Shopify Website customization

Ask & Offer

Topic summary

  • New Shopify store owner has built a basic site using Shopify’s free option and is adding products.
  • Seeks advice on whether a “purchased website” (paid option) is recommended over the free Shopify site to improve customer searchability (discoverability in search).
  • Has contacted a provider who quoted $500 for customization and recommended moving to a purchased website; wants confirmation on the necessity and value of this expense.
  • No replies or decisions yet; the request for guidance on SEO/searchability benefits and the reasonableness of the $500 customization remains open.
Summarized with AI on February 23. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi All,

I just started the new Shopify store and am adding the items. So, is it recommended to have purchased a website rather than shopify free website to show in a searchable by customers? Created a basic website, but with all the required details, and need to do customization and reach someone, and they are charging $500 for customization and recommending a purchased website.

Please confirm all these, so I can move forward with the suggestions.

Thanks,

Aparna

2 Likes
2

As a customer, would you rather trust and buy from ToysRus.com or zheuk.mytoys.brandnew.idontknowwhatimdoing.myshopify.com?

You can easily answer your own questions simply by putting yourself in the customer’s shoes.

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3

So business with a custom domain or in simple a domain name is more trustworthy than a .myshopify.com domain.

But you don’t necessarily need to buy a paid theme to start out, you can definitely create a website with any of the free themes by Shopify depending on your niche. You just need it hosted somewhere either using Shopify or third party like hostinger, GoDaddy, etc.

Also when it comes to customizations, tes if you have a certain feature or section or anything that is unique in terms of layout, style or functionality that you cannot add with the native editor by Shopify you will need either apps or custom code customisations and that depends person to person or agency to agency depending on who you are reaching out to. For some of the stuffs you can use free apps that Shopify provides to have control yourself but that list could go long depending on your requirements and prove fatal as you grow.

Best

1 Like
4

I agree with you, thanks for the reply

5

Thanks, Shadab, for your detailed explanation.

7

One last question. Paying $500 is a normal charge for customizing the website?

9

Thank you for your reply. Yeah, I need to create categories and place the items into them. How do we get a custom domain instead of Shopiy domain and replace the existing Shopify domain to that custom domain?

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11

Don’t confuse a Domain Name with a Paid Theme.

  1. Domain: You absolutely need a custom domain (e.g., Google Search ). It costs about $15/year. Using the .myshopify.com URL kills trust instantly.

  2. Themes: Shopify’s free ‘Dawn’ theme is actually faster and more SEO-friendly than many $300 paid themes. Unless you need a very specific ‘look’ that a free theme can’t provide, stay with a free one for now.

  3. Customization: $500 to ‘set up’ a basic store is high if they are just changing colors and uploading products.

Quick question: What specific features are they telling you require ‘customization’ or a ‘purchased website’? Usually, you can achieve 90% of a professional look using the built-in Shopify editor for free."

12

As mentioned before this will vary from one person to another. And most importantly it depends on your specific use cases and customizations, the layout and functionalities of your store. When it comes to adding products and images and content, this is something you have full control of and don’t necessarily need help with. You might need a helping hand when creating different layout templates, etc which might be confusing in the start but nothing that you cannot understand since it doesn’t require you to have a coding background. There are yt videos where you can get help to set up a store for a start.

Yes if you are hiring someone for both design and development that feels ok, but if you have a design, a layout structure ready and just need it developed then it will again depend on the layout and functionalities because Shopify customizer can feel a bit limited and would need adding code via app or custom to meet certain needs. That being Shopify has come up with lot of features and new themes as well that are a good starting point and dawn is the all-time favourite from the previous theme versions.

Why not share your project details, what you are actually looking to build and how you would like to go about it?

Best

1 Like
13

Thank you all for your valuable replies. I completed most of my store and just need to get the custom domain from Shopify, which looks more trustworthy. Thank you for all your help again.

Thanks,

Aparna

14

Hi Aparna,

You don’t need to purchase a separate website. Shopify is your website platform. Even on the basic plan, your store can be searchable once you:

Connect a custom domain (yourbrand.com)

Set up proper SEO (titles, descriptions, keywords)

Submit your sitemap to Google

Regarding the $500 customization, it depends on what’s included. If it’s strategic optimization (layout, conversion structure, branding), it may be fair. If it’s just minor theme edits, it’s likely overpriced.

Focus first on a custom domain and strong store structure. You don’t need another website just proper optimization of the one you have.