Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Shopify cost? Transaction fees?

Shopify plans start from USD $32/mo and usually you will only need the most basic plan.

There are also small transaction fees involved, between 0.5% to 3% depending your chosen Shopify plan and payment methods (e.g. PayPal, Stripe, or others). See Shopify pricing for more details.

What do I need to launch a brand new store?

Generally you just need some good photography of your products, your product titles, descriptions, and price, and some 'about us' text.

You also need to know how you're going to package and ship your products, and a rough plan for how you're going to advertise or marketing your products. Check out our article for more details.

Will I be able to manage store and edit content myself after store launch?

Yes! Shopify is a very simple and user-friendly system. And we will be happy to teach you how to use it.

How do we start working together? 

We will start with a video call to get to know you personally, explain what we can help with and what we need from you, and really to understand your goals and expectations.
Next, we will send you an official proposal, quote, and deposit invoice.

We use Themes AKA 'templates' as a starting point for the project. We will recommend a Theme that is suitable for you, and then modify it according to your needs. Shopify themes are extremely flexible and we can make quite drastic changes to them, but they still save a lot of time and money.

We use Trello for managing each project. It allows us to list out every task involved in building a website, and discuss each task separately. This way nothing gets lost or forgotten, and we don't need to constantly exchange lengthy emails.

What is usual turn-around time for launching a new store?

Roughly speaking, around a month. It depends on the complexity of your store and how much time you have also. Building a good website is a collaborative process where your own feedback, ideas, and mental energy greatly contribute to the end result.

About Alioned

Where are you guys based?

Since 2019 we have been living in Warsaw, Poland. But our clients are mostly from USA and Australia.

Who is Ed?

Eduard Fastovski is a web developer originally from Australia. His main professional background is in coding websites and interfaces while working at a digital agency in his hometown of Sydney.
In 2015 he started freelancing and specializing in theme development for Shopify. In 2017 he moved to Europe, met Kristina, and in 2019 co-founded Alioned Agency.

Ed will handle the technical side of your project - anything requiring coding.

Who is Kristina?

Kristina Volchek is a designer with a digital marketing background originally from Belarus. She has worked as a marketing director for large tech companies before making her switch to freelancing and web design in 2019.

Kristina can turn your ideas into beautiful interfaces. She will handle both the visual and marketing sides of your project.

Are you guys a couple?

Yep!

Moving from another platform? (Migration)

Will my site go down during migration?

No! Your old site will stay operational until the new site is ready to launch.

Will the migration affect my current SEO ranking?

For the first few months it will likely affect your ranking a bit. However soon you will benefit from the excellent SEO-friendly structure of Shopify. We will also set up redirects from your old store URL's so that Google sees the connection. That being said, migration is quite risky for SEO and nobody knows how Google will respond.

Will my Shopify site look the same as my current site after migration?

Your store will look different on Shopify. We will pick out a Theme (template) for you and then adjust it so that it uses your branding, including colors, fonts, and images. In this way your store will still look familiar to your customers. But the layout - the position of things on the page - will be different from your old site.

Support & Post-launch Questions

Can you help me with ongoing changes after launch?

Yes, we have several after launch support options. You can have our help on ad-hoc hourly basis or as a monthly retainer depending on your needs. Contact us for more details.

What if I still want to make design changes after the store is launched?

No problem. We can continue working on your store at a discounted hourly rate until you are 100% satisfied.

I already have a Shopify store. Can you help me make some changes to it?

Sure thing. We can help at hourly rate of $100/hr for ad-hoc work.

In the scope of a bigger project you can benefit from discounted rates. We also have monthly retainers starting from 5 hours per month. With these you can benefit from discounted rates and faster turnarounds on small tasks.

I have another question.

We are happy to help. Please send us your questions to contact@alioned.com.