Shopify Partner Program: Essential Guide To Join 20.000+ Partner Network

 “I earned $2000 for a sale with the Shopify affiliate program”

The above quote by Pierre from AskEustache is a testament to what can be achieved as a Shopify partner by referring people to the sleekest eCommerce platform there is.

Side Node: if you already joined Shopify Affiliate Program feel free to check Shopify affiliate programs from other themes, services, and apps partners in the ecosystem.

Through a little bit of diligence of course.

But this isn’t the only way to make money as a Shopify Partner. Now don't get me wrong, it’s not all sunshine and lemon drops. But like most things in life, patience and consistency will get you far.

Shopify seems to do away with clear, concise language regarding their partner program, leaving many a folk confused about how they can benefit from it.

In an attempt to explain it in layman’s terms, allow me to paint a picture in your mind so you can start earning too.

Contents:

• How Does Shopify Partners Program Work
• How Much Do Shopify Partners Make
• Tools and Training Available
• Shopify Partner Ease of Use
• Shopify Partner Highlights
• How to Get Started
• Shopify Plus Partners
• PageFly Affiliate Program
• A future of opportunity

Selling stone

I know a woman named Louise who recently got into stonemasonry at the ripe age of 45. In the space of 5 years, she developed the skills to carve intricate stone sculptures, documenting her journey on her blog.

Which gained HUGE traffic.

She now wants to show the world that working with stone isn’t dictated by age or gender. She wants to empower females around the world to get their hands dirty.

It’s finally time to start monetizing her hard work. She decides she to start selling sculpting workshops to spread the love of stone.

But despite her raw, gritty passion for limestone and granite, the intricacies that come with developing a Shopify store to sell her services are beyond her realm of knowledge.

Plus, the intricacies of eCommerce isn't where her passion resides.

THIS, is where a Shopify Partner swoops in.

There are tens of thousands of people that need help turning their passion into income. Becoming a Shopify Partner means these people can leverage your skills to do so.

So, whether you're reading this as a Shopify merchant, freelancer or simply someone with a keen interest in eCommerce, you might have already heard about the Shopify partners program.

When push comes to shove, most of us aspire to have a sustainable, passive income that will allow us to live a life of relative freedom. The Shopify Partners program offers several methods for creating extra revenue for anyone who's willing to put in a bit of groundwork.

But is it worth it? And can you truly create a reasonable, sustainable income using this system?

That’s exactly what I'll be exploring with you in this article, along with the fundamental avenues for revenue generation.

Let’s get stuck in.

How Does Shopify Partners Program Work

In a nutshell, the partner program is an “ecosystem”, usually made up of freelancers, created to help boost their businesses and generate ongoing monthly revenue through commissions.

We know by now that any great company has an even greater ecosystem. It erases complexity and fortifies processes.

The partner program gives you access to a pretty wide range of training courses and documents for scaling your business. Revenue is usually made through referrals to Shopify paid plans and selling services like apps, themes, and web design services.

Who it’s for:

• Developers - Graphic, web, app, and theme developers
• Marketers - Freelancers and agencies
• Influencers - Social media, blog, YouTube influencers
• Designers - Graphic, app and web designers 

Consider the Shopify Partner Program a brand new market ripe with opportunity.

Just as we need laborers, electricians, and plumbers to build brick and mortar stores, Shopify needs coders, designers and marketers to optimize online stores for clients.

How Much Do Shopify Partners Make

There are in fact, a few different ways to make decent money as a Shopify Partner.

1. Are you a web designer or developer?

You can charge merchants to create their Shopify store (development store) or improve their existing one. If they love it, you receive 20% of their paid Shopify subscription plan every month. All the tools and training to help you are in the Shopify Partners dashboard.

2. Are you an app developer?

Create a Shopify app that merchants can use to improve their store’s conversion rates. Charge a monthly recurring subscription fee and keep 80% of the sales.

3. Can you create Shopify themes?

By doing so, you’re entitled to keep 70% of your theme’s sales.

4. Are you an influencer?

Refer your audience to Shopify and receive a bounty for each one that uses your unique affiliate link.

If you’re a Shopify app developer, you could benefit from joining the developers Facebook group to share and hear the experiences of others in the group.

Apply to be a PageFly Affiliate

Tools and training available

One of the strongest selling points that Shopify Partner offer is the extensive training tools available to you, all from your dashboard. As with any other profession, earning money as a Shopify Partner requires skills.

For example, did you know they have a certified App Development Exam? Certifications like these are key for building credibility as a leader in your field.

One click on Education within your dashboard will give you access to several different courses to build on your skill set.

As seen below, Partner’s have the opportunity to become certified in Business Fundamentals, Product Fundamentals, Theme Development, and App Development through the Partner Academy.

Certifications will always put you in a better position to get clients and make more money.

And then there are Shopify Partner Perks. Consider Perks professional tools to help grow and run your business, at a discounted price. All accessible from your partner dashboard.

Beyond this Shopify also have the Shopify Experts program for top-tier partners and Priority Partner Support. This kind of support goes a long way and can be accessed through phone, email and live chat from your dashboard.

Just note that applications for Shopify Experts are currently on hold.

In summary, you need to become more valuable to the marketplace to increase your earning potential. Luckily, Shopify is willing to help you do so with a range of training programs

Shopify Partner ease of use

If you haven’t noticed by now, Shopify is all about usability and making the once complex processes of eCommerce easy.

The Shopify Partners program follows the same principles. It’s user-friendly, written in digestible language and most buttons are self-explanatory.

You might have also noticed the help buttons at the bottom of each page within your dashboard. These are links to articles relevant to the section you’re in.

Finding helpful information no longer becomes a wild goose chase. Shopify lay it all out for you in a non-intrusive way.

The layout, color scheme, navigation and system as a whole is far from bloated, giving you a sleek experience that we love and come to expect from Shopify. Menu options only expand when clicked on to make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by choice and getting quick answers is a breeze.

Shopify Partner highlights

Without raving about the benefits of being a Shopify Partner for too long, so I’ll just lay out the highlights for you:

• Extensive training courses
• Certification exams
• Easy to use interface
• Priority support system
• Multiple revenue streams
• Solid Shopify referral commission
• Affiliate tools for insights

Note: As part of Shopify’s inevitable global expansion, they’re offering a 300% affiliate commission rate for referring merchants in France, Germany, Japan and Singapore!

How to get started

Becoming a Shopify Partner is free, as are most of the training resources. All you need to get started is an email address.

Once you’ve gone through the Partner Academy courses and are completely familiar with the platform, you’ll want to start looking for opportunities.

I took it upon myself, for context, to check the demand for Shopify related projects and the most popular freelance websites.

A quick search on UpWork with the term “Shopify Developer” displays 1,147 job postings for development stores, store optimization, theme building, business growth, website design and more.

On Freelancer the search term “Shopify” displays 218 jobs waiting to be bid on.

As Shopify expands day by day, so does the demand for Shopify Partners and experts.

Harley Finkelstein, Shopify Chief Operating Officer gives us some insight into recent earnings. As expected, Shopify merchants sold $15 billion worth of products in 2016.

But in the same year, Shopify Partners earned a whopping $430 million. That’s more than Shopify earned selling their own software.

Shopify Plus Partners

Some of the top commerce brands in the world use the Shopify platform to sell their good - the most notable being Kylie Cosmetics. As a Shopify Plus Partner, you could be responsible for helping some of these top brands become operational and grow through Shopify.

You'll get access to resources and training, beta features and invitations to events. It’s an opportunity to actively take part in the future of eCommerce on a global scale, and play a part in molding it. Shopify Plus Partner application.

PageFly Affiliate Program

Similar to the Shopify referral system, we've implemented the PageFly Affiliate Program to give influencers and developers the chance to earn a passive income by recommending the app.

With a generous lifetime commission structure, it’s yet another way to generate an extra revenue stream.

Earn 50% commission for the 1st month and 30% commission from the 2nd month. For the life of the subscription.

Also, because PageFly is partner-friendly, you can use it to create development stores for clients with the top tier plan for free, for life.

Apply to be a PageFly Affiliate

A future of opportunity

Overall, there is a slew of fantastic features, resources, and avenues to make money by becoming a Shopify Partner.

But, the training and tools on offer trump all else. Skills are what make the difference between a high-income earner and the average Joe, and they should be continually developed.

The Partner Academy is a place for you to build these, especially if you want to deepen your understanding of the Shopify platform to help your clients.

The Shopify Partners program extends its reach for opportunities to people of all skills, from the tech-savvy developer to the social butterfly.

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