How To Start Your Own Shopify Dropshipping Store in UNDER 20 MINUTES (Beginners Guide)

Trying to figure out how to start and make your own Shopify store from scratch, can be confusion. However, in today’s guide we take all the confusion out of the process and how you step-by-step everything you’ll need to do to have your own dropshipping store ready to go.

The benefit of having your own dropshipping store is that you can sell whatever products you want. Once you have your store set up with products to sell, you can then promote your store and products on places like Instagram or Facebook.

This is a great method for making some money on the side and it’s the reason so many people are starting their own stores.

Let’s Get Started!

You can get started for free, get your store all setup and make sure you’re happy with it before paying any money.

Just follow the step by step instructions below, and by the end of this tutorial, you’ll have your store all setup and ready to go.

Step 1 – Signup for Free using Free Trial

The first step is to sign up using your preferred email address. This will begin the process of setting up your account.

Click here for a 14-Day free trial to Shopify.

You’ll want to enter you email address, a password and finally choose your store name. If your store name has already been chosen by someone else, Shopify will let you know.

Then you will click “Create your store”

Step 2 – Tell A Little About Yourself

Here you’ll want to choose the following selections from the dropdown menus:

• I’m not selling products yet
• Yes, I have product and I’ll be ready to launch in a few weeks
• 0$, I’m just getting started
• Leave “Are you setting up a store for a client?” unchecked

Then click “Next”

Step 3 – Add Your Address

Next you’ll want to enter in your name, address and phone number. If you happen to have a business address, you can use that (otherwise you can use your home address).

And if you have a website you want to include you can enter that as well (but it’s not necessary)

Then click “Enter my store”

Step 4 – Navigate to Your Online Store

Now that you’re signed up, you’ll be taken to the Shopify dashboard.

On the left-hand side of the screen, you’ll want to click on “Online Store”

This will take you to your Online Store Dashboard which will be the backend of your store.

Step 5 – Choose Your Free Theme

After clicking “Online Store” you’ll be taken to your Online Store Dashboard (which is the backend of your store).

If you’d like to choose a specific free theme, then you can do so by clicking on the “Explore free themes” button located near the bottom, on the right-hand side of your screen.

However, if you don’t have a preference or aren’t sure which theme to pick. I recommend going with the most popular theme (the current default theme) which is called “Debut.”

NOTE Regarding Disable Password:

If you would like to remove or “Disable Password” you’ll be able to do that as soon as you choose a Shopify plan to use when your free trial ends. Plans currently start at $29/mo. (which is what I recommend starting with).

You won’t actually be charged until your free trial ends (or if you decide Shopify isn’t right for you you can cancel anytime before your free trial ends and you won’t be billed anything).

Step 6 – Begin Customizing Your Store

You’ll start by clicking the “Customize” button.

This will take you to your theme dashboard where we will spend a majority of our time customizing the visuals of your store.

At the very top (center) of your screen, you’ll notice three icons. The icon on the far left will show you what your store will look like on a mobile device. Select the icon in the middle and it will show you how your store will display on a desktop display. And if you click the far left icon, it will show you a full-width (widescreen computer) display of what your store looks like.

So if your planning on marketing your store primarily through Instagram or mobile apps, then you’ll want to select the icon on the far left. This will give you the “mobile” layout which is people will be seeing when they’re on their phone.

But for this guide, we’ll be focusing on and using the desktop layout (the middle icon).

Step 7 – Customize Your Favicon

To do this, we’ll start by selecting “Theme Settings” on the upper-left side of your screen.

Then you’ll want to click on “Favicon”

A favicon (pronounced “fav-ih-con”) is a small, iconic image (often your logo) that represents your website. Favicons are most often found in the address bar of your web browser

After clicking “Favicon” you’ll be taken to the page where you can upload your image.

Click on “Select image” and then select the image (logo, etc.) you’d like to use for your Favicon. You can of course change this later at anytime if you change your mind. You can also just pick something generic for the time being (such as a flower or price tag, etc.)

Ideally you want to select an image that’s related to your store (which is why logos are commonly used). So if you’re selling products for cats, you could find a generic photo of a cat or cartoon type image of a cat to use.

You can also select “Explore free image” if you’d like to search for a free image provided by Shopify.

Once you’ve selected and uploaded your image, you’ll see a check mark at the bottom right of your image to let you know it was successful.

Then at the bottom (left-side) of your screen, you’ll want to click “Select” which will cause this image to be saved as your Favicon.

Finally, you’ll want to click the ‘back’ or ‘left-arrow’ which is at the top-left of your screen (to the left of the word ‘Favicon’).

Step 8 – Customize Your Header

Next we’ll start to edit your header.

Start by clicking on “Sections” (located on the upper-left side of your screen).

And then you’ll want to click on “Header”

The next step is to click “select image”

I recommend using the same image you used for your ‘Favicon’ but you can upload a new or different image if you like.

Click on the image you wish to use. Then you’ll see a check mark appear at the bottom right of the image.

Then you can click the “Select” button at the bottom left side of the page.

Now if you like, you can adjust the size of your logo using the slider (Custom logo width) over on the left-hand side of the your screen.

The default setting is 100px, but I’m going to change the size to 85px.

Step 9 – Create Your Announcement

If you don’t have anything you want to announce yet, you can alway come back and do this step later.

But otherwise, while in the Header section, over on the left had side you can ‘check’ the box that says “Show announcement.” This will cause an ‘announcement bar’ to appear at the top of your screen.

The over on the left-hand side again, you’ll see the word “Text” and below that you can write what you’d like your announcement to say.

I’m going to use the phrase: “50% Off For A Limited Time!”

If you’d like to make your phrase a hyperlink (so when they click on your text it will take them to a different page), you can include a link in the ‘link box’ below the word “Link.”

Also, if you’d like to change your header color, you can click the color bar and choose a different color to use.

Finally, click the “Save” button in the upper-right side of the page.

And then click the ‘back arrow’ which is located to the left of the word ‘Header” at the upper left-hand side of the page. This will take you back to the ‘Sections’ area.

Step 10 – Working With The Modules

Now we’ll start getting into the actual modular portion of Shopify.

There are basically 4 different elements (sections or modules) Shopify provides to start.

• Featured collection
• Image with text overlay
• Image with text
• Slideshow

If you move your cursor over the 2 rows of 6 dots, you can click and select a module and drag it above or below the other modules.

Or if you click on the ‘eye’ icon you can hide any of these modules from view.

And if you click “Add section” you can add additional modules or sections you’d like to use.

We’ll just be working with the original 4 for now, but feel free to see if there’s any other sections or modules you’d like to add to your store.

Step 11 – Edit Image with text overlay

Here we’re going to start editing the “Image with text overlay module.”

Go ahead and and click on it (located at the left-hand side of the screen).

Then you’ll want to click on the “Select image” button.

Next you’ll click on “Upload” to upload whichever image you’d like to use from your computer.

Or select “Free images” if you’d like to see what’s available from Spotify to use.

If you don’t like how your image looks, you can upload a different one or look for something different among the Free Images on Shopify.

Once you have the image you like, click on the “Select” button at the bottom left of the page.

You can start by typing in the ‘Heading’ box over on the left side to whatever you’d like your caption to say.

Then you can do the same thing for the text box as well.

If you’d like to adjust things like ‘Section height’ or ‘Text size’ you can, but I like the way it looks using the default settings.

If you’d like to add a ‘clickable’ button to this image, you can click on “Button Link” then select “Products” and then select ‘All Products.’

Then type whatever word you’d like to use in the ‘Button Label’ box. I’m going to use the word “Explore.”

Now you have a clickable button on this image which will take people to your products page.

NOTE : You can edit your button color over in your Theme Settings page if you wish.

Once you’re done, go ahead and click the “Save” button over in the upper right-hand side of your screen.

Then click the ‘back arrow’ which is located at the top left part of the page.

Now you’ll be back at the ‘Sections’ area again.

Step 12 – Edit Featured Collection

Select “Featured Collection” from the left-hand side.

Since we haven’t added any products yet, there are not any products yet for us to add.

But I recommend changing the ‘Products per row’ to 4 instead of 3. Just adjust the slider which is over on the left-hand side of your screen.

This way the viewing experience still looks good for mobile users and it spreads your products out a little more evenly for desktop users.

Once you’ve done that click “Save.”

Then click the back arrow (upper-left area of your screen) to go back to the “Sections” area.

Step 13 – Edit Image with Text

From the “Sections” area, go ahead and click on Image with Text.”

Then click on “Select image” and then click “Upload.”

Once you’ve uploaded or found the image you want to use, go ahead and click the “Select” button (at the bottom left of your page).

Then you can edit the actual Heading to say what you’d like along with the Text below the heading as well. Use the ‘Heading’ and ‘Text’ boxes over on the left-hand side to make whatever changes you’d like.

Note: If you’d like to add button here you can (just like we did in the previous step)

Finally, click the “Save” button (in the upper-right part of your screen).

Click the ‘back arrow’ (in the upper-left area of screen) to head back to the “Sections” area.

Step 14 – Removing A Section or Module

I’m not interested in using the “Slideshow” module so I’ll show you how to remove it. But feel free to keep it if you like 🙂

To remove “Slideshow” go ahead and click on it (or whatever module you’d like to remove).

Then at the bottom go ahead and click on “Remove Section” (at the bottom-left side of your screen).

Once you do this you’ll be taken to the “Sections” area where you’ll notice that module is no longer listed on the left-side.

Step 15 – Adding a Section or Module

Next, I want to add another image to go at the bottom of the homepage. I think it helps the page look a little more complete.

So from the “Sections” area, click on “Add section.”

Then select the “Image with text overlay” module by clicking it.

Next, you’ll see an “Add” button which you’ll want to click as well.

Now you can select the image you want to use by clicking “Select Image.” Then click “Upload” if you want to use an image from your computer.

Once you got the image you want to use, click the “Select” button at the bottom-left of your page.

For this image I actually don’t wanting any text being overlayed over the top of it so I’m going to remove all the text from the ‘Heading’ and ‘Text’ boxes located at the left-side of the screen in the sidebar.

The last step here is to click the “Save” button on the upper-right side of your screen.

Then go ahead an go back to the “Sections” area by clicking the ‘back arrow’ located at the upper-left side of your screen.

Step 16 – Add a Newsletter

From the “Sections” area, click on “Add section.”

Then click on “Newsletter” and click the “Add” button.

You can then customize the “Heading” and “Subheading” (located on the left-side of your screen) to say whatever you’d like.

Then you can click on “Save” once you’re done.

Go ahead and click the ‘back arrow’ in the upper-left (once you’ve saved everything) to take you back to the “Sections” area.

Step 17 – Add Additional Pages

To begin, go ahead an click on the Shopify icon in the upper-left corner of the screen (the ‘S’ on a shopping bag).

This will take us back to the Shopify menu.

Currently the only pages we have for our sire are the “Home” and “Catalog pages.”

Let’s add another page by clicking on “Pages” which is located over on the left side-bar area (below Online Store).

Then click the “Add page” button.

Then for the title of this page, enter “Contact Us” or just “Contact” if you prefer.

And in the “Content” box below you can enter something like “If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.”

Then over on the right-hand side, where it says “Template” you’re going to click the drop-down menu (below Template suffix) and select “page.contact”

“Page” is the one selected by default, but you want to change it to “page.contact” which is Shopify’s built-in Contact Page Theme.

Then you can finish it off by pressing “Save”

Your Contact page is now functioning and messages you receive through this page will be sent to the email address you used when you signed up.

Step 18 – Add Contact Page to Menu

Start by clicking “Navigation” which is located in the left side-bar area (below Online Store).

Then you’ll want to select “Main menu” since that’s the menu that’s currently being used.

Then we’re going to select “Add menu item”

When you do that you’ll get a pop-up.

For Name put: Contact Us (or “Contact” if you prefer)

Then click on the box area under “Link” which will bring up a list of options. Click on “Pages” and then select “Contact Us” or whatever you named your contact page.

Click the “Add” button which will add this page to your menu.

You’ll notice the “Contact Us” page has been added to your list of Menu items.

Then click “Save menu” to save your menu.

Step 19 – Start Adding Products

There’s different ways to add products. For example, you can add your own products if you have those to sell.

To do this click on “Products” and then click on the “Add product” button.

But I’m going to walk through adding products using Apps. We’re going to use an App to allow us to import products from AliExpress.

So first you’ll want to click on “Apps” over on the left side of your screen.

The App you’re going to want to get is called “Oberlo” and it’s a free app to use. If it shows up immediately on the Apps page you can click on it.

If you don’t see it right away when you click on “Apps” you can click the “Visit the Shopify App Store” button and then search for it there.

Either way, once you click on the Oberlo App, you’ll want to click the “Add app” button.

Then the next step is to install it in your store by clicking the “Install app” button.

You’ll then be taken to the Oberlo Dashboard which will show you all sorts of information about the app.

Next we can start searching for products within the Oberlo app, or we can import products from AliExpress using a direct URL (if you have one).

Either way, you’ll want to get started by clicking on “Search Products” which is located over on the left-hand side.

You’ll notice in the upper-right hand side there’s an “Import product by URL or ID” button which is what you’ll want to click if you have a product URL to use from AliExpress.

Otherwise, I’m going to search for products directly using the search bar. I’m looking for Avenger related products so I’m going to put “Avengers” in the search bar and see that products come up for that.

Once you find a product you like you can move your cursor over the product and you’ll see an “Add to import list” button appear. You can either add the product that way or you can click on the product to get a little more information first.

Once you click on a product you’ll see more product details which can help you decide if it’s a product you want to offer in your store or not.

Once you’ve found a product or products you’d like to sell through your store, go ahead and click the “Add to Import List” button for each of those products.

Next we’ll import the product or products you’ve found into your store.

Go ahead and click “Import List” which is located on the left-hand side of your screen.

You’ll probably want to change the title (which I recommend doing)

Then you can click in the “Home page” box and select “Home page” if you’d like this product to show up on your home page.

You can also manually add or type in any tags you’d like to use (I added three). And then for type, you can put a name for what type of product it is, or you can leave it blank.

If you want to click on the description and make any changes there, feel free to do so. I’m going to leave mine alone as it looks fine (and that’s certainly normal).

If you click on “Variants” it will show you all the variations for this product and you can decide if you want to sell all of them or just some of them. Uncheck the box next to anything you don’t want to sell.

Then you’re going to want to change your price as you’re going to want to sell the product for more than you’re buying it for to make a profit.

Click on “Change All Prices” (if you want to change all the variations at once) and then select “Set New Value.” Then enter what amount you want to charge people for these products and click “Apply.”

You can do the same thing for the “Compared At Price” if you like. The idea here is to show people what they might pay at other stores.

And then you can of course change any of the prices of an individual product manually if you like. For example, you may want to charge more of a premium for some colors.

For this example, I just kept the pricing all the same for each of my products.

Finally, you can click on the images tab to decide what images you’d like to have shown.

Anything with a green check mark next to it, is an image that will be included on your site. So you can select or de-select any of the images by clicking on that image.

Then once everything looks good, go ahead and click the “Import to store” button.

Congratulations! You’ve just imported your first product 🙂

To see that your product was imported, go back to your Shopify Dashboard. You can get there by clicking on “Shopify Admin” located in the lower left side-bar.

Then you can click on “Products” located on the left side-bar area.

Then you’ll be able to see all the products that have been imported into your Shopify store.

Now I’m going to repeat this process for another 3 products to show you what that looks like.

So now that I have 4 products added to my store (which I also included to show up on the home page), you can see how that looks. And you can of course change these at anytime, so that you have different products showing up on your home page.

Note: To see what your store looks like at anytime you can click the little “eye” icon next to “Online Store” and it will open up a new page showing exactly how your store looks.

Now we just have one more step to complete which is to make an “About Us” page.

Step 20 – Create an “About Us” page

To create a page, you’ll need to first click on “Online Store” which is over on the left side-bar (near the bottom). Then you’ll click on “Pages” (below Online Store) and finally click on “Add page.”

For the “Title” you can put “About Us” (or just “About” if you prefer)

For the “Content” area you can write whatever you like. Try and put something meaningful 🙂

Then I’m going to add an image (which is something optional). To add an image you’ll click the image icon (which looks like a mountain with a sun in the corner). It’s located on the bottom row just above the content box.

And before inserting your image, hit return so the cursor in the content box goes down to the next line.

When you click on the image icon you’ll have several options (such as choosing an existing file or uploading a new one). I’m going to “Upload file” and choose a new one from my computer.

Once you have your file selected, click “Insert image.”

After your image has been inserted, you can adjust the size of the image by dragging the corners in or out. You can also adjust the alignment by clicking the down arrow of the alignment icon and then choosing what you prefer. I’m going to “Center align” this image which will cause the image to be placed in the center.

Then once you have everything the way you like it, go ahead and click “Save.”

Our last step will be to add this page to our Menu so it shows up as a page on our website that people can see.

To do this you’ll want to go over and click on “Navigation” which is at the left-side of the screen (underneath Online Store).

Then you’ll click on “Main menu”

Next you’ll click on “Add menu item” which will cause a pop-up to display.

Here you’ll enter “About Us” for the Name.

Then click on the box under Link and you’ll see a list of options displayed. Choose “Pages” then choose “About Us”

Finally you’ll click the “Add” button.

At this point you should see that your “About Us” page was added to your Main Menu.

If everything looks good, you can click “Save menu”

Congratulations!! Your first Shopify store is now complete!

This tutorial came from YouTube (Zivo)

Hopefully you’ve found this guide to creating your own Shopify store helpful. If so, please share it with your friends and family on social media. It helps us to continue to put together more content like this.

And once you have your store complete, feel free to share it below!