Complete Shopify store launch checklist with 50+ items. Check SEO, payments, shipping, and legal before going live. Free.
Launching a Shopify store without a proper checklist means discovering problems after customers find them. Missing SSL certificate, broken checkout, incorrect shipping rates, or no privacy policy can kill sales and damage brand trust on day one. Our 50+ item checklist covers every pre-launch requirement across design, SEO, legal, payments, and operations.
High-impact overlooked items: Test checkout end-to-end with real credit card — many payment errors only appear in live mode. Mobile checkout optimization — 70%+ of Shopify traffic is mobile but desktop is often primary design view. Page speed under 3 seconds — each second costs 7% conversion. Privacy policy, terms of service, and return policy pages — legally required and customer trust factor. Robots.txt and sitemap submitted to Google Search Console. Google Analytics 4 and Facebook Pixel installed.
SEO essentials for new Shopify stores: Custom domain connected (not mystore.myshopify.com). SSL certificate active (shows padlock in browser). Meta title and description for every product page — not left as Shopify defaults. Product images with descriptive alt text. No duplicate content — check canonical tags. Structured data for products — enables rich snippets in Google results. Blog set up for content marketing even if only 2-3 initial articles.
Basic Shopify store setup time: Choose theme and customize: 2-4 hours. Add products with descriptions and photos: 1-3 hours per 10 products. Configure shipping rates: 1-2 hours. Set up payment processors: 1 hour. Create policy pages: 2-3 hours. SEO basics: 2-3 hours. Total for small store (10-20 products): 20-40 hours. First-time founder: plan for 1-2 weeks to complete properly.
Not required to start. You can begin as a sole proprietor without any formal business structure. Shopify accepts personal bank accounts and tax IDs. When to form LLC: when generating consistent revenue (generally $1,000+/month), when selling products with injury liability risk, or before running significant advertising. Benefits of LLC: personal liability protection, more professional appearance, easier to open business bank accounts and merchant accounts.
Essential Shopify apps for launch: Email marketing: Klaviyo or Shopify Email (free starter). Reviews: Judge.me (free plan) or Loox. Upsell and cross-sell: ReConvert or Honeycomb. SEO: Plug in SEO for issue identification. Live chat: Tidio free plan. Avoid installing too many apps — each adds page load time. 5-10 focused apps beats 20 apps for every conceivable feature. Most successful stores keep app count under 15.
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