Global Nerdy

What is Shopify Experts?

Shopify Experts is an online directory of ecommerce experts who can help you get started with your Shopify shop, make it look and work better and get the most out of it. It’s where you can go to find designers to build themes, developers to make custom apps, marketers to boost your sales and other people with the skills, know-how and experience to help you with all things Shopify.

With over 16,000 shops powered by Shopify and more and more being added to that number each day, it’s not surprising that a community of experts who’ve mastered the in and outs of designing, customizing, running and promoting an online shop has grown around Shopify. Shopify Experts makes it easy for shopowners to find these people and tap into their expertise.

I want to hire a Shopify Expert to help me with my shop. What do I do?

That’s easy: just go to the Shopify Experts site at experts.shopify.com and start looking around! We’ve designed the site so browsing through experts, whether designer, developer, marketer or something else, is as easy as browsing through a Shopify shop’s catalog.

You can browse through our entire catalog of experts or search by area of expertise, geographic location and price…

…and you’ll see a listing of experts that tell you who they are, what they do, where they’re located, thumbnails of their portfolio and a rough figure of how much they charge.

You can click on any expert’s View Expert Profile button to get a more in-depth view of what they do, see their experience with the Shopify platform, read reviews from shopowners who’ve hired them, see more of their portfolio and contact them.

Right now, you can find designers, developers and marketers in Shopify Experts. We’re going to expand the categories soon to include photographers, accountants, legal assistance and more.

We’re making it easy to find the help you need to make your shop successful.

I have design/development/marketing skills and want to be listed in Shopify Experts. What do I do?

To join Shopify Experts, you need to:

• Be a registered Shopify Partner. To find out more about becoming a Shopify Partner, visit the Shopify Partners site and then sign up (it’s free)!
• Have proven Shopify experience! You’ll need to show us some of your previous Shopify work, whether it’s a theme you designed, an app you developed or a shop whose business you kick-started or improved. Your level of Shopify experience is a major factor in determining your acceptance into Shopify Experts.
• Apply to be listed in Shopify Experts. Go to the Shopify Experts site to get the process started.
• Once approved, pay the fee: It’s $1000 per year or $100 per month.

I’m thinking about becoming a Shopify Expert. Is it worth it?

We think it’s worth it. Everyone at Shopify, from the development team to sales and marketing to support and Gurus, treat Shopify Experts as the go-to people. If you ask any of us for a recommendation for a developer, designer, marketer or other person to help you with your shop, we’ll direct you to a Shopify Expert. It only makes sense: Shopify Experts are by definition people we’ve vetted and have proven track records.

Shopowners think it’s worth it. In Shopify Experts’ four-week beta period, which we ran quietly, without any marketing, there were nearly 1,000 shopowner-to-Expert communications. Shopowners want your expertise, and Shopify Experts is how they’ll find you.

Shopify Experts think it’s worth it. Here’s what some Experts who participated in our beta program had to say:

“Since the day Experts soft-launched I’ve received at least a handful of enquiries a week. All of them have been excited, about setting up their online presence, and about using Shopify to do it. I’ve been loving it! I have one full project done and paid, two more are mid-way through and I am discussing several others.”

“Connecting shop owners with Shopify experts is yet another brilliant idea from Shopify. Experts bridges the gap, making it that much easier for shop owners to find help and for contractors like myself to find Shopify projects. In the first few weeks of it’s release alone I was contacted 50% more than usual through the experts website. As always, I love everything about Shopify and this is just another feature that customers will benefit from as well as designers, developers, etc.”

“Shopify Experts has brought about a significant increase in enquires since the beta launch. I have received approx 30 requests for quotes, ranging from small theme updates to larger projects that cover branding, design and quite complication integrations. I have closed on several projects already, generating in the region of $18,000 worth of business. Not bad for a 4 week beta(!)”

Sign up now!

Shopify Experts is now out of beta and in full swing. If you’ve got expertise that Shopify shopowners need, sign up, get listed and get found!

This article also appears in the Shopify Technology Blog.

Although the video below is from 2006 (it’s from the first Railsconf), it’s still pretty representative of the Ruby on Rails development world: most of it seems to happen on Macs. From the Supreme Overlord DHH down to the newest newbie typing “rails s” on the console for the first time, it looks as though most Rails projects out there start their lives on computers with Apple logos:

(That’s me going “Mac…Mac…Mac…” as I tally each laptop. I can’t be certain, but I believe that the guy in the brown zip-up sweater at the 0:09 mark is Tobias Lütke, Shopify’s CEO and the guy who offered me my current job. Strange how things work out.)

It used to take a fair bit of jiggery-pokery to set up a Rails development environment on Windows. That’s not the case anymore, thanks to RailsInstaller, a single double-clickable setup program.

RailsInstaller installs the following on your Windows machine:

• Ruby 1.9.2-p290
• Rails 3.1.1
• Bundler 1.0.18
• Git 1.7.6
• Sqlite 3.7.3
• TinyTDS 0.4.5
• SQL Server support 3.3.3
• DevKit

I used RailsInstaller to set up my Windows laptop for Rails development this weekend, and it worked like a charm. I took some screenshots along the way and present them below.

Double-clicking on the RailsInstaller executable gives you a familiar welcome window:

Blah blah blah legal stuff. Just give me the software and I’ll worry about compliance later, okay?

By default, RailsInstaller installs all its software into the C:\RailsInstaller directory, creating it first if necessary. I broke away from the default and instead specified that the software should go into a new directory called C:\Rails, a name that I thought made a little more sense:

And we’re off!

Less than two minutes later:

And finally:

With the install wizard complete, we get kicked into command line mode to set up git and SSH:

And that’s it! I checked to make sure it was working by creating a new Rails app:

…we have lift-off!

The first time you run Rails on Windows, you might get a message from Windows Firewall asking if you’re cool with Ruby communicating with the outside world on private and/or public networks. I said “yes” to both:

So far, Rails on Windows, as installed by RailsInstaller, has been working like a charm for me.

Links

• RailsInstaller.org: Site for the all-in-one Rails-on-Windows installer. They say they’re working on Mac and Linux versions, which they hope to release in the future.
• The RailsInstaller 1.1.1 video: A screencast showing RailsInstaller in action.
• The RailsInstaller Google Group: Having trouble with RailsInstaller? Talk about it here.

This article also appears in the Shopify Technology Blog.

The deadline for submissions to the Shopify Fund passed at the stroke of midnight, and in the end, over 100 Shopify app proposals were received and two dozen developers threw their name in the hat to build an app from our App Wishlist. These are better numbers than we expected; thanks to everyone who applied!

And now, it’s our turn. We’ll be spending the next few weeks reviewing all these submissions, choosing the apps that we think will best serve Shopify shopowners and development teams whom we think will best be able to build apps from our Wishlist. If you submitted an app or offered your services to build something from the Wishlist, we might be contacting you shortly to ask for more details about your app submission or credentials.

Then, in January, we’ll start funding the first series of apps. If your app gets selected, or if you get selected to write an app from our Wishlist, here’s what happens:

1. At the start of the project, we’ll pay you the first half of the funding, which I like to describe as being “like a literary  advance, but nicer”. Keep reading to find out why.
2. You work on your app. We’ll check in with you regularly during this time.
3. When the app’s done, you’ll get the second half of the funding.
4. Your app goes into the Shopify App Store. Shopowners will be able to purchase and install your app. For every sale of the app, the revenue share between you and Shopify will be 50/50; you receive 50% and we receive 50%.
5. Until Shopify’s total of the 50% share equals the funding given to you, the 50/50 rev share will be in effect. You’ll still make money on each sale!
6. Once Shopify’s 50% share is equal to the funding given to you, the revenue share changes to Shopify’s standard 80/20 ratio for sales in the Shopify App Store: you receive 80% and we receive 20%.

As I said earlier, the deadline for submissions to the Shopify Fund has come and gone, but as always, we like to leave the communications lines open. If you have any questions or comments about the Shopify Fund, feel free to use the form on the Shopify Fund page or drop us a line at fund@shopify.com.

This article also appears in the Shopify Technology Blog.

Today is November 30th, the last day for which you can apply to the Shopify Fund. If you’re a developer with an idea for a Shopify app or a developer without an idea for an app but the skills to write one, go visit the Shopify Fund page and sign up! Just do it soon, because the deadline’s coming up quickly.

The Shopify Fund is our way of creating a win-win situation for both Shopify and developers. It lets us pay developers to work full-time on a Shopify app (an application that makes use of the Shopify API to add features to or extend the capabilities of Shopify shops or that integrates Shopify shops with other services) without them having to take on other jobs to pay the bills. In exchange, we get more apps in the Shopify App Store, and with those apps, more features and functionality and in turn, happy shopowners.

Starting tomorrow, the day after the deadline for applying to the Shopify Fund, we’ll review the submissions. We’ll spend the month of December looking at people’s proposed apps or the resumes and portfolios of developers who don’t have app ideas and want to build apps. Then in the new year, we’ll make our final decisions, start funding app development and get more apps into the Store. If you want a more detailed explanation of how the Shopify Fund’s funding works, see this earlier article: The Shopify Fund, Explained.

If you’ve got an idea for a Shopify app or the chops to write one, apply to the Shopify Fund while there’s still time!

This article also appears in the Shopify Technology Blog.

Shopify and Twilio are Holding a Contest!

Shopify, the ecommerce platform that makes it easy to set up online shops, is teaming up with Twilio, the platform for voice-over-phone, voice-online and SMS messaging, to create a developer contest where you’re challenged to write an app that makes use of both platforms.

Perhaps it’s an app that phones customers or sends them an SMS message when their order has been shipped. Or voice notification to a bricks-and-mortar store that tells the staff that a customer is coming to pick up their order. With a little creativity, some coding and our APIs, you can write an app that’s both useful and cool enough to win one of our prizes…

The Prizes

First prize is from Shopify: it’s Edward from Shopify’s preferred rig! A hot-rodded 11-inch Macbook Air with 256GB solid-state drive and 1.8 GHz CPU along with a gigantic 27-inch Apple Cinema Display. Small and light for when you’re on the go, a nice big screen for when you’re at home, the office of wherever you decide to keep the display and plenty of horsepower to build apps.

Second prize comes from Twilio and it’s a robot hacker’s dream: a stacked LEGO Mindstorms swag bag with the NXT 2.0, a bundle of touch, light and sound sensors, and a Bluetooth dongle to keep your creations connected. I, for one, welcome our new LEGO robot overlords.

Third prize is a joint Shopify/Twilio effort: a Kindle Fire, the newest multi-touch full-color hotness from the world of ebook readers.

The Rules

We try to keep things simple – it’s about building cool apps, not being buried in regulations!

• Entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM PST Sunday December 11th.
• Entries must use Twilio and Shopify APIs
• Entry cannot be an app that has previously won a Twilio Developer Contest
• Bonus points for submission to the Twilio App Gallery and the Shopify App Store
• Extra bonus points for use of Twilio Client

Okay, How Do I Get In on This Action?

• Find out more about the contest on the Twilio blog.
• Start working on an app!
• Check out the Shopify API documentation and the Twilio docs.
• Enter the contest using by using this form.
• Ask questions on the Twilio forums.
• Ask questions on the Shopify API Google Group.
• Email the Twilio help email address.
• Email me at joey@shopify.com.

This article also appears in the Shopify Technology Blog.

The Shopify App Store has over 100 apps to extend the features and capabilities that already come “out of the box” with your Shopify shop. We’ve been featuring apps from the Store for the past little while, covering apps that help you run your shop, make tedious tasks easier and help you connect with your customers.

Today, we take a look at Kudyou, an app that lets you offer your customers cash rewards that they can save or give to their favorite causes. We interviewed the Kudyou team and shared their answers.

What does Kudyou do?

Kudyou helps shopowners generate higher sales though personalized customer rewards. It allows brands to present one reward that customers can personalize to suit their unique needs, either by saving up cash or donating to any cause of their choice.

What are Kudyou’s key features?

Kudyou does the following:

• Generates higher and more profitable sales by creating campaigns where customers can personalize their rewards, post-purchase
• Helps your customers support causes they are very passionate about, which leads to more referrals and sharing of offers
• Delivers these campaigns in a cost effective manner. Kudyou is more like payments processing pricing than daily deals charges
• Better presents the causes you support and extend the reach of your existing socially responsible initiatives to a receptive Kudyou community
• Learns about what causes your customers support in order to create more focused sales campaigns in the future

Why should shopowners use Kudyou?

Kudyou wants to help shopowners generate profitable sales and more beneficial engagements with consumers.

Shopowners benefit from higher sales and referrals from customers sharing these more meaningful offers with their friends.

Kudyou manages the campaign funds and social sharing of these offers on behalf of shopowners while delivering a great redemption process for shoppers in the process.

Tell us a little about yourself.

Kudyou is a core team of 4 people (with the usual support from loads of others) looking to build our start-up venture.

We’re actually split between 2 locations on 2 continents! We’re all Irish born, but John is based in Silicon Valley and has lived in the US since 2000. The rest of the team, Hugh, Karl and Des are all based on Dublin, Ireland. John and Hugh have known each other for over 16 years but that’s small change compared to Karl and Des, who met in kindergarten!

John had the original idea and is the business guy but only possesses enough technical knowledge to get himself in trouble. Hugh is technical so he manages the product strategy and John’s ideas. Karl
and Des, well they’re the engine, the coders who make all this a reality.

So, that’s Kudyou. You can find us in all the usual places, so check us out on the web, Facebook, Twitter etc. We look forward to hearing what people think about what we’ve built and seeing how people use it.

Where did you get the idea for your app?

We built this app for a number of reasons. Firstly, we felt that this was something missing from the market across all channels. Based on feedback from merchants, shoppers, donors and causes we set out to build our vision of this functional utility that would enable everyone to benefit. One of our advisors, Tamsin Smith who previously ran (RED), terms this “Beneficial Buying”.

Shopowners are looking to create better engagement experiences, enhance the attributes of their brand and get closer to their customers. From a sales campaign perspective, offering discounts
is easy but competing on price is not always a winning strategy; there needs to be more. Shopowners are doing a lot more socially responsible campaigns and these do resonate with consumers. Over
$200 billion is donated in the US by individuals each year and there are over one million active non-profits, so the question becomes from a shopowners perspective, which causes are right for them and their customers?

Giving is something very personal as is the need to sometimes save money. People want the choice to save or give to something they care about and want sales campaign to be relevant, genuine and
transparent. We believe that a lot of people are looking for more meaning, choice and control in their life. Giving customers the ability to choose how they would like to direct their reward is something positive and an experience they are willing to share with friends.

With all this in mind we set about building out the Kudyou service. We also knew that we would need to partner with others. Tamsin introduced us to Shopify since she was talking with Shopify about her
new business venture. We also knew some others who wanted to try out Kudyou, such as Willow Glen Charm, so we referred them to Shopify, given it’s such a great and easy platform to sell from.

It’s going to be interesting to see how people use Kudyou, from all perspectives.

Where can I find out more about Kudyou?

You can find more about the Kudyou app on its page in the Shopify App Store and about Kudyou on their site.

This article also appears in the Shopify Technology Blog.

There’s nothing like word of mouth to drive customers to your doorstep. Consider the following:

• Over three out of four shoppers read reviews before purchasing online (Jupiter Research).
• Over one-third of shoppers say that reviews are the biggest influence on consumer electronics purchases (BIGresearch).
• According to Internet Retailer, user reviews can increase conversion rates by as much as 75%.

If you run an online shop, you’d do well to harness the power of word of mouth, and Yotpo, one of the apps in Shopify’s App Store, is a great way to do this. We talked with Yotpo co-founder Tomer Tagrin about his company’s app and we’re sharing what he told us in this article.

What does Yotpo do?

Yotpo is the first social micro-reviewing app. It enables your customers to read reviews from his/her friends and provides a quick and elegant way for them to write social reviews through the your shop. Our app uses patented software to build a social graph of your customers and provides social data on your top customers and leverages it to to increase your sales and customers’ experience.

What are Yotpo’s key features?

Yotpo’s key features are:

• Builds a social report on your customers, improving sales and engagement.
• Enables customers to read and write reviews using their social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Foursquare.
• Provides an analytics tool for each reviewer, which draws customers to come back to your shop and check their reviewer analytics regularly.
• Improves your shop’s SEO using social data.
• Builds a social graph of your shop’s the site social graph of customers.
• Full customization capabilities.
• Stays in touch with your customers: after making their purchase each customer is automatically emailed and invited to review the items he/she bought.

Why should shopowners use Yotpo?

If you’re looking to make more money, Yotpo is for you! Yotpo gives your shop an easy, beautiful social review system to engage your customers, bring them back and buy more.

If you want to get a clear view of your shop’s top customer, Yotpo is for you! It establishes the social graph of your shop’s customers and lets you know who your top customers are.

If you want to give your customers a reason to come back, Yotpo is for you! Yotpo entices customers to make return visits to check their reviewer analytics.

Tell us a little about yourself.

Yotpo is an 8-person machine based in Tel Aviv. We’re divided into R&D, sales, marketing and customer service and got an $800K investment in early 2011. We’re big believers in providing quality content to our customers. Check out our blog; we have even an article from Shopify’s CEO!

We’re going to disrupt the way users read and write reviews. We’re working on taking reviews into the social space by both providing e-commerce sites a true social solution and by building customers a fun, influential way to read and write reviews. We’re working on being a cross platform solution for shopowners and customers.

Feel free to reach us at through our social networking profiles on Twitter or Facebook!

Where did you get the idea for Yotpo?

Me and my co-founder Omri got the idea from just being internet shoppers. We were frustrated with the way reviews worked on ecommerce sites. Many of them carried very cool products that I wanted to review but the writing process was bad — really bad.

We wanted to enable customers to write social reviews and influence their social graph. We also talked to many online shopowners saw that they weren’t using reviews to establish a true social graph of their store.

If you think about it, the review space isn’t all that different from the social netowrking revolution. Yotpo is just that: a true social, fun and influential way to read and write reviews among friends.

Where can I find out more about Yotpo?

You can find more about Yotpo, along with over 100 other apps to add features and functionality to your Shopify shop, at the Shopify App Store.

This article also appears in the Shopify Blog.