Shopify Store Maintenance Checklist

Launching a new eCommerce store is exciting and daunting at the same time. You’ve got to eliminate friction points and draw people in with a great user experience.

Fixing a website crash or a security breach takes a lot of time and money — losing clients in the meantime is even worse. Luckily, consistent Shopify maintenance can prevent those catastrophes from happening.

1. Update Your Theme

Shopify updates can improve your store’s functionality, increase conversions and provide a better user experience. This is why it is important to stay up-to-date on all available updates to your theme, plugins, and other tools that you use for your store. During these updates, there is an opportunity to clean up any custom code that you have added to your site. Keeping your store updated can also help prevent bugs from occurring, which could otherwise lead to a decreased user experience and loss of revenue.

Another aspect of your shop’s maintenance is optimizing for search engines. This is essential for getting more traffic to your website and increasing sales. A well-optimized website includes title tags, meta descriptions, keywords, and other important content. You can easily optimize your website for search engines by using plugins and apps that are available on the Shopify platform.

It is also a good idea to regularly perform an audit of your store’s apps and uninstall any that you no longer use. This can reduce the overall load time of your site and improve performance.

A website that loads slowly will negatively impact a customer’s shopping experience and can result in lost revenue. Regular website speed optimization services can be provided to ensure that your site is fast and responsive, which will help improve customer satisfaction and boost conversion rates.

Finally, it is important to regularly monitor your site for security issues and address any potential breaches in a timely manner. This will help minimize the risk of data theft and protect your customers’ privacy. It is recommended to conduct a security review at least once per year to identify and fix any vulnerabilities in your Shopify store.

You should also consider implementing a maintenance mode feature on your website to allow you to make changes without disrupting your visitors. This is an easy process and can be done by going to your admin dashboard and clicking on the “Maintenance Mode” card. From there, you can enable maintenance mode and customize the layout of your custom maintenance page. You can also use a password to protect your site while it is in maintenance mode.

2. Optimize Your Site for Mobile

A website that is not optimized for mobile users can be a big turn-off to potential customers. The last thing they want to do is click on a link that takes forever to load, doesn’t show up properly, or is otherwise frustrating to use. When this happens, people simply navigate away from the site and may never return.

Adding a mobile version of your website is not only important to make sure your website visitors have an optimal experience, but it’s also important to rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs). Google and other search engines like websites that are fast, follow SEO best practices and regularly update with fresh content.

Another way to optimize your website for mobile is to make sure your page titles and meta tags are properly crafted. This is especially true for e-commerce stores, as they need to be highly relevant to the products and services that they are offering.

Finally, it’s important to keep your product images and descriptions updated as your business evolves or as the market changes. This will help your potential customers understand what products are available and how they are priced.

When it comes to your Shopify store, a little maintenance goes a long way. Taking the time to spot and patch security issues, speed up your website, and refresh your content can save you both time and money in the long run. Plus, it will make your customers much more likely to stop by and purchase something.

The most effective way to keep your Shopify site looking its best is to use a reputable and reliable partner that offers comprehensive technical maintenance solutions. This ensures that all of the ins and outs of your e-commerce business are studied and addressed, all data is handled with the highest level of privacy and security, and your website is always ready to serve your customers. If you’re not already working with a partner that can offer this, contact us to learn more about our Shopify technical maintenance solutions and how we can help keep your business running smoothly.

3. Optimize Your Site for Search Engines

In order to attract and retain customers, your online store needs to be optimized for search engines. Search engines look at a variety of factors when ranking websites, including site speed, mobile-friendliness, and user experience. Having a well-optimized website can help your website rank higher in organic search results, leading to more traffic and sales.

A good Shopify SEO strategy will focus on optimizing all the elements of your online store, from product descriptions and titles to alt tags and image sizing. It will also include creating unique and high-quality content for your blog, shopping guides, and other page content.

You should also use a tool to analyze your backlinks, such as Semrush or Ahrefs. These tools will let you know which links are helping or hurting your SEO efforts and will allow you to make the necessary changes.

Another way to improve your Shopify website’s SEO is by using schema markup. This is code that tells search engines and web crawlers what your content means. By adding this code, you can give your content more authority and increase its relevance in search engine results.

Optimizing your store for search engines can be a time-consuming process, but it is essential to the success of your eCommerce business. It is important to keep up with the latest trends and changes in SEO and to implement new strategies as needed.

Having an outdated website can be a big turnoff for potential customers. They may think that you are no longer in business or that your products and services have become obsolete. To avoid this, you should have a maintenance schedule in place that includes regular updates and optimizations.

If you are having trouble maintaining your eCommerce website, consider hiring a professional to take over these tasks. These experts will be able to handle everything from manual theme code reviews and Google Lighthouse reports to content optimizations, ensuring that your online store continues to perform at its best. They will also be able to provide you with a comprehensive report that outlines the specific areas of your website that need improvement.

4. Schedule Regular Maintenance

Just like a brick-and-mortar store needs to clean its windows or fix faulty appliances, an eCommerce website requires regular maintenance as well. If a simple issue isn’t addressed quickly, it can have a negative impact on your online business.

For example, if your signup form isn’t functioning properly, it may cause potential customers to get frustrated and leave the site. This can lead to lost clients and revenue for your company. Regular Shopify website maintenance helps identify and resolve these issues before they become larger problems.

By scheduling regular maintenance, you can ensure that your site is running smoothly and delivering the best possible experience for your visitors. By keeping your website up-to-date and fully optimized, you can attract more visitors and increase your chances of conversions. And while it might seem like a lot of work, it’s worth it, in the long run, to make sure that your website is performing at its best. If you’re unsure of where to start or need help getting your site up-to-date, you can always reach out to companies that provide Shopify support services to get the job done right. They can create a plan for you that will keep your site healthy and engaging, so you can continue to grow your business.

Shopify Development Trends: Most Shopify store owners focus on their digital marketing alongside their web development. Keeping up with the cutting-edge Shopify Apps in ensuring a frictionless checkout for their online store, with additional tools to fill the Shopping Cart. Online shopping continues to grow year-over-year as the user experience improves with tailored customer service practices. Behind the scenes, are Shopify partners such as TheGenieLab. We are helping business owners and shopkeepers to drive continuous improvements through digital marketing services. Furthermore, they are providing Web Development in Shopify, BigCommerce, and other eCommerce store architectures. If you need a hand in any aspect of eCommerce, feel free to reach out to us at wish@thegenielab.com