

The Unofficial Shopify Podcast
Kurt Elster, Paul Reda
NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY, SUBSCRIBE FOR UNBEATABLE ECOM RECON – Every Tuesday since 2014, host Kurt Elster shares the Shopify success stories that nobody tells you about, straight from the entrepreneurs living it. Subscribe for a raw look at what it really takes to succeed on Shopify.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 29, 2019 • 43min
Actionable Analytics: Setting up Google Analytics for Shopify
Most of us have Google Analytics running on our stores. But what are we doing with that? And is it reporting correctly?
In this episode, we'll learn how to turn Google Analytics into a powerful business tool.
Founder & Head of Optimization at Test Triggers, Josh Frank walks us through start to finish an actually useful Google Analytics strategy.
Josh has helped countless eCommerce businesses boost their revenue with conversion optimization. Running close to a thousand A/B tests have helped Josh to distill the true optimization tactics from the b.s.
We'll find out:
How to set up your Analytics correctly so your data is clean
Why Google Analytics and Shopify report differently and what to do about it
Why Google Data Studio is a GAME CHANGER.
What you should actually be doing with your Analytics tool
Tune in for more details!
Resources
Google Analytics Audit Tool by Online Metrics
How to Remove Referral Spam in Your Google Analytics
22 Best Practices for Your Google Analytics Views
Google Data Studio
Device Experience Mining for Ecommerce Conversion
Josh's Free Bonus Resources for Getting Started
Test Triggers, Josh's Consultancy
Special Offers from our Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Recapture: Shopify's best abandoned cart recovery, over $65,000,000 recovered for stores just like yours.
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”

Jan 22, 2019 • 57min
Building The Perfect Homepage
You can think of your Shopify store's homepage as the storefront of your store. Just because someone walks by, doesn't mean they're going to come in and shop. You have to to present an alluring storefront to your customer to coax them down your sales funnel.
In this episode, Paul and Kurt break down the tested & proven homepage layout you should use to maximize your own conversions.
Paul and Kurt discuss:
The strategy to use when thinking about your homepage's layout
Why each element has a job (and what it is)
The right way to setup your image carousel
How to implement "safety nets"
and why you may be suffering from I-arrhea
Tune in for more details!
Resources
Tactical Baby Gear
Leno's Garage
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Outsource your Shopify customer service with Simplr

Jan 18, 2019 • 16min
Klaviyo Update: Beyond Black Friday [BONUS EPISODE]
In this brief bonus episode with Klaviyo's senior marketing manager, Alicia Thomas, you'll learn:
What seven and eight figures brands are doing differently with their email marketing
What you can do to get ahead with email marketing
Several upcoming events to grow your business
Links mentioned:
Klaviyo's Docuseries: Beyond Black Friday
Klaviyo:BOS - Use code KURT100 to save $100 on your registration
Meet Kurt, Paul, and other Shopify Merchants on the 31st in at our Shopify Meetup.

Jan 15, 2019 • 51min
The $700K Sale: Steal These Strategies
Shopify wunderkind Ezra Firestone walks us through his $700K holiday sale. DONT MISS THIS EPISODE.
We'll find out:
How 14,573 of their most engaged subscribers generated the most revenue
The breakdown of the holiday email strategy, which they used to build excitement and generate sales
The Holiday ad campaign generated a 10x return on ad spend
Why they opted for a simple, to-the-point landing page design this year (and why it was effective)
The exact way they optimize their product detail page
And more!
Tune in for more details!
Resources
BOOM by Cindy Joseph
Zipify
SmartMarketer
Great product photo example: Harry's
Ezra's product detail page example
Ezra's Holiday Sales Training
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Outsource your Shopify customer service with Simplr

Jan 8, 2019 • 53min
How to Lose Tens of Thousands of Dollars Starting an Online Business
Every year around this time, we see an influx of new people to our community looking to add to their income by starting an ecommerce business. According to a recent article in the Atlantic, "many people turn to a growing number of self-proclaimed experts promise they can teach anyone how to make a passive income selling cheap Chinese goods in the internet's largest store. Not everyone’s getting rich quick."
Paul and Kurt discuss:
Why it's easier to get scammed than you think
How to protect yourself
What to do instead
Tune in for more details!
Resources
How to Lose Tens of Thousands of Dollars on Amazon
Book: Profit First
FB Group: Shopify Entreprenuers
Blue Ribbon Mastermind
Podcast: The Dream
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Outsource your Shopify customer service with Simplr

Jan 2, 2019 • 41min
Bigger isn't Better: Why Staying Small is The Next Big Thing in Business
Paul Jarvis joins us to explain why he believes the real key to richer and more fulfilling work could be to not create and scale something into a massive corporation, but rather, to work for yourself, determine your own hours, and become a (highly profitable) and sustainable company of one.
Paul is the author of Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing For Business. He’s worked with professional athletes like Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal, corporate giants like Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz, and entrepreneurs with online empires like Danielle LaPorte and Marie Forleo. Currently he teaches popular online courses, hosts several podcasts and develops small but mighty software solutions.
Find out Paul's answers to:
What are some specific prompts that will help us question growth (so that we’re not blindly growing)?
Do you think the philosophies of “staying small” can reinforce self-limiting beliefs? Could it be holding someone back from their potential? Can upper-limits actually be a good thing?
Why is resilience so important for companies (or companies of one)?
Tune in for more details!
Resources
Company of One
Paul Jarvis' newsletter
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager

Dec 26, 2018 • 39min
Can You Design Your Way To Success?
Wrapping up the year, my business partner (and producer of this show) Paul Reda joins me to discuss his experiences as a Shopify theme developer with ten years of experience.
We'll find out:
The dark truth about ecommerce design
How you could be over-optimizing your store
And how to approach theme performance
Tune in for more details!
Resources
Tactical Baby Gear
Sand Valley Golf
Ethercycle
Paul Reda
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Outsource your Shopify customer service with Simplr

Dec 18, 2018 • 49min
How an ER Doc Built a Soap Company in 9 Months
This is the story of how a lemonade stand became turned into a successful skincare line.
In less than one year, today's guest began manufacturing all-natural soap, sold out of their first 5,000 units on Amazon, gained hundreds of positive reviews for their nine-item catalog, and launched a Shopify store.
All while working full-time as an ER physician with kids.
It's with those kids that our story starts. After raising $3,000 in the National Lemonade Day Program in Houston to help support an orphanage in India, they sought out to explore entrepreneurship as a family...
Tune in for more details!
Resources
iHeart Nature
iHeart Nature on Amazon
Jump For Joy Lemonade
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager

Dec 11, 2018 • 54min
Lessons from Growing Two 8-figure Companies
Tom Ness is co-founder and former CMO of Truth Nutra and former CMO at Kinobody, and has since left both companies to pursue his new venture, Rugged Naturals - a natural personal care product brand for men. Tom is a self-taught, self-starter with a passion for building companies that create a positive impact. He has helped scale two companies from inception to nearly 8 figures in revenue apiece, impacting hundreds of thousands of lives around the world.
We'll find out:
The hallmarks of a brand with 8-figure potential
Why selling in spite of your website represents a tremendous opportunity
How one book (Ask) was a game-changer for their business
Tom's "opportunity checklist" for identifying great businesses
What to focus on when scaling (and the number one problem faced by most marketers)
Tune in for more details!
Resources
Kinobody
Truth Nutra
Ask by Ryan Levesque
The ONE Thing
RuggedNaturals
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Special Offers from our Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Recapture: Shopify's best abandoned cart recovery, over $65,000,000 recovered for stores just like yours.

Dec 4, 2018 • 50min
10 Million Views: How to Tell Your Brand's Story With Help from a Professional Screenwriter
You already know the importance of sharing your brand’s story. I've told you over & over on this show, "People buy from people, not brands." Your story is the ultimate way to create an emotional connection with your customers so that they not only become raving fans, they share your story with their friends.
Unfortunately, no one tells you HOW to write your story. Worse yet, most marketing experts don’t even know what a story is. Our guest today demonstrates this to hilarious effect on yours truly.
Michael Jamin has been a professional sitcom writer since 1996. His many credits include Just Shoot Me, King of the Hill, Beavis & Butthead, Out of Practice, Wilfred, Rules of Engagement, Brickleberry, and Tacoma FD. He’s also served as Co-Showrunner/Executive Producer of Maron, Glenn Martin DDS and Rhett & Link’s Buddy System.
In his spare time, Michael runs marketing for TwirlyGirl, a unique line of girls clothing started by his wife, Cynthia. By applying his sitcom writing and producing skills to their marketing videos, Michael has helped grow TwirlyGirl into a multi-million dollar brand.
We'll find out:
How Micheal went from Hollywood to Ecommerce
The branding mistake we all make starting out
How to tell your story
What IS and ISNT story?
Elements of a great brand story
The importance of details to your story
How to find your brand’s unique voice.
How to craft entertaining Product Descriptions
What to do if you
Why video quality isn’t nearly as important as writing quality.
Tune in for more details!
Resources
TwirlyGirl - A unique line of girls clothing started by Michael's wife, Cynthia
Michael's Guide to eCommerce Branding - For those who want to improve their storytelling skills.
Cardboard Rocketship - A boutique marketing agency that specializes in creating funny videos that sell.
Share your thoughts
Ask a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group
Share this show on Twitter
Never miss an episode
Subscribe on iTunes
Join Kurt's newsletter
Help the show
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes
What's Kurt up to?
See our recent work at Ethercycle
Take a ride with Kurt on YouTube
Grow Your Store in 2018
Apply to work with Kurt to grow your store.
Prefer to DIY? Read a free sample chapter of Kurt's book Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free. Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com
Learn what's Shopify Plus got that regular Shopify doesn’t?”
Special Offers from our Sponsors
Try Bold Product Upsell free for 90 days
Improve your shop’s search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager
Save 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify theme
Recapture: Shopify's best abandoned cart recovery, over $65,000,000 recovered for stores just like yours.