Payment- and shipping methods
For customers to buy items on your website, at least one payment and shipping method should be installed in your online store. It's also good to make sure that they function correctly.
You can check it by making a test purchase in your store: Add a product to the shopping cart > proceed to checkout > pay the order.
It's also good to check that the shipping fees are correct.
Theme, content, and products
You can continue editing the online store after publishing, but it's good to ensure that all the necessary information is there when you publish it.
In most cases, an online store should contain at least these pages:
Contact information of your business
The terms of delivery
The privacy policy
When it comes to products, make sure that:
The product images are of good quality.
Product details (for example, name and description) are set up well.
Possible color- and size options work correctly, and the stock balances are correct.
Products prices and taxes are correct.
Usability on different devices
An online store is often designed and tested with a computer's larger screen. It's worthwhile to remember that your customers might use the website on all kinds of devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, or desktop computers.
It's good to test your website with those different devices or at least reduce the browser window to see how it looks on a smaller screen and how easy it's to put items into the shopping cart. Finqu's themes use responsive design, and often the site works fine, but this testing can show if something can be fine-tuned.
Domain and SSL certificate
Registering a unique domain name and attaching it to your store is a good practice. After the domain is all setup, make sure that:
Your domain stays on the browser's URL bar when you go through the pages in your online store.
You can add products to the shopping cart.
An SSL certificate will be automatically added to your online store. It protects your customers' personal information, and browsers don't warn visitors about insecure connections.
Analytics and search engines
Tracking your site's visitors and measuring the site's performance on Google searches are essential tools for boosting your store's visibility and sales. Even if you're unsure how to use analytics services, it's always good to install them at the beginning to gather as much data as possible. You can use that data later when you have more experience.
Fulfilling orders
After you've made the test purchase or several purchases, you can fulfill them, allowing you to be more prepared when you receive actual orders from your customers.
Changing the online store's status
The last step in publishing an online store is to change its status to Published.
Go to Online store > Information.
Change the Status from the menu at the top right corner of the page to Published.
Click Save
Now your online store is published on the internet. Congrats!👍