Shopify Theme - 2024 Indie Shopify Tutorial for Beginners

In the first three sections, we putshopify site registration(math.) genusdomain name registration(math.) genusEnterprise MailboxAll ready. In this section I'll tell what is shopify theme, which is a very time consuming step.

What is shopify theme?

SHOPIFY just built it, just like the house has been closed and is ready for possession.

Most of the houses, however, are rough houses. Then the next step is definitely to decorate, and choosing a good theme is to choose a good decoration design team. A good team is naturally comfortable.

For most websites, using a good shopify theme can save you a lot of time and also give your customers a first impression, an impression that will be good for you to do branding and conversion.

Once you have the global attributes of your brand in place, the next step is to choose a suitable template to get your store off the ground quickly. The following article will start with the choice of free templates, paid templates, comparisons, if you want a paid template, what are the channels you can start with besides the official ones, and what are the considerations for choosing a template. These will be answered one by one.

Shopify Theme Types

Free Topics

The official website of shopify offers a series of free themes, which you can bring him into the buy rough, get free "finishes".

Click on "Online Store", then click on "Templates" to see the free templates, or free themes, that shopify offers you. These themes come with shopify natively. By the way, when your shopify is just finished building, the default theme is shopify'sDawn ThemeThe

When you click on that, "Visit the Template Store "You will see more official templates provided by shopify.

13 free themes with different styles. You can see if there are any that match your aesthetic and the aesthetic of your business clients.

For an official free theme, I personally recommend the Dawn theme.

For one thing, I'm using it now.

Secondly, this theme is the default theme and thus many third-party plugin libraries are very supportive of this template. You don't have to worry about plugin incompatibility.

Thirdly, there are all kinds of themed content. You won't lose your style when you look at it.

Paid Topics

I personally use less, because the price is really expensive. Most of the price level in $200-300 U.S. dollars, equivalent to 1500-2500 yuan, the tycoon can feel free, or business has been verified successful people, shopify is just a necessary mode, then directly buy a suitable theme, there is no problem.

The theme is also really feature-rich, and the price includes payment for fonts, as well as payment for commercial needs, so it's great if you can find one that suits your needs.

Free Templates VS Paid Templates

When building an online store on Shopify, choosing the right theme is crucial.Shopify's templates not only determine the appearance and layout of your website, but also affect the user experience and conversion rate.Shopify offers a wide range of templates to choose from, both free basic templates and feature-rich paid templates, allowing you the flexibility to choose according to your needs.

Pros and cons of free templates:

1. vantage::
   • economical: At no extra cost, it's suitable for novice merchants on a budget.
   • simple and easy to use: The feature set is simple and clear, suitable for beginners to get started quickly.
   • Official support: Officially provided by Shopify and updated frequently to ensure compatibility and stability.
2. drawbacks::
   • Limited functionality: Fewer customization options may not meet the specific needs of advanced users.
   • Single design style: Fewer options to reflect brand uniqueness.

Pros and cons of paid templates:

1. vantage::
   • Rich functionality: Usually includes more advanced features such as more complex layouts, customization options and interactive effects.
   • Versatile design: Provide more style options to help you create a unique brand image.
   • Professional Support: Many of the paid themes offer developer support to ensure that you get prompt help if you encounter problems during use.
2. drawbacks::
   • Higher costs: Higher one-time costs (average price of $300+) may be a challenge for merchants with limited budgets.
   • Difficult to get started: With a variety of features and complex configurations, looking good comes with a learning curve, and novices may need to spend more time learning.
   • compatibility issue: Some third-party plugins may not be fully compatible with some paid templates and require additional technical adjustments.

Other options for Shopify themes

"Bloggers, question! I want to look good enough for a theme, and cheap too! How might I do that (whoring)?"

For newcomers, I personally still strongly recommend using the default template, and then with the page modification plugin to modify, rather than directly apply the paid theme. The complexity of the paid theme, as well as the material requirements are high, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the hands, to determine the long-term business, before considering paid theme templates.

If you're adamant about choosing a paid theme, or if you're past the newbie village and want to try out the higher-order gameplay, you can find the right paid theme on the following three channels:

1. Shopify Official Theme Stores

• vantage::
  • Quality is guaranteed: All templates are scrutinized to ensure high standards of design and functionality.
  • Frequent updates: Templates are updated frequently to ensure compatibility with Shopify's latest features.
  • Official support: In case of problems, you can rely on Shopify's official support team.
• drawbacks::
  • Higher prices: Relatively high prices due to guaranteed quality and support.
  • Limited options: The number of templates in the official store, while growing, may have slightly fewer choices compared to third-party marketplaces.

2. Third-party thematic markets(ThemeForest)

If you've been a Wordpress player before, you should also be no stranger to this, which is a buying platform for themes for various websites overseas. Themes are usually bought out, but updates are for life (if that theme's company hasn't gone down yet).

Security issues, trust issues, not so much with this one. I've bought themes on it several times before when I was playing with wordpress. The cost was in the 50-70 range. Cheap ones are available for 30 bucks to have one. But remember, the purchase can only bind one site at a time, if you want more than one site to apply, then you have to consider other ways, the site is best to have their own technical team will be a little better.

For example, I randomly clicked on the first one, the ella theme, which sold 38.9K units, which is a lot, and the theme templates in it look okay. The price is also only $89 for the buyout.

When you find the right template to purchase, you'll get a zip installer. At this point you open the backend of shopify and click next door on the store template to see the zip template uploaded.

This is a more low-cost way to get themes.

• vantage::
  • Choose from a wide range of options: Third-party marketplaces such as ThemeForest offer a huge variety of templates covering a wide range of industries and styles.
  • Price flexibility: Because of the competition, you can find templates at different price points to accommodate different budgets.
  • unique design: Many third-party developers offer unique designs and features to personalize your website.
• drawbacks::
  • uneven quality: Despite the large selection, the quality and code standards may not be as strict as the templates in the official store.
  • compatibility issue: Some templates may have issues with compatibility with Shopify's latest features or third-party plugins.

3. Customized templates for independent developers (there are also developers in China)

• vantage::
  • Fully customizable: It can be tailored to your specific needs and brand style to create a unique user experience.
  • Dedicated support: Developers usually provide direct support and maintenance services and resolve issues more quickly.
• drawbacks::
  • high cost: Due to custom development, the price is much higher than purchasing an off-the-shelf template.
  • Long development cycle: Customized templates require a longer development and testing time than ready-to-buy templates.

There are also people who buy paid themes at someplace, or seafood market. This way I have tried, is a bit dangerous. For one thing, the code of these paid themes may be modified so as to steal your store information, or there may be incompatible plugin issues that cause the site to crash. Secondly, there are authorization issues. I once had my store closed due to licensing issues, so I have since gone along with the free themes + plugins approach to site optimization.

Personally, I strongly still recommend going with the default stock configurations, as there is always a probability that configurations other than the official ones will have bugs that you won't be able to find any reason for, so it's not recommended.

Shopify Theme Selection Advice

Don't think about white johns.

A lot of free theme packs are circulating on a certain treasure, or a certain much, seafood market, 10 or so dollars, 30 fast can be bought, this I tell you, I have used. I've been cheap, I share the pit inside.

a) Themes cannot be updated

It's a good thing that themes are generally fixed to a dead version, so if there's some weird problem with your theme, you risk having to pay again after updating it. Of course you can go to the merchant every time (if he hasn't run out of business yet), but that also increases your time and communication costs.

b) shopify updates wind control

This happened to one of my stores once. I installed a paid theme (from a certain treasure), and then shopify's internal wind control upgraded, and directly included my store into the fraudulent store, and closed the store. Of course the probability of this is very small, but in order to save so little money, just close the store, really not so much.

Make a good backup of the theme

No matter what way you are trying to do shopify themes, always remember to back up. Especially if you're fumbling around at first it's going to be very painful, and in the event of some plugin incompatibility, or weird bugs causing page failures, there's no place you can start over. The only way to do that is to start over, and by having a backup of your theme, you'll at least be able to ensure that your code, in all aspects, is relatively stable, and that you don't have to start from 0 every time.

I've stepped in quite a few potholes, so I'll give the above advice and reminders for now. For a follow-up breakdown of the renovations, check out Shopify Renovations - 2024 Indie Shopify Tutorial for Beginners (5)!

What to consider when choosing a shopify theme?

The difference between free templates and paid templates was explained earlier.

On a technical level, theme templates not only determine the visual style of your website, but also directly affect the user experience and sales conversion rate. For newbies, I think convenience, security, and economy, the three are preferred. As for brand experience, I think it can be a little bit later.

When choosing a template, novices can refer to the following points to make a comprehensive judgment:

1. simple and easy to use: Newbies often don't have much technical experience, and free templates are easy to use. Paid templates are the ones that provide detailed documentation and an intuitive interface that can help you get started quickly and manage your store efficiently.
2. responsive design: It is very important to make sure that the template displays well on all devices. On the shopify app store and also on the theme selection page, pay attention to the synchronization of all three ends. For themes you get from third-party channels, it's important to chase down whether or not adaptations have been made.
3. functional integration: Consider whether the template supports the core functionality you need. For example, whether the basic functions such as product display, shopping cart, payment integration, etc. are complete. At the same time, whether the template supports commonly used third-party applications and plug-ins, it is best to ask the developer for a list of compatible plug-ins, as well as a detailed look at the theme introduction page. This will affect the ease with which you can extend the store's functionality at a later stage.
4. Speed Optimization: Paid templates have a lot of the pursuit of the ultimate beauty, and do a lot of UI design, big picture rendering, these are very test site optimization, if you do not have this experience for the time being, it is recommended not to consider. Because the page loading speed directly affects the user's residence time and conversion rate. Choose a lightweight, optimized template to ensure that your store will not drag its feet in loading speed.
5. design: Does the design of the template match your brand image? Choosing a template that expresses your brand's personality well while catering to the aesthetics of your target customers will help boost brand recognition and appeal.

For newbies, the most important metrics to consider areusabilitycap (a poem)stability. This will ensure that you can get started with the store quickly and provide a great user experience. If you're just starting out, consider using the "Dawn" template from the official Shopify theme store, which currently supports most plugins and adaptations.

Page Builders (page decoration plug-ins)

When I was writing the article, I found that few people in Chinese search this, but a lot of people in English to retrieve. shopify rich plugin application market, there are some plugins that specialize in doing page modification. For example, the plugin I am using is pagefly.

In fact, there are many similar plug-ins in shopify app store, for example, many people also use shogun, but I personally after trying, I feel that pagefly's page design logic and function will be more in line with my personal habits.

These types of plugin's generally go for a per-use fee, pagefly charges $19.99 a month and you're basically able to customize a lot of things on this.

For both of the above, for a beginner, I'd recommend going straight to pagefly + Dawn default theme to build the site first.

Reason #1: Plugins such as pagefly are almost mandatory.

Even if you use a paid theme, more or less you will still need to use call a pagefly to do some page testing, so this I think is an essential plugin.

Reason #2: Test before you buy a paid theme.

When you've tested it pretty much, then you know what you want, and that's when paying for a theme with features that fulfill your needs would be a slam dunk. Subsequent changes to be made, then you whored out pagefly to get the free version (one page) which I think is basically enough.

Reason 3: The price is more appropriate.

At 19.99 a month, it can't be considered a small amount, but compared to other themes, it's a good value for the money. Usually fast people, 3-6 months to determine the direction with whether to continue to invest. And if you buy a wrong theme, it can cost you ...... really quite a lot. Moreover, you can do some exquisite landing page, this in the paid theme can not be so much can be optimized, can be customized.

Of course, the above is just my advice haha, wealthy bosses, you can ignore my advice and just shop for the theme you want and boldly take every step of your business.