How to make a Shopify website

How do you set up the shop, step by step?

You set up an account, then work through the shop from the admin dashboard. The order below suits most small UK shops. Product photos and descriptions take the longest.

1. Choose a plan that fits how much you sell and how many staff need to log in.
2. Pick a theme, then add your logo, colours and fonts.
3. Add your products: titles, photos, prices, sizes and stock.
4. Turn on card payments.
5. Set your delivery rates and the places you send to.
6. Set whether your prices include VAT.
7. Connect your own domain name.
8. Write your about, contact, delivery, returns and privacy pages.
9. Place a test order, fix what you find, then open the shop.

How long does a first online shop take?

Plan for about 35 to 80 hours for a first shop with a small range of products. A large catalogue takes far longer. These are our planning figures for someone doing it the first time, not a promise.

• Planning your range, prices and delivery rules: 3 to 6 hours.
• Account, plan, theme and branding: 4 to 8 hours.
• Taking, editing and resizing product photos: 8 to 20 hours.
• Writing product titles and descriptions, with prices and variants: 10 to 25 hours.
• Payments, delivery and tax settings: 3 to 6 hours.
• Shop pages and legal information: 4 to 8 hours.
• Domain, test orders and fixes: 3 to 7 hours.

After launch, a shop needs weekly attention. You add products, update stock and offers, answer orders and keep apps working. A plain business website needs less, as our guide to making a website yourself shows.

Rather have it done for you? We build your website free, it goes live in days, and you pay nothing for the first 14 days. No card needed. See how the free 14-day trial works.

What skills do you need to run an online shop?

You need product photography, sales copy, shop settings and a working knowledge of UK selling rules. Few owners have all four. Weak photos or unclear delivery terms cost you sales before anyone reaches the checkout.

• Photography: clear, consistent product photos on a plain background.
• Copywriting: product descriptions that answer what buyers ask before they pay.
• Shop settings: payments, delivery zones, tax and stock.
• Search engine optimisation (SEO): product titles and descriptions that match how people search.
• UK selling rules: what you must tell buyers before they order, and how cancellations work.
• VAT: knowing when you must register.

Before a customer orders, UK rules for online selling say you must give your business name, contact details and address, and prices including all taxes. You must also tell customers they can cancel up to 14 days after delivery. You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000.

Would you rather have your shop built for you?

Buzzozo builds websites and online shops for UK businesses, and our team looks after them once they are live. You tell us what you sell and who buys it. We do the design, the words and the set-up.

Start with your website. We build your website free for 14 days, with no card needed and no contract. Tell us about your products on the ten-minute call, and we will quote your online shop before any work on it begins. Our web design service shows what we build.

A Buzzozo managed website includes fast green UK hosting, security monitoring, daily backups and updates. The Website plan is from £149 a month. That founding price is for the first 100 businesses and is kept for life. After that, the plan is from £299 a month. An online shop is quoted separately. You can cancel any time. Your site comes with an AI chat assistant that answers visitors' questions around the clock and captures enquiries while you work. Selling only a few items? Our guide to building a small business website may be all you need.

If you do not need a shop, read how to make a website with WordPress. For a single offer you advertise, see how to make a landing page that gets enquiries.

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