Shopify themes

How to edit your Shopify theme (step-by-step guide)

As a business owner in the world of e-commerce, you will know that first impression have a huge impact on your clients. You want your online store to be eye-catching, exciting, and align with the core values of your business.

Posted 9 months ago by Jonathan Kennedy

Whether you’re struggling to find a Shopify theme that fully aligns with your business, or your business has evolved over time and you would like the look of your store to exemplify that, we will help you to slightly change your theme on Shopify. This is so that it fully encompasses your brand and the look that you are going for.

In this article, we will be talking about how to edit a Shopify theme in two different ways.

Steps to take before editing your Shopify theme

If you are wanting to edit or change a theme that you have previously customized, we would highly recommend reading up on how to back up a Shopify theme through Shopify theme export.

This is very helpful because if you make errors while editing, you can easily reset your Shopify theme and start again.

How to modify Shopify themes with the Theme Editor

Where is the Theme Editor in Shopify?

Shopify’s theme editor is a great tool. It helps you to customize the appearance of your store and the content that will be on it.

It is very easy to find the Theme Editor in Shopify.

Start by going to the Shopify admin page.
Click on Online Store.
Click on Themes, and select the theme that you would like to edit.
Select the Customize option.
This will take you to the theme editor.

Editing your theme with the Theme Editor: Step-by-step

Step 1: Selecting the right Shopify theme

Even if you already have a theme, you need to make sure that the theme you have selected to edit is the perfect one for your shop.

To do this, it helps to search by feature, collection, or industry. This will make it more specific to your store.

Open the Shopify Theme Editor.
Select Collections or Industries, or use the search bar to search for features.
Choose a category.
Refine your results by using the filters on the sidebar.

If you are wanting to browse a few extra to make sure that you have the best theme possible, have a look at some of the Shopify themes in our showcase of beautiful designs.

Step 2: Uploading your theme to Shopify

This step is only applicable if you found a new theme that you would like to use, and you are unsure of how to upload it to Shopify.

Once you have selected your choice, you need to upload your theme to Shopify (if it has not been selected from the Shopify Theme Store).

Go to the Shopify Online Store.
Select Themes.
Click on Add Theme.
Go to where it says Add file, and then select Upload file.

Once the upload is complete, you will be able to access your theme in the theme library.

It is important to note that the theme can be uploaded as a zip file, or through a connection from GitHub.

Step 3: Start the customization process

Customize your theme.

Go to the theme library.
Select the theme that you would like to edit.
Click on Customization.

Step 4: Choose what you would like to edit

The theme editor lets you alter how content is displayed on your store’s page. You can choose to add sections, move them around, and change their settings.

Go to the dropdown menu at the top of the theme editor.
Use this to help you navigate between pages and select which store page you would like to edit.

Step 5: Edit your Shopify theme

This editing must be done based on what you’d like to edit and change.

Use the customization options on the right side of the screen to edit your theme.

Step 6: Edit your Shopify theme settings

After you are happy with the content layout, you can edit the settings of your theme. These settings govern the overall feel and look of your online store.

Click on Theme Settings, found at the bottom left corner of your screen.
Use the menu that appears on the right-hand side of your screen to edit the theme’s settings to your preference.

Step 7: Preview your Shopify theme

Once you are finished editing your Shopify theme, it is time to preview it and make sure you are happy with how it looks.

Save your edits and changes.
Select Preview to view your new theme with all of its changes.
Go through all of the pages to make sure that you are happy with them.

Step 8: Publish your Shopify theme

If you are happy with the edits and you like how your theme looks, then you can go ahead and publish your new Shopify store theme.

Select Publish to launch your new Shopify theme.

Using coding to edit your Shopify theme

Using coding to modify your Shopify theme is a lot more difficult and tedious than it is using the theme editor.

And, if you are someone who is not familiar with coding, it is very easy to make mistakes and pretty much ruin your theme and any previous customizations.

So, if you feel that you’d like a few more technical changes and customizations made to your theme via coding, we’d recommend leaving it to the professionals.

HeyCarson has a team who is highly skilled in this, and who are experts in Shopify theme customization. We will be happy to help you and will save you a whole lot of time and frustration.

With this being said, there is one thing that you should know before getting your theme’s code edited. Editing theme code might mean that you need to update your Shopify theme manually rather than being able to do it automatically through Shopify.

Tips for editing a Shopify theme

Start with a great theme

The first thing that you need to do before you even start to edit, is to make sure you have a great theme. If you are reading this article, it is likely that you have already selected a theme you’d like to edit.

But, it’s a good idea to go re-evaluate that theme and make sure that it really is the best theme for your business. Make sure that it is easy to edit, and that it looks appealing.

The theme you choose is what captivates customers and is one of your biggest selling points. So, one of the biggest tips that we can give you is to make sure that you choose the right theme before you even start editing.

Make sure that you back up your Shopify theme first

This is one of the most important tips that we can give you.

If you start to edit a theme before it has been saved, you could lose your original theme completely.

Additionally, if you make changes that you are not happy with, but accidentally save them, you can always start again if you have a backed-up version available.

Once you have copied the theme, make sure that you rename it so that you don’t get confused between the copy and the edited version of the theme.

Don’t make too many changes in one go

Specific Shopify themes have certain functions. For example, some themes are designed to display massive store catalogs, whereas others are designed to specifically be a one-product store.

Making too many changes in one go could cause you to inhibit the operation of your theme, and cause it to be buggy and slow. So, it’s better to make small, incremental changes to your theme, and then preview the changes to see how it affects your store and its functionality.

Create a high attention retention landing page

Most themes don’t actually come with a landing page, which is disadvantageous. And, the themes that do come with a landing page sometimes contain too many variables for them to function coherently.

A big tip that we can give you is to edit or create a landing page that is attention-grabbing, and that will be high converting.

Whether your goal with your online store is to make sales, collect emails, etc., the most conversions are achieved by having a well-functioning and attention-grabbing landing page.

Take some time to edit your landing page in a way that will grab people’s attention, and help you achieve your goal, whatever it may be.

To create a landing page, we would suggest using a landing page app.

Edit your checkout page to avoid cart abandonment

Cart abandonment is actually quite a widespread problem for online store owners. There are plenty of reports and stats showing that users fill up their cart with things that they would like to purchase, and then just end up exiting and abandoning it completely.

This is a huge loss for business and something you’d like to avoid if possible.

Usually, this abandonment happens as a result of the checkout page not being optimized by your theme.

If you edit your checkout page to optimize sales, it might just be one of the most effective things that you could do for your store.

The layout of the checkout page is normally quite basic, and while this can’t be changed an awful lot, other elements can be.

Elements that we would recommend you edit would fall under “style”. Under this section, you can edit things like the banner image, the logo (and its size), background images and colors, accent colors, typography, button colors, and error colors.

Try and edit these elements to optimize the checkout page and generate more sales rather than cart abandonment.

Edit your thank you page to enable cross-selling

Once you have made your sale, your work is not entirely done. Being in the commerce industry, you want to sell as much as possible.

And now that the person has already made the leap to purchase from you, it is the perfect time to sell them more.

A great business move would be to edit your Thank You page in such a way as to promote cross-selling. This can be done by editing the Thank You page so that it automatically brings up personalized deals for the customer.

This will intrigue them and hopefully trigger some impulse buying.

Additionally, you could also edit it in such a way that client testimonials or short surveys pop up, or links to social media pages are present.

Try and edit the Thank You page so it is more than just that. Edit it to bring more traction and sales to your business.

Conclusion

Editing a Shopify theme definitely can be done with the Theme Editor app, and it can actually be quite fun, too.

As we mentioned, we don’t think it would be wise to try and edit a Shopify theme with code editing if you don’t have experience. There is a steep learning curve, and there is quite a bit of room for error. Rather leave a task like that to the professionals; you’ll be very grateful for it.

While editing a Shopify theme can be quite fun, and is possible for a novice to do, there are a lot of technical and tactical aspects to it, especially from a business optimization point of view.

If you really want your business to reach the next step, it might not be a bad idea to get a professional team, like the one we have at HeyCarson, to get involved. It is very easy to book a submit a task with us, and our wealth of skill and expertise will take your Shopify store to new heights.

A well-edited theme can do wonders to your store, so it is definitely worth the effort of exploring it. Whether it is done by you or a professional team, take some time to invest in editing your Shopify theme to ensure it is in a league above your competitors.

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Jonathan Kennedy

Jonathan is the founder at HeyCarson. He loves building communities, working on digital products and helping others reach new heights in their businesses and careers.

Check all articles from Jonathan Kennedy