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How to Become an eCommerce Expert for Shopify [2024]
![How to Become an eCommerce Expert for Shopify [2024]](http://gempages.net/cdn/shop/articles/ecommerce_expert_-_thumbnail_1024x1024.webp?v=1722068415)
“Helping entrepreneurs build their businesses” is a great business in itself.
Because —
- It’s a service business, and thus, a highly profitable business.
- If you love helping people and solving business problems, this could also be a fulfilling career path.
The requirement is that you need to become an eCommerce expert.
Now, an “eCommerce expert” is a broad term — and it can be further categorized based on the specific skillset and eCommerce platform as well.
In this blog post, we’ll share a detailed guide on how to become an eCommerce expert for Shopify and how to join the Shopify Partner Directory.
The Basics of eCommerce Experts
What is an eCommerce Expert or Specialist?
An eCommerce expert or specialist is a professional who helps eCommerce business owners with various services to build, manage, and grow their eCommerce store.
The eCommerce experts have knowledge of various eCommerce platforms and may not necessarily be related to just one platform.
What is a Shopify Partner or Expert?
Shopify Partners are professionals or agencies that help Shopify merchants with various services related to Shopify such as store setup, design, branding, marketing, theme customization, store optimization, and so on.
Now — let us share the recent update from Shopify:
Shopify used to have a Shopify Experts Marketplace where merchants could hire highly skilled eCommerce experts for the services we mentioned above. Shopify also had a Shopify Experts program where they used to officially recognize vetted experts as “Shopify Experts”.
However, the Shopify Experts Marketplace and the Shopify Experts program have been closed recently and have been replaced with the “Shopify Partner Directory”.
Shopify is now inviting Partners to join the Shopify Partner Directory.
What is the Shopify Partner Directory?
The Shopify Partner Directory is a database listing Shopify Partners who can help Shopify merchants with various services — just as we mentioned above i.e., store setup, store design, custom development, marketing & sales, troubleshooting, and so on.
Shopify merchants can use this directory, go through the listing of Shopify Partners, and connect with them to collaborate for their specific requirements.
They can also help migrate eCommerce stores from other platforms to Shopify, e.g., Magento to Shopify migration.
So basically, the Shopify Partner Directory includes the professionals such as:
- Web Designers
- Web Developers
- Marketers
- Content writers and creators
- Consultants
Note: Shopify Partners aren’t Shopify employees; however, Shopify has its own vetting process to review the candidate’s skills, expertise, and experience with the Shopify platform to select them for the Shopify Partner Directory.
Why Should You Become an eCommerce Expert or Shopify Partner?
The eCommerce industry has been growing at a rapid pace for the past few years. Thus, there are great opportunities in this industry to build a profitable business.
Since Shopify Partners work with many Shopify merchants on their custom store requirements, issues, and optimization — they develop in-depth knowledge and capabilities to cater to unique needs.
This helps Shopify Partners build a profitable service business by providing the services that are mostly in demand due to the rise of the eCommerce industry.
If you’re passionate about helping people, especially entrepreneurs to build and grow their businesses, this is a perfect opportunity for you.
How to Become an eCommerce Expert for Shopify
1. Decide on Your Area of Specialization
Don’t aim to be a “jack of all trades and master of none”.
It’s good to have a basic knowledge of all the aspects involved in eCommerce; however, you should aim to become a master (i.e., specialist) in a specific service area or two.
This will help you position yourself as an expert that merchants can rely on. Also, it will help you remain focused on your core service.
But again, keep in mind — you don’t necessarily need to choose only one area. For example, a marketing specialist can expand into services like branding and content writing.
Let’s take a look at the services again — and see which one excites you the most:
Alt-text: Graphic displaying various areas of specialization in eCommerce
Each of these areas requires a different kind of skillset and expertise.
For example, let’s say you’re enthusiastic about branding, it doesn’t require technical expertise. However, if you want to specialize in custom store development, you need to be technically sound.
2. Master Your Area of Expertise
Once you’ve selected your field, it’s time to sharpen your knowledge and skills. You can’t just be an ordinary service provider, you must dive deep into the subject to attain the level of expertise.
Shopify has plenty of high-quality resources of its own which can help you learn about the platform and various aspects of the eCommerce world.
On top of that, there are other brands and creators who create and share high-quality content on Shopify related topics. Here are some of the recommended resources:
- Learn with Shopify — Shopify’s official YouTube channel
- Shopify Blog
- Shopify Academy
- GemPages Blog — Of course!
- Shopify Community Forums
- Udemy — Paid courses at affordable pricing
Depending on the specialization you choose, start learning everything — right from the fundamentals to the latest updates.
You need to be updated with the latest trends. For example, if you’re offering website design services, you should be aware of the leading eCommerce design trends. If you’re helping build a dropshipping business for a merchant, you need to be aware of the top trending niches to help them source the right products.
Pro tip: Build your own Shopify store just to learn the platform. Shopify makes it easy to start an online store with a 3-day free trial and then just $1 for the first month. Creating your own store gives you the freedom to play with the platform the way you want — without worrying about messing up an actual client’s store.
3. Help eCommerce/Shopify Merchants
Again, nothing can teach better than practical experience.
Start helping eCommerce/Shopify merchants with whatever your expertise is. Share an update with your network and let them know you’re available to help with your services.
In the beginning, you can offer your service at a relatively lower price to attract new clients. Then, you can build your business as your expertise and experience grows.
Client testimonials work as great social proof. So, whenever you get the opportunity to work with a client, help them with exceptional service, and request them to share their genuine review.
4. Build Digital Presence of Your Brand
Depending on your business model, work on building your brand’s digital presence through different channels such as websites and social media.
If you want to run the business as a solopreneur or freelancer, it’s advisable to work on your personal branding. And if you want to market your services under a brand name, create a digital presence for your brand.
In either case, you should create profiles on social media platforms like LinkedIn & X. Build your own website. All these steps can help you bring inbound leads, i.e., potential clients, which you can turn into paying clients.
Also, optimize your profiles on social media using the keywords relevant to your profession and services. For example, if you’ve added the keyword “eCommerce expert” to your profile, your profile becomes more likely to show up in the search results when someone searches for eCommerce experts.
It’s one thing to be on social media and another to make your presence felt on social media. So, how do you make your presence felt? By helping eCommerce entrepreneurs.
Whenever you find an opportunity to help merchants with any queries that they post on social media, go ahead and help them with detailed responses. It will get more eyeballs on your profile and help you build genuine connections as well.
5. Create an Impressive Portfolio
Your portfolio is the visual proof of your work as it shows the quality of your work in action. Especially if you’re offering services like store design, custom development, or content writing — a portfolio becomes even more important.
Because when someone wants to review how good you are at these services, they would like to see what you’ve done in the past. So, whenever you work with any merchant, seek their consent to include your work in the portfolio.
Here’s an excellent example of an eCommerce website portfolio from Studioworx. This portfolio covers websites designed with different eCommerce platforms.
For some other services such as search engine optimization (SEO) or paid ads, if you can get the specific data or number in your portfolio, it’s even better.
For example, let’s say you helped a merchant increase their organic traffic from 10,000 visitors per month to 50,000 visitors per month. You can create a case study and present it with your portfolio.
Pro tip: When you’re just starting your business as an eCommerce expert, you obviously won’t have past work to present in your portfolio. However, you can still go ahead and create a sample of your work. For example, if you’re providing store design services, you can create a few professionally designed demo stores and present them in your portfolio.
6. Join Shopify Communities
One of the best things about Shopify is its vast community. The entire Shopify ecosystem has many online communities that you can join to meet fellow Shopify Partners.
By joining communities, you can learn from other Shopify Partners, share your challenges, and observe real-life problems and their solutions as well.
Here are some of the communities you must consider joining
- GemPages Facebook Community
- Shopify Partners Slack Community
- Unofficial Shopify Partners Lounge - Facebook
- Blanklob Community - Discord
Apart from joining communities of fellow Shopify Partners, try to join some communities of Shopify merchants as well. By joining merchant communities, you can get a better picture of merchant issues and how you can develop solutions for them.
7. Spend Time on Networking
Just joining communities for the sake of it won’t work.
Network with fellow Shopify Partners and build genuine connections with the community. This can help you learn from the community members at a personal level.
Here are some of the best ways to network:
- Networking with the online community members
- Building connections with eCommerce experts on LinkedIn and X
- Joining physical networking events
Networking also brings opportunities to collaborate on projects. For example, let’s say you’re a marketing expert and you network with another Shopify Partner who’s only offering development services. You can collaborate on client projects to give clients a package that includes development as well as marketing services.
It will not only help both of you with the opportunity for your respective services but also help the client as they won’t need to find another service provider.
How to Join the Shopify Partner Directory
If you’re wondering how to become a Shopify Expert, as we mentioned, Shopify has closed its application process for becoming a “Shopify Expert”. The Shopify Experts Marketplace has been replaced by the Shopify Partner Directory.
Thus, from now on, eligible Shopify Partners are invited by Shopify to join the Partner Directory and list their services.
Create a Shopify Partners Account
First of all, become a Partner by signing up for the Shopify Partners program if you haven’t already. It’s completely free and you can learn a lot more about the Shopify platform practically by creating demo stores and experimenting with different features.
You can use this Shopify Partners account to collaborate with merchants and gain access to their stores without using their credentials.
Follow the Terms of Shopify’s Partner Program Agreement
According to Shopify, your Shopify Partners account must be in good standing — and to ensure the same, you must follow the Partner Program Agreement.
Check out the Partner Program Agreement Terms. Go through the terms to ensure you don’t mistakenly breach the terms that may impact your account negatively.
Shopify makes it easy for Partners to understand the terms with a simplified version/summary of the terms (as you can see on the right side of the below image):
Contribute to Merchant Growth
You need to meet the following two criteria to meet this requirement:
- Accomplish five or more successful merchant referrals in the last 12 months.
- Work on 50 or more active stores in the last 12 months.
To meet these criteria, it’s important that you are promoting your services effectively to get regular projects. Also, you can utilize your network connections to get more projects.
Contribute to the Shopify Community
The Shopify community forum is one of the best places to showcase your expertise on Shopify by helping merchants with real-life issues.
Clayton Bates has shared his story on YouTube about how he became a Shopify Expert by providing lots of value for free in the Shopify community. (This was when the Shopify Expert program was still live.)
As he was helping many Shopify merchants in the community, his work was noticed by Shopify and they reached out to him and offered him the Shopify Expert badge.
While the Shopify Expert program no longer exists, since Shopify is inviting Partners to join the Shopify Partner Directory, this could work the same for Shopify Partners as well.
Other Best Platforms to Offer eCommerce Services
Apart from the Shopify Partner Directory, here are the other platforms where you can provide your services:
GemPages is building a network of CRO and development experts, agencies, and freelancers. By joining this marketplace, you get the opportunity to expand your reach and work with Shopify merchants. This is a great time to join the force in the early phase of the program.
Fill out this short form to submit your application.
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Your website:
Creating your own website has multiple benefits. You can build your own brand identity. Reach out to the wider audience. Especially, if you’re offering web design services, your own website becomes a great platform to showcase your web design skills and creativity.
-
Shopify/eCommerce Communities:
Many communities allow experts to promote their services to the community members. However, make sure to read the community rules before promoting your services.
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Social media:
Platforms like LinkedIn and X are great for promoting your eCommerce services. You can build your personal brand by publishing helpful content for eCommerce business owners — and it will not only help you generate leads (potential clients) but also build the authority of your brand.
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Freelancing platforms:
You can also list your services on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr to reach out to a wider audience. The downside of such platforms is that they take a percentage of your revenue. For example, Upwork takes 10% and Fiverr takes a 20% cut from the projects you complete.
However, these platforms could be helpful in gaining clients, especially when you’re starting your business, as they have a huge reach across the world.
Ready to Become an eCommerce Expert?
We hope this article has provided you with all the insights and tips you need to begin your journey to become an eCommerce expert. If you’re still on the fence or worrying about how/if you should start, don’t overthink it, just start.
Sometimes, the first step seems the hardest one — and if you cross that barrier with determination, things get more and more better and easier.
FAQs About Becoming a Shopify Expert
That said, the earning potential of an eCommerce expert who runs a business (instead of a full-time job) may vary significantly.
