When was the last time you gave your website some love?
No matter where you’re at in the process: whether you have no clue where to start, slapped something up quick (and if you’re being honest, it’s not the best), or thinking it’s time for a revamp, you need to ask yourself if your online boutique is working for you and making your customers want to keep coming back for more.
I mean, that’s the goal, isn’t it? (but if it’s not, maybe it’s time to reevaluate your goals...but that’s a convo for another day)
IF YOU’RE FEELING A TAD UNSURE GIRL, DON’T WORRY. HERE ARE 3 MUST HAVES FOR YOUR ONLINE BOUTIQUE:
1. A Bad-A** Brand
Girl, I will say this til I’m blue in the face: your brand needs to pop! First, your customers need to know why they should shop with YOU and not one of the 1000s of other boutiques online. So share your story and your mission and don’t be shy about it!
Does your brand have a personality or does it fall flat? Are you using stock photos or are your own photos helping tell your customers your brand story? Your brand needs to be infused throughout your entire customer journey - from start to finish. Pay close attention to every detail from the first time they discover you to the final thank you email.
If you want to dive deeper into your branding, you can grab my Bad A** Brand checklist here.
2. A Great Theme
That brand you just made pop? Yeah that’s a key player here. Choosing a theme is an easy concept but can be hard to visualize. Take your time to explore the themes and their layouts and see how they function. Just a reminder, themes don’t come with the pretty pictures that you see, that’s all you boo.
I recommend Out of the Sandbox for Shopify themes.
Here are two of my favorites:
3. An Easy To Navigate Menu
Let's chat about your menu and collections! You definitely don’t want your main menu too cluttered or all of your product housed in too few categories either (or even worse, just one category, which I’ve also seen several times)!
I recommend having only (about) 3-6 main categories on your actual menu, and then those can drop down into sub-categories.
So, if you had to pick only 3-6 main categories, what would they be? Now, do any of those need sub-categories (and while I don't think nearly empty categories are a good idea, you also don't want to oversimplify, so be concise but also realistic if you do have a large catalog), and what would those sub-categories be?
Now you want to make sure that you have all the collections created that you need so that you can build your new menu (or adjust your old). We recommend using automated collections, based on tag, with the rule added to each collection: ‘inventory must be greater than 0.’ This rule will ensure out of stock items are removed immediately from those collections and aren’t cluttering your website leaving your customer wishing for your out of stock items instead of snagging what IS still in stock.
Lastly, make sure you’ve got an ‘About’ on your menu that drops-down to the basic necessities: a great about page (get personal girl, but alas, a convo for another day), a contact us page, a shipping & returns page - and if you want to take it a step further, a sizing chart page or meet the models page too.
If this made you totally overwhelmed, or you realize now that you’re website is, in fact, a hot mess, but DIY is your thang, we’ve got you!
Join our go-at-your-own-pace Website workshop, where you will learn how to set up your boutique on Shopify and don’t worry--you’ll have access to my team and I for support as you work through everything (we encourage you to ask any questions that pop-up or ask for feedback - in the Facebook group).
