Tools & Apps to Build a Successful Online Business
FEATURED SPOTLIGHT
Q: Are you opening a retail/online store soon, or opened one recently (in the past year)?
Q: Do you sell items for the home, gifts, apparel, beauty, pets, or books?
If yes, you should take a look at Faire.com - your one-stop shop for all wholesale buying. You will save money with low order minimums, 60-day payment terms, free shipping on thousands of brands, and free returns on opening orders.
Here's a list of faves based on client results and our own experience. We love to share what works! Disclosure: We only recommend products we would use ourselves or recommend to our clients. All opinions expressed here are our own. This page may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission.
Store Setup | Product Customization | Store Operations | SEO | Email & SMS Marketing
Boost Sales | Sales Channels | Measure for Success
SUCCESSFUL SHOPIFY STORE SETUP
Congrats on selecting Shopify to build your eCommerce business! The resources below will help set you up for success - branding, theme selection, make your website accessible and back up all of your hard work. Don't have Shopify yet? Sign up for your free trial today!
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Our #1 Favorite Shopify Theme
Get "Be Yours" Theme ($320)Unlimited mobile-first design possibilities, speed-tested and Shopify approved, built-in marketing capabilities, and more. Great theme support. We use this theme for our website. ;)
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Our #2 Favorite Shopify Theme
Get "Concept" Theme ($250)Unlimited mobile-first design possibilities, speed-tested and Shopify approved, built-in marketing capabilities, and more. Great theme support. Contact us for additional benefits.
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AI Business Name Generator
Namelix (free)We tested quite a few and this one is our favorite. Try different keywords and synonyms for best results.
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Professional Email Address
Get Google Workspaces ($7+/mo)You should always have an email address with your domain. It looks more professional and your email will have a better chance of not ending up in the Junk folder!!
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Accessibility App for Shopify
Get AccessiBe ($49+/mo)Avoid lawsuits and ensure everyone is able to enjoy your website , regardless of ability! WCAG and ADA compliant..
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Translate Your Store
Get Weglot (free+)Instantly sell in new markets by translating your store with Weglot. No duplicate websites. Fast, simple integration..
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Collect International Duty & Tax
Get Zonos ($2,500/yr)Grow your business globally. Avoid abandoned carts and rejected packages. Let them pay duties, taxes, & fees up front.
STORE OPERATIONS
It's important to always work smarter not harder while also providing excellent customer service. Here you will find some tools to help you with that.
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AI Customer Service w/Chat
Get Tidio (Free+)Convert more leads, provide stellar support, live chat (including social), see pages being browsed, and much more..
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Pick & Pack Quickly
Get OrderlyPrint ($29+/mo)Pick, pack, print shipping documents, export orders and send tracking info to customers, for hundreds of orders at a time..
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Backup Your Shopify Store
Get Rewind App ($9+/mo)Rewind provides account-level backups of your Shopify store - including all of the data and content you have built into it..
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Omnichannel Helpdesk App
Get Gorgias ($10+/mo)True omnichannel customer management including SMS, phone, live chat, FB and IG comments and DMs, all in one place..
IMAGES + LOGOS + VIDEOS
Every website needs professional branding, images and videos. Here are a few tools that will make it easier , faster and fun!
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Branding Color Guide
View the Guide (free)Get some ideas for your brand and logo colors by understanding how it connects to the emotion of your customers.
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Speed Up Site + Compress Images
Get Tiny Img ($14+/mo)Make your Shopify store faster in One Click! Slash your page size by optimizing images without sacrificing quality.
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Online Graphics Creation & Editing
Get Canva Pro ($13/mo)Easy-to-use image editing features, thousands of custom templates and stock images, background remover, and more!.
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AI-Powered Logo Maker
Get Looka App ($20+)Quick and affordable way to create a beautiful brand. Generate tons of unique logo options that you can customize in an easy-to-use editor..
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Logo/Branding Design on a Budget
Go to 99Designs ($299+)The creative platform for custom graphic design: logos and more. Hire a talented designer or start a design contest..
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Favicon Generator
Go to favicon.io (free)Keep the design simple so it looks good at a small size and has a transparent background. Can be used for GMC square logo too.
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AI Video Creation
Go to Synthesia ($30/mo)Great for how-to and product videos. Generate your script with ChatGPT-like prompts, easily customize the video, share/download/embed your video..
PRODUCT CUSTOMIZATION
You may need to either add product options for your custom or personalized products or edit many products at once, here are some recommended apps to help you.
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Create Custom Products
Get G-Variants (free+)Build custom products with options including dropdowns, calendar, file upload, swatches, button, checkbox & more.
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Deliver Digital Products
Get Digital Downloads Pro (free+)Deliver digital products easily, including books, pdfs, video, music, license keys and software..
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Size Chart Builder
RT Size Chart Builder (free)A tool to add useful size chart tables on your product pages. Limitless custom size chart creation. Available as a popup.
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Easily Edit Multiple Products
Get Bulk Product Edit (free+)Very powerful editing capabilities. Easily bulk edit (even metafields). Schedule updates! Select the app from the dropdown..
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Accept Donations
Get DonateMate (free+)Allows your customers to make custom donations throughout your Shopify store, including POS and post-checkout.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
SEO should be one of your top priorities since it will explain to Google (using relevant keywords) what each web page is about and when done right will also make your SEO results irresistible to your potential customers.
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Learn How to Implement SEO
View How-To ArticleFollow these guidelines to improve your site’s organic search engine (like Google) rankings. Higher rankings usually translate to more website visitors.
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Discover What People Are Asking
Go to Answer The Public (free+)A goldmine of consumer insight you can use to create fresh, ultra-useful content, products and services. The kind your customers really want.
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Create On-Brand AI Content
Get Jasper AI (free trial)Train Jasper on your style guide, products, company facts, and brand identity in a matter of moments. Create content for your blog, social media, website, and more!.
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Grow Your Organic Traffic
Go to Semrush (free+)All-in-one tool. Do SEO, content marketing, competitor research, PPC and social marketing from one platform..
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Keyword Research Tool
Go to Google Trends (free)Keyword research tool to understand keyword search volume, identify seasonal trends, find trending topics, & more.
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Super Charge Google Trends
Glimpse Trends or Reports (free+)Discover trends before they’re trending. Glimpse tracks every topic across the internet to identify growing trends..
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Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (free)Reach your customers via Google, increase your visibility on Google, gain credibility with reviews, and control your business information.
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Apple Business Connect
Apple Business Connect (free)Connect with customers and manage your information such as business location, business hours, contact information, photos, and reviews.
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How to Write a Blog Post
YouTube How-To Video (free)Learn how to write a blog post - from start to finish. Neil Patel shares his formula for a perfect blog post. Drive more organic traffic to your website.
EMAIL & SMS MARKETING
Email and SMS marketing is still one of the best ROIs (return on investment) for your business to encourage visitors to become customers and bring customers back to buy more.
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Encourage Email Sign Ups
Get Email Collection Bar (free+)Grow your list easily with an email collection bar at the top of your website. Email is still one of the best ROIs..
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Replace Ugly Shopify Notifications
Get Orderly Emails App ($99/yr)No coding knowledge required! Easily replace your ugly, boring Shopify notification emails with beautiful emails..
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Email & SMS Marketing with Klaviyo
Get Klaviyo (free+)Full-featured platform. Send automated email and SMS sequences based on the visitor/customer interaction with your brand..
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Spam Trigger Words To Avoid
View Free ResourcesKeep your emails out of your customer's spam folder. Spam trigger words to avoid or reduce in your subject line in an easy list.
BOOST SALES
There are several different methods to increase your sales, conversions and AOV (average order value). Here are some apps to help you with that.
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eCommerce Marketing Apps
Get eCom Marketing Apps (free+)Get a data-driven action plan to boost your sales. Analyze your competitors, find new products, and more..
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Customer Reviews
Get Judge.Me (free+)Product and site reviews including photo, video and Q&A. Great for social proof and boosts SEO. Connect to GMC.
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Customer Wishlist
Get Wishlist Plus (free+)Full-featured & mobile optimized. Drive traffic & sales with personalized email & social campaigns based on activity.
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Loyalty & Rewards
Get Smile.io (free+)Turn your customers into repeat purchasers by creating a powerful rewards program. Keep your brand top of mind.
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Back In Stock Alerts
Get Restock Rocket App (free+)Automatically sends back in stock alerts when you restock & helps you increase sales! Add your "Notify me" button now!
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Convert More Visitors
Get Vitals App (7-day free trial)Convert more visitors into customers, create upsell & cross-sell campaigns, capture email addresses without popups and more..
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Push Urgency, Trust & More
Ultimate Sales Boost App (free+)Increase sales with urgency, countdown timer, trust, BOGO, trust badges, promos, and more. Select app from the dropdown..
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Subscription & Autoship
Get Recharge App (30-day free trial)Give your shoppers more options and increase your customer lifetime value (CTV) by offering subscriptions. Easy setup.
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AI Customer Journey Personalization
Get ReBuy App (21-day free trial)Upsells, cross-sells and merchandising. Build engagement with post-purchase, re-order landing pages, and smart links..
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Thank You Page UpSell & CrossSell
Get ReConvert (30-day free trial)Custom thank you page with upsells, cross-sells, pop-ups, upsell product recommendations, and urgency timers.
SALES CHANNELS
There are different sales channels to consider depending on your niche and where your best-fit customers can be found. Feel free to experiment with any of the channels below.
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List Products in Google Search & Ads
Google Merchant Center (free)Add your brand alongside the Google search results when someone is searching for your products. Requires feed app.
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Submit Products to GMC
Shopify Google Sales Channel (free)Sync your products to Google Merchant Center, list products for free on Search, YouTube and more.
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Sell on Amazon, eBay, Google, Walmart
Shopify Marketplace Connect (free+)Create, manage and sync product listings, keep inventory and product details in sync, receive and fulfill orders directly in Shopify.
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Your Own Branded Mobile App
Get Vajro (30-day free trial)Deliver an amazing shopping experience for your customers with a mobile app that looks and works exactly how you want it to..
MEASURE FOR SUCCESS
If you aren't measuring the results of your marketing efforts, you are just guessing - which means you are losing money and slowing down your business growth. Here are some tools to help you analyze your marketing so you can do more of what's working.
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AI-Powered Dashboard
eComm Boardroom ($14+/mo)* Highly Recommended * Efficiently connect, visualize, and analyze your data to make better business decisions..
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Google Analytics - GA4
Google Analytics (free)The more you track, the better you can understand what's working. Evaluate conversion rates, sales channels, ROI, etc.
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How-To Set Up Google Analytics
How-To Set Up GA (free)Here's the step-by-step process to setup and connect Google Analytics with your Shopify store.
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Measure & Monitor Google Search
Google Search Console (free)Tools and reports help you measure your site's Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and do well in Google Search results.
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Monitor Website User Actions
Get Hotjar (30-day free trial)Very insightful. Understand how users behave on your site, what they need, etc Heatmaps, recordings & more..