes for the chosen product.
  5. Many times, stores tend to avoid charging taxes on each and every product. This means you can choose other ways of charging taxes, including the product’s weight.

9. Setup Your Payment Gateway

A common mistake made by newbie stores would be an incomplete payment gateway. Remember that the payment gateway can build or break an order. 

If your payment options don’t support what the customer has in hand – you are going to lose the order. This is why you need to set up the payment gateway with the utmost care.

  1. Be specific about the transaction fee. Some gateways tend to keep a small percentage.
  2. What cards will your store support? Would it be both the visa and the MasterCard?
  3. Would your store redirect customers to a third party gateway, for completing the payment?

10. Test your order system

Shopify gives admins the freedom to test their store from a bogus gateway. This gateway supports the following:

  1. If credit card payment is enabled, try disabling it and making a payment.
  2. If credit card payment is enabled, choose from the very many payment gateways to figure out what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Try activating, reactivating, and deactivating your payment options.
  4. Proceed to the storefront, and perform the steps a potential customer would do. This means you need to buy a product and redirect it towards checkout. See if the workflow can be executed without errors. Indeed, this would be the best way to test your system.

11. Setup Your Domain with Shopify

To go live, your store needs an appropriate domain name. You have two different ways of securing a domain name.

  1. Shopify offers in-house domain names. Well, this will cost you a nominal fee. The domain will be included in your store automatically. There are many perks to using these domain names. For example, if you have zero knowledge of how the domain name works – this method can save time and effort.
  2. Navigate to Admin, then settings, and then find “domain”.
  3. In the “domain” section, add the new domain name.

12. Do the basic on-page SEO optimization

a. Optimized URL structure

Shopify has both canonical and non-canonical URLs. The product pages will be categorized under each of these types. The wrong URL types will reduce your rank in google mainly because google algorithms can suspect content duplication. This is one of the main reasons why canonical URLs are highly respected. 

When you decide on the URL structure, you need to override the non-canonical format used by Shopify. Replace this with a canonical URL. Always bear in mind that anything that signals duplication or frequent linking within the store is not appreciated by search engines.

A relatively simple fix for the non-canonical URL problem in Shopify would be the adjustment of internal links.

b. Optimize your Metadata

Metadata are additional fields that need to be linked with your store and product pages. These fields are useful when a search engine executes a customer query. 

The metadata often has four important fields: name, description, key, and value. The key and value pair can be further broken down into multiple sub-categories.

What is important here would be the completion of store metadata. If required, you can use third-party applications to help in building metadata. In fact, Google has a ShopifyFD bookmarklet for creating metadata.

c. Optimize Your Headings

Next, you need to pay close attention to the headings on your product pages. The headings should be crisp and meaningful. Try to incorporate primary and secondary keywords in the title. 

Of course, you need to avoid duplication of content in the title. This means, don’t overload your headings with the same primary and secondary keywords.

  1. Always use the h1 tag for storing the heading.
  2. Use the h3 and h2 tags for breaking your existing content
  3. The header tags for offering on-page SEO should not be overused. Try to limit its usage between one to five tags per page. Anything more will be overwhelming.

d. Optimize your body text with Primary & secondary keywords

Keywords play an irreplaceable role in dear engine optimization. This gives you many reasons to include both primary and secondary keywords in your store. 

The product pages should have a blend of these keywords and you should use them meaningfully. As mentioned previously, there is no room for keyword stuffing. 

Two, the phrases you use should blend with the heading and product description too. Try to strike a balance between the features and benefits of buying your product. 

In fact, you need to pay close attention to the consistency and structure of content across the product pages. Customers often look for consistency. They hardly like surprises.

e. Optimize Your Image Alt Tags

Another important aspect to be covered as a part of your search engine optimization effort would be the image alt tags. These are tags associated with images. 

In case the image is deleted, the alt text will take charge. This saves you from displaying irrelevant content, or a broken link in the place of the image. 

Once again, you should include keywords in your alt tags. The tag should describe what the image represents. Remember, google had algorithms to evaluate images, and alt tags are analyzed before anything else.

13. Remove password protection & Launch your store

Access to your online store can be restricted easily using the password protection feature offered by Shopify. If a customer is allowed to enter your store – you need to share the password. 

When an unauthorized person tries to access your store, the content will be hidden. They will not be able to see anything or do any operations. 

To disable password protection, before the launch of your Shopify store, you need to follow these steps

  1. Navigate to Online store, and preferences
  2. Look for Password protection
  3. Deselect Enable Password
  4. If you want to enable a password, choose the message you’d like to display to them.

Ideally, you need to ensure that the password protection is removed before you launch the store!

Conclusion

On the whole, building an e-commerce store and selling online is no longer rocket science. Instead, using platforms like Shopify and following the instructions given above can help you kickstart a great business in no-time. Shopify is one of the very platforms that need zero coding skills or knowledge about web technologies.

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AdNabu helps improve sales in Google Ads for shopify stores. If you are running the google search, google shopping, or display campaigns in Google Ads, Their apps help to increase your sales.