How to Find the Right Shopify Expert to Build Your Online Store?

When you start an online store, there are a lot of moving parts to analyze, plan, and set up. In times when consumers are choosing to shop online, it’s become more important than ever to start an online store. But starting an online store isn’t just about setting up a website. There’s a lot that goes into analyzing the market, setting up the products online, marketing and selling them, and establishing a name for your brand in the market. 

Whether you’re a solopreneur or a small team, things can go from exciting to overwhelming all too soon. That’s where Shopify experts come in. 

In this article, we’re sharing all about who these Shopify experts are, why and when should you start looking for them, and how to choose the right expert who can actually help your business grow. 

Why hire Shopify experts?

When just starting out, it is easy to underestimate the amount of work that goes into an online business. You may think hiring a few designers, developers and marketers is enough to get your site online and thriving. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. There are many decisions to be made at that start that can affect your company long term. You need to form a solid plan, strategize the best way to complete tasks promptly, and actually execute that plan to completion. To hire a Shopify expert with experience who will stick to your plan and help it thrive is a huge undertaking. You will need time to screen potential hires, go through onboarding, and take time for the actual training process. When you are just starting out, you don’t have room for errors. Hiring one bad employee can, unfortunately, sink your ship. That’s why companies trust Shopify expert services to get them off the ground.

Work Quality

Shopify experts are professionals that are dedicated to their work. They aim at working at a pace so that you can have the maximum number of satisfied customers.

If you want to customize your online store or boost your sales with the help of effective digital marketing strategies, Shopify experts are the ones having enough experience.

Save Your Time & Efforts

You can’t be ‘Jack of All Trades’. Different experts take different amounts of time for the completion of a task. When you hire a Shopify team of experts, you can count on them for boosting your sales while you can focus on growing your business.

Improved Customer Experience

Shopify experts mostly lead to the evolution of your strategies based on their data and their years of experience. When you convey the demands of your customers to the experts, it helps to accomplish a job in a customer-oriented manner. Therefore, enhancing the user experience of your customers.

Ongoing advice

Shopify experts hold your hands, they remain available for you 24*7 for as long as you want them to be. Hence, you get continuous support and coordination which prevents you from getting stuck at any point in time. This is a great way to keep updating your Shopify services and grow your business.

By bringing on a Shopify expert, you are giving your business the experience it needs to hit the ground running. Generally, experts will listen to your needs and use their years of experience to help you reach your goals.

What to look for in a Shopify developer?

Any Shopify developer worth their salt should be using version control, have extensive knowledge of the platform’s API, and have a great understanding of PHP and JavaScript.

Apart from these essentials, you should also try to find a developer that has:

Excellent communication skills

You want to be able to know what the status of your project is at any time. Avoid unresponsive developers that take days or weeks to respond to your messages. 

A good developer will let you know what you can expect to be accomplished over the next week or month, as well as set milestones and create a timeline.

An amazing portfolio

Your developer’s portfolio should be filled with plenty of Shopify projects, preferably for eCommerce businesses in your industry. Take some time to check out the websites in their portfolio, and note down anything you liked or disliked about them. 

Check the website’s load speed, functionality, and accessibility features.

Testimonials from satisfied customers

Look for developers that have a decent number of testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers. If a developer has testimonials from businesses in your industry, that’s even better.

‍A post-development support plan

Even if a developer sets up your website correctly, a variety of different problems can occur down the road. 

Since your developer will have the greatest understanding of how your website works, you’ll want them to be available for maintenance and support after they’ve finished the project.

Where can you look for Shopify experts?

Shopify Experts directory

Shopify Meetups

• Upwork
• Toptal
• Clutch.co

Red Flags to Look Out For With A Shopify Development Company

If the Shopify Agency takes a longer time than usual to get back to you at the beginning of the project, assume that they’ll probably be slow throughout the journey.

What tools do they use to handle the project? Are they going to bombard you with 20 emails every day? Or do they have a project management tool like Basecamp, Zendesk, or something similarly professional? When a Shopify developer has a tool like this, it shows that they have done a lot of projects and take your business seriously.

Do they have professional-looking email addresses? If they are operating from a normal email provider, like Gmail, this is a dead giveaway that they are a freelancer, and probably offering their services on Upwork and other job sites. It’s very unlikely that you’re going to get a high-quality Shopify developer that doesn’t have their own, established business.

Key Takeaways

When starting out, bringing the right people onto your team makes all the difference in the world. One lazy employee can make your business fall flat, while a great employee can make it shine. Hire a Shopify expert and take the risk out of that coin flip. Experts bring a level of maturity to a new company, so you can rise to the level of success you have always dreamed of.