My current website is on the BigCartel and about a year ago I started the process to migrate over to Shopify since I had kind of outgrown the BigCartel site. My plan was to have both sites running until I felt enough traffic had moved over to my shopify site that I would shut down the BigCartel site. It’s now been a year and get very few orders on my shopify site ( aprx 1 order every 2 month ) verses a regular daily group of orders on my other site.
So I’m scratching my head on why… and maybe that its possibly as simple as a setting that is causing the issue.
I have done some google searches on some of my products and they are showing up on the searches with links to my shopify site.
Just to clarify I have not pointed my domain name over to the shopify site. The reason was that I just didn’t want to cut the cord until I knew I had enough traffic.
Business - Not willing to buy your own domain & business email usually steers people away.
Store Design - It’s been a year and it looks pretty bad. Elements overlapping, product images uneven, lack of creativity. Lack of business address in footer (Successful Stores don’t just have it on Contact Page, it’s in the footer). Powered by Shopify still there. Again, it’s been a year and it looks like you just started this morning. Mobile looks really awful.
Collections & Menus - It’s better to group by category rather than to list every collection without any rhyme or reason.
Overall - It seems you stuck yourself in a “marketplace merchant” position. Lakesidemolds.com needs to be in the address bar, the primary domain, not the redirecting one. You also need to spend a lot of time on your shopify site and design it.
This is actually a pretty common situation, and it’s probably not one single setting causing it.
Right now your BigCartel site has the real domain, history, and customer trust, while the Shopify store is on a temporary URL. Even if people find the Shopify site through Google, that kind of URL can seriously hurt confidence and conversions, especially for returning customers.
By running both sites without moving the domain, you’ve basically split your traffic and authority in two. Shopify usually doesn’t start performing properly until it becomes the main site with the main domain. You could point the domain to Shopify and leave BigCartel up temporarily with clear links or notices, then phase it out once traffic and orders stabilize.
This is just my personal suggestion and does not constitute an authoritative reference.
Your Shopify store lacks a domain, favicon, and logo, which affects its trustworthiness.
Also, did you run Facebook and Google ads for your shopify store?
The situation you are describing is a common hurdle during migrations, but the primary reason your Shopify traffic is lagging is likely due to how you are managing your domain and SEO authority. In the eyes of search engines and customers, your BigCartel site holds all the “trust” and history, while your Shopify site is currently seen as a secondary, unverified copy.
The strategy of waiting for traffic to move over before pointing your domain is actually what is preventing the traffic from moving.
Since your custom domain still points to BigCartel, that site retains all the SEO authority you have built over the years. Google views your Shopify site (using the Redirect Notice URL) as a new entity with no history.
Furthermore, having the exact same products on two different platforms can lead to “duplicate content” issues, where Google may penalize one of the sites or simply choose to ignore the newer one in favor of the established original.
The main issue is likely that your Shopify site isn’t using your main domain, so regular visitors, repeat customers, and SEO traffic are still going to BigCartel. Until you point your domain to Shopify, build redirects, and promote the Shopify store, traffic and orders will stay low. Also check navigation, product visibility, and marketing channels to match BigCartel’s setup.
Hi there @lakeside-molds I think getting your Shopify site its own domain, email, and logo would be a good start to be honest. The Shopify space thrives on trustworthiness and authenticity so you must do all you can to boost the score value of your store in these two main areas.
When you’re done with that, you can then move on to further optimizing your store by including product categories, FAQs as well as customer reviews on the homepage.
Thank You everyone for the great info and suggestions. I have a much better understanding of the process now.
One follow-up question…
Currently I have the site setup so that when the customer starts the checkout process it doesn’t require them to login ( its setup to have a code texted to them from SHOP )
Do you recommend leaving it this way, or changing it to have the customer setup an account and login?