One of the most important parts of your online store is your products. After all, the point of e-commerce is to sell! 

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Fortunately for Shopify users, adding products to your online store is quick and simple

 Here are 12 easy steps to show you how:

1. Log in to your Shopify Admin account and click on Products 
2. Click Add a Product located at the top right-hand corner
3. Enter your products Title and Description
4. Scroll down to the Images section at add your product images. Click Add Images. You can either upload directly from your computer or drag and drop them to the images section
5. The first images you upload will become your featured image by default. You can change what photo is in the featured section by dragging and dropping your photo
6. On the left hand side of the screen under Sales Channels, click the checkmark by Online store so your product will be visible
7. Underneath Sales Channels, enter your Products Type, Vendor, and Collections in the Organization block
8. Input the product’s price. You can also input a compare price for your customer’s reference. Click the checkbox below to ensure you make the tax included in the product
9. For your inventory, input your SKU, Barcode, and your desired inventory policy
10. If your product requires shipping, click the checkbox and input the item’s weight 
11. Add your products Variants if your product can come in different colors and sizes. You can adjust the price individually if it varies
12. Edit your Search Engine Listing preview. Shopify now gives you an option for SEO as you can now edit your Meta Title, and Meta Description which will appear as your customers search for your product
    

Product variants

As mentioned in the steps above, you can add variants to a product that comes in more than one option, such as size or color. 

Here’s how to add a variant:

1. In the Variants section of the Add product page, click Add variant
2. Enter the name fo the option (such as size) in the Option name. 
3. In Option values, enter each option followed by a coma, such as Small, Medium, Large. Customers will see these option values when they are choosing a variant. When you enter a comma, the option values show up as tags. 
4. If your variants differ in more than one way, then click Add another option. You can have up to 3 options for each product. 

As you add the product options, a list of variants appears with the heading Modify the variants to be created. Uncheck the boxes next to any combination of options that you don’t sell. You can also add prices, SKUs, and barcodes for individual variants, or use the defaults based on the product details. 

Note: you can show different product images for each variant with variant images. 

Shopify has a great post on how to edit variants for existing products. Check that post out here. 

How to Duplicate a product

Shopify gives you the ability to duplicate products - which is a huge time saver! When you duplicate a product, you have the option to copy one or more of the following product details:

• images
• SKUs
• barcodes
• inventory quantity

By default, a duplicate product is set to draft and hidden on all your channels and apps. To view or change a products availability settings:

1. Log in to your Shopify admin account, go to Products > All Products
2. Click the product's name to open its details. The product is available to the sales channels listed in the Product status section
3. Set the product status as active
4. Click Manage
5. Select the channels to make the product available to
6. Click Done
7. Click Save

Add or remove product tags

Tags are used for filtering products. They help customers find your product and you can also use them to create automated collections. Check out my post on automated collections here.

Don't be alarmed if you need to add a product tag or remove it. It's actually quite easy! Here's how to do it:

1. Login to your Shopify admin account, click on Products > All Products
2. Click on the name of the product you need to edit
3. In the Organization section, select or enter tags for your product. Use a comma to separate different tags. Tags can have up to 255 characters.
4. Click Save

To remove a product tag, follow steps 1-3 above and click on the x beside the name of the tag you want to remove. Then click save.

Edit a search engine listing preview

Another way to help boost your online stores search engine rankings is to include page title and meta descriptions. Now, this is done automatically throughout your site, but if you want to add keywords or simplify your description, Shopify gives you the ability to do so. Here's how to do it:

1. In the Search engine listing preview, click Edit website SEO
2. In the Page title field, enter your descriptive title. This title will display as a link in the search engine results. You can enter up to 55 characters in the title.
3. Enter a description for the search engine listing. Make sure to include relevant keywords to help new customers find your link, and include your business name. You can enter up to 320 characters in the description.

For more on boosting your Shopify Online Store SEO, check out my posts here and here.

Scan a barcode with your device's camera

With the Shopify app, you can enter a barcode for a product by scanning it to your mobile devices camera. To do this follow the below steps:

1. From the Shopify app, go to Products > All Products
2. From the All products screen, either create a new product or tap an exisitng product
3. Tap Inventory
4. In the Barcode field, tap the barcode icon to open your device's camera
5. The camera's screen shows a rectangular box. Position your iPhone so that the barcode appears within the box or screen.
6. Wait for Shopify to recognize the barcode. When it does, the app returns to the Inventory screen and the barcode number is entered for you.

Click here for instructions if you have an Android.

Deleting products

Shopify gives you the option to delete products one by one or by a bulk action. It's important to note that when you delete your product from Shopify, it's permanently gone and can't be restored. If your product goes out of stock, you can archive the product instead. Read this post for more information on hiding and archiving products.

If you really want to delete a product, here's how to do it:

1. Log in to your Shopify admin, click on Products > All Products
2. Click on the product you want to delete
3. On the product details page, click Delete Product
4. Click Delete Product

Like I said earlier, Shopify makes it pretty easy to add and edit products on your account. If you're having trouble creating your site and need some help, send me a message to see if working together would be a good fit for both of us.

I would love to hear if you like this type of instructional post! Send me a note if you have any questions!