A website for your shop that says what you carry and when you're open.

Do you need online checkout?

Ask three questions. Will you ship, or at least pack orders for pickup, on the same day most of the time? Can you keep stock counts current, so a shopper never pays for something that sold off the shelf an hour ago? Is the item worth the shipping, the way a pair of boots is and a $4 greeting card isn't? Three yeses means a store makes sense. One no means start with the site and add checkout later.

A store also costs money every month before it sells anything. Shopify's pricing page lists its Basic plan at $29 a month paid yearly or $39 paid monthly, plus 2.9% and 30 cents on each online card payment. The work adds up too. Every item needs a photo and a description, and someone has to update counts after every sale.

What goes on the homepage of a shop

• The name and what kind of shop it is, in one line. "Women's clothing and gifts in downtown Sheboygan" beats a tagline.
• Today's hours and the address, with a link that opens the map app.
• Three or four categories or brands, each with a photo of your stock.
• A photo of the storefront so people recognize it from the street.
• The phone number and a short form for stock questions.
• What's new this month: arrivals, a sale, an event, gift cards.

Keep hours right everywhere

Google's Business Profile help says that on certain holidays a warning may appear on your profile telling users your hours might differ. The fix is to set special hours in advance for those dates. The same help pages say special hours cover a closure of up to 6 days in a row. Google also asks for your regular customer facing hours, meaning the hours a shopper can walk in.

Hours live in more places than you think: the website, Google, Facebook, Apple Maps, Yelp and the sign on the door. Pick Google Business Profile as the one you update first, then send the same change to your site. Once a year, in January, write down every holiday you'll close or close early and enter them all at once.

Google's own guidance on holiday hours is here. About holidays on Google (opens in a new tab).

Put your stock on Google for free

Google lets a physical store show its products on Search and Maps at no charge. The Local Inventory app, which used to be called Pointy, syncs items from point of sale systems like Clover, Square and Lightspeed. If your system isn't on the list, you can add products by hand in the product editor. Google says you need a verified Business Profile, a physical store, and products with manufacturer barcodes. This is a Google feature you set up yourself, and it pairs well with a site that names the same categories.

Google explains how to show in store products here. Showcase in store products on Google Search and Maps (opens in a new tab).

See how pricing works. Pricing.