Shopify Tips: 5 Skills That Make Store Creation and Maintenance Easier

If you are like most people who ventured to the world of e-commerce business, you’ve surely gone through those deep thinking and even overthinking stages where you don’t really know what to do. Starting a business that you know less about is something that’s intimidating no matter from which angle you view it from but when it comes to Shopify, you’ll get plenty of help that you’ll need and it’s all thanks to the forums, blogs, and even courses that are published by several influencers and gurus that are aimed at guiding newbies through the overall setup process.

But for every endeavor, it always pays if you’ve got some ready skills that will make the work faster. You will be spending money as you start with your Shopify store and it is but normal that you want to earn it back. That is why in this article, we’re going to talk about some skills that can help lessen the “intimidating” factor when creating a Shopify business and those that will make the process easier overall.

1. Graphic Design Skills

Building your own shop means building your very own product identity. And one of the top identifier of brand is the logo. There are several logo creator applications and websites out there but most would require a monthly subscription or an upfront fee. That is why it would be a great advantage for you if you’ve got that Graphic design skill. Designing logos, editing product pictures, website layout, and many other graphic related tasks will always be there but if you have that graphic design skills, you will surely be on the winning side of the balance.

2. Marketing Skills

It’s easy to use Shopify’s built-in SEO feature as a marketing tool. It doesn’t cost anything after all but if you want to grow and expand much faster then having good marketing skills would be your valuable asset. Imagine writing product descriptions and copies by yourself and even preparing the FAQs and About Page all by your own effort. That is already a big savings for you since you won’t be paying much for hiring those “supposed” experts out there. Marketing can include content marketing, blogs, social media pages, YouTube channels and many more! If you’ve got skills in any of these marketing strategies, everything becomes easier to accomplish.

3. Speaking and Writing Skills

You will be speaking with customers via live chat, email support, or even through video call so having a good speaking and communication skills will be a big plus. But that doesn’t stop there, remember that you will also write emails in case you want to perform email marketing. Speaking and writing always comes together and you will definitely need such skill as you start your own venture. It is also possible to hire a VA but this could come at a later stage, most successful stores didn’t invest that much when they started but rather, they started small and eventually built upon every foundation that is being built slowly but surely.

If you don’t have the budget phone support or any other customer support methods that require voice communication then writing will be of great use for you. Some online stores used Gmail back then for customer support but when customer service apps became available, most stores went into that direction. Customer support apps seamlessly connect and integrate with Shopify to make tracking of orders, syncing of customer information, and many other crucial tasks become automated. We are going to discuss more of this in the next articles.

4. Human Skills

Human skills which are also referred to as “soft skills” are those skills and virtues that make us human. It includes empathy, humility, and adaptability, among others. A business owner needs human skills so he can relate to his customers and be able to respond to their issues and concerns in a caring way. These skills will also be crucial when going through any hiring decisions in order to expand the workforce. Human skills ensure that your business is building up a very good reputation. Customer perception also matters because it builds trust and confidence to your brand.

Human skills give your brand or product that all-important identity which customers would tend to relate with. It gives them the idea at how you deal with them and what your business and work ethic is as a business owner and your business being a reflection of you. Most successful businesses capitalize on human skills and some even embody their brand identity in their motto. Shopify for instance would always say “Making e-commerce easy for everyone”.

5. Creative Skills

Being creative is imperative for any business especially that which sells online and targets customers from around the world. Creativeness adds that sugar and spice that makes your business fit for every taste that people of every race might have.

Creativity would not only apply to the appearance of your product and its features but also on how you describe it within your product descriptions and how you design your website as well as every page on it. This ensures that everything appears vibrant and attractive while being informative and friendly at the same time.

Being creative also means finding ways and means to get your brand or product’s message to your target customers in a variety of ways. For instance, you can either make product descriptions to show the benefits in using your product instead of just laying out the features in a bullet format. You can even create content that shows what type of exciting experience customers would enjoy if they choose to use your product or brand.

There are brands that create funny commercials and most of them become big hits no matter where that commercial is published. Creativity should always be integrated with every marketing effort that you employ for your business.

Don’t just follow the usual and boring strategies of traditional “spray and pray” public advertising but instead, be creative and find ways to entertain and inform at the same time. Appeal to your customer’s imagination and logical thought processes and you’re sure to set that uniqueness among your competitors.

People are already fed up with the boring “this is me, I am the best” type of brand messages. They want something better. They want something that’s unique. Find a way to get in tune with that thought process and you’re sure to make it to greater successes!

Bonus Skills for Growth and Development

As you can see, there are several skills that will truly help in growing your Shopify business and it’s a big bonus for you if you already have some if not all of them. Having the skills that we’ve listed above is a blessing and you need to use it by all means especially if you are just starting up and are still low on budget and financial resources. It is always a good idea to hire Virtual Assistants for any task that is related to the skills we’ve given above but you need to be as hands-on as possible to ensure that your brand or product identity is preserved.

Maintaining a business is like raising a child; it gets and picks up what you feed to it. Your business will always tend to reflect who you are or who you want it to be so monitor things closely and apply your own personal touch whenever possible. By doing so, you will enjoy every single day that you need to manage it and further develop it as a venture.

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