It's an age of entrepreneurship we're living in, and mistakes-mishaps-missteps are unavoidable in entrepreneurial ventures. Treating your mistakes as learning experiences is the best thing you can do when that happens.

Although some mistakes are unavoidable, planning for them can help. Especially if you are a seller in Shopify, there's a mountain of tasks you need to complete- which may lead to confusion and mistakes.

Regardless of the difficulty, Shopify remains one of the best places to set up shop- just look at the resounding success they've had the last few years. So learning to navigate properly while staying aware of the possible mistakes- that's your recipe for success in Shopify.

So we went digging, and came up with a bunch of common mistakes that sellers make in Shopify. Avoiding these mistakes will make your Shopify journey a lot easier and set yourself up for success.

1. Thinking traffic will automatically follow just because you have an online store

This is probably the biggest rookie mistake. Having a beautiful site set up alone isn't enough to guarantee you sales. The internet is home to millions of websites- millions of designs crafted to attract visitors, just like yours. That's why even if you have the most pleasing design, traffic isn't guaranteed- unless you start improving your marketing methods.

You need to strategically set up your brand promotions. Keep working on promotion and optimization, do SEO, use Facebook Ads, Google Ads etc. and you will start seeing increased traffic.

2. Relying entirely on Google and Facebook Ads

Sure, Google and Facebook Ads work, they are the two most popular ways to advertise your websites. But they are not the only options for you and you should keep yourself open to exploring other marketing opportunities. Doing all these by yourself can be quite taxing, and you can turn to marketing automation solutions (Markopolo.ai for example) if that’s the case.

Also, do not write off organic marketing completely- they have their value, specially when it comes to local businesses.

3. Not using Google Analytics or the Facebook Pixel

Actionable insights on customer behavior- is one of the most valuable things you can have in your arsenal. Analyzing and tracking visitors’ behavior using tools such as Google Analytics & Facebook Pixel- is how to get said insight.

You can make changes and improve your store, using information gained from metrics such as traffic sources and bounce rates that these tools provide. You can also observe the effect of these changes via these tools.

4. Optimizing your store’s theme only for the desktop users

This is another rookie mistake. As the default view in the Shopify theme editor is for desktop, and editing your theme there is super easy- new sellers on Shopify often forget they need to optimize the theme for the mobile users as well.

Mobile users take up 72.9% of total ecommerce sales, so your store is more likely to be visited by mobile users than desktop. Thus having a beautiful, fully optimized theme set for mobile users will pull in more visitors.

5. Using low quality or uncompressed images

The product images you use are the biggest deciding factors for the customer. If you use poor quality photos then customers will think your product is poor in quality as well . also don't use over-sized logos and banners as it looks unprofessional.

Use high resolution images, but keep in mind their file size- placing a bunch of 4K images with 10Mb+ file size each, will slow down your store's loading time. So just use an image compressor to compress your images and shrink the file sizes as much as you can without ruining picture quality.

6. Not paying attention to abandoned checkouts

Customers who almost made a purchase, who went as far as to the checkout page- known as “warm” or “hot” audiences, are the easiest to convert. They deserve your attention as they don't need any more than a little push to make the purchase, unlike people who are unaware of your brand.

Retarget the customers who abandoned checkout using email or SMS marketing. You can use Google Ads or Facebook Ads for retargeting "hot" audiences as well.

7. Using popups that appear within 30 seconds of visiting site

Everyone hates popups. It's one of the biggest customer repellents. However, when used correctly- they can be quite effective at collecting customer emails, and distributing discount codes. But if you bombard them with pop ups the moment they access your site- they will be annoyed and most likely, leave.

Customers should be given a chance to browse your shop before asking them to sign up for anything. Take at least 30 seconds before coming up with a pop up. Also, don't have the pop ups come up every time the customer moves to a different page, only pop them once after entering the site.

8. Not using influencer marketing properly

Influencer marketing can massively escalate sales when used properly.

You have to find the right influencer to market your product. Their target audience needs to match yours, and you have to make sure they’re trustworthy enough to generate leads for you from their audience. They need to understand your goals and the message you want them to put out clearly.

Influencers have already established a market for themselves, so as well as giving your product credibility, they can act as successful mediators.

9. Not having a blog section

Having a blog section in your website that features content around your store's niche- is a good way to get a bunch of free traffic to your website. This will increase your site's SEO score, and keep customers on your site for longer. It also shows customers that you are pretty knowledgeable in your niche, which helps in building trust.

Some Shopify mistakes may seem inevitable, but staying aware, knowing what to do and how to do it- makes all the difference. In this crazy competitive field of e-commerce, prior research can help save yourself from potential pitfalls. Hopefully this piece helps you on your journey towards becoming a successful Shopify store owner.