How to set up a storefront for digital products

A stranger landing on a storefront decides almost at once whether to stay, and they decide on three things: who is this, what do they make, and is it for me. Everything on the page either answers one of those or gets in the way. A name, a bio that says what and for whom, and a first product whose cover shows the thing: that is a store a stranger understands. Banners, sections, feeds and videos come after, and only when they add something.

Use the same name you use everywhere else, so that someone who found you on one platform recognises you on the next. If your name is taken, add what you make rather than a number: "mara_prints", not "mara_2". It should be easy to say out loud and easy to type.

The bio is the part most people rush, and it is the part that decides whether a stranger stays. Write it for someone who has never heard of you, in two or three sentences:

Avoid "passionate", "curated" and "premium"; they tell the reader nothing. If you have one piece of proof, use it: how long you have done this, how many people use the thing, where your work has appeared. One true line beats three adjectives.

Covers are what people see first and what they compare. Make them consistent: the same style, the same way of showing the product, readable at thumbnail size. A cover should show the actual thing, a page, a screenshot, a photo of the print, rather than a stock image or a title on a gradient.

A banner is optional. A photo of your actual work, a spread of the planner, a shelf of prints, a frame from the comic, tells a visitor what the store is in one glance. If you do not have a good photo, a flat color is better than a stretched, busy or stock one.

With a handful of products, one shelf is clearer than several. Sections earn their place when a buyer would otherwise have to scroll past things they do not want. When you add them, name them by what the buyer is looking for, "Planners", "Free", "Beginner", not by how you think about your work. Put the product you most want a stranger to see first.

Link only to places that are alive. A link to a channel with two posts from last year does not help you; it tells the visitor the store might be abandoned too. One page with every link on it, like the Links page that comes with a troimarket store, is more useful than six scattered buttons, and it gives you one address to put in every social profile. If your platform counts clicks, look at which links people use and drop the rest.

A feed on a store, posts, notes, news, has a feed's weakness: the date on the last post is the first thing a visitor reads. A feed whose last post is from months ago looks worse than no feed at all. Post when you have something ("just published", "here is how I made this", "the bundle goes up Friday"). If you will not keep it up, turn it off.

A short video at the top of a store is optional and most stores do not need one. If you make one, make it the thirty seconds you would say to someone who just asked "what do you make?", with your work in the frame. Do not let it hold up the launch.

A store nobody is sent to is an empty room. Put the store link in every bio you have: every social profile, your email signature, your video descriptions, your website. If you have more than one place to send people, use one links page as the single address and put the store at the top of it. Then share the store itself whenever it changes: a new product, a new section, a new note, a new banner. Each one is a reason to post the link again, and each post reaches people who missed the last one. The first-sale guide has the full list of places and a schedule.

Then open the store in a private browser window and read it as a stranger: would you know what this person makes, who it is for, and what you would get?