Posts Tagged ‘Magento’

Magento Hosting Guide

July 29th, 2010

Finding a reliable hosting company that fits your needs can be tough. As with any other platform, Magento has it quirks and needs to be set up on a decent server. Here are a few of the hosting providers I’ve dealt with and some basic info on their services and pricing.

Nexcess:

Nexcess, a Magento Enterprise Partner, has a few hosting plans that are optimized specifically for Magento. For a starter site, the Nexcess mag|SIP 100 account works well enough. If you have a site with many products or a lot of traffic, you may want to try one of their better plans.

  • Support: The support team is available via email only (no phone support), however their support team is VERY responsive and I consistently get replies to my emails within 10-15 minutes.
  • Pricing: The Magento optimized plans start at $24.95/month. They do have other plans that start as low as $6.95/month, but these are not recommended for use with Magento as you will have very high page load times.
  • Up Time: I have been using Nexcess for several years for a few different clients and I have found their up time to be pretty good. They do have occasional downtime, but they are very responsive in such cases.
  • Features: Nexcess uses the SiteWorx control panel, it has everything you need from DNS Settings, Email Setup and MySQL management.

Bottom Line: Nexcess is a great host with reliable service. Recommended.

Sign Up w/ Nexcess Hosting »

Crucial Web Hosting:

Crucial Web Hosting, a Magento Professional Partner, has two levels of hosting plans: Split-Shared and Split-Dedicated. The Split-Shared plan is perfect for a start site. While larger sites will want to go with the Split-Dedicated option.

  • Support: The support team is available via email only (no phone support), however their support team is responsive and I consistently have gotten replies to my emails within 15 minutes.
  • Pricing: The hosting plans start at $25/month.
  • Up Time: I have used Crucial for a few clients and I have found their up time to be pretty good.
  • Features: Crucial uses cPanel, so if you are familiar with cPanel you should feel right at home.

Bottom Line: Crucial Web Hosting is a reliable host with very simple and efficient service. Recommended.

Sign Up w/ Crucial Web Hosting »

Simple Helix:

I have not used Simple Helix, but I have heard great things all around. They offer 3 simple plans, the starter which is $20/month, professional for $50/month and semi-dedicated for $75/month.

Sign Up w/ Simple Helix Hosting »

Blue Host:

They only offer a simple shared hosting solution for $6.95/month. If you are just looking for cheap hosting to get started with, Blue Host may be for you. This is not optimized for Magento but will handle a small site.

Sign Up w/ Blue Host »

NOTE: Links in this article contain affiliate IDs, if you sign up by clicking on any of the links I will get commission. Please support eCommerceCircle.

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Shopping Cart Migration Made Easy With Cart2Cart

June 22nd, 2010

Any small business eCommerce retailer that has tried migrating from one platform to another, knows how complicated it can get to successfully migrate all your information to a new platform.

Recently I tried moving a shopping cart from Zen Cart to Magento… with simple products it’s no big deal. You export. You modify in excel. You import. The problem is that it is not always so simple. If your store has product options on most products, it is usually extremely complicated to migrate platforms. It doesn’t have to be, it can be simple with Cart2Cart (aff link) made by MagneticOne.

Migrate Shopping Carts Easily

Since I used Cart2Cart for a Zen Cart to Magento migration, I figured I’d share the process with you.

Price

Before you start, keep in mind that this is a paid service although it seems to be reasonably priced. I tried a cart with less than 500 products and the cost was $49.00 for the products only. The estimate including the customers and orders was $129.00. You can get a price estimate here.

Migration Process – Step 1

The first step after you buy credits is to enter the source shopping cart information. As of this time, Cart2Cart supports 22 standard carts including Magento, osCommerce, ZenCart, PrestaShop, CRE Loaded and more… After you fill in the required information, you will need to download the Cart2Cart “bridge” files and upload via FTP to the root directory of the source cart.

Zen Cart - Source Cart

Step 1: Enter Source Cart Information

Migration Process – Step 2

The next step is to fill out the information of the destination shopping cart and to upload the “bridge” files via FTP to the destination cart as well.

Destination Cart

Step 2: Enter Destination Cart Information

Migration Process – Step 3

In the third step you need to select the data that you want to transfer as well as any upgrade options available for your cart.

Step 3: Select Migration Options

Migration Process – Steps 4, 5 and 6…?

Step four will help you match up the currency options from the source cart. Step five will let you do a demo with 10 items… Click “Skip Demo” if you want to do a real migration..

It should be harder, but it’s real easy. Try it and let us know how it worked for you…

NOTE: I have not tested this with a lot of products (394 to be exact). I have no idea if it can handle a few thousand products. It sounds like it can…

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How To Set Up The Facebook Like Button For Magento + Facebook Insights

June 1st, 2010

When Facebook announced they were launching a “Like” button for the whole internet, you knew you had to get in on it. The Facebook Like button is part of Facebook’s new Open Graph Protocol which allows users to easily share content (including yours) from across the web. For the developers amongst us, you can get all the code and info on Facebook’s developer site. For the rest of us, here are 4 Magento Extensions that will easily integrate Facebook’s Like button.

Facebook Like Button Extensions

The first two are simple implementations of the standard Like button. The next two are more complex integrations with many more options and with Open Graph support.

Pick one, buy it, install it.

  1. Facebook Like Button by RetailEvolved
  2. Facebook Like Button by TSDesigns
  3. Facebook Social Plugins by Magento Ireland
  4. Facebook Like Button with Open Graph Support by Soleun

Track Like Button Activity With Facebook Insights

Once you have the Facebook Like button installed, you’ll want to set up Facebook Insight for Domains. This will allow you to see what is happening in the world of Facebook in relation to your store.

  1. Go to Facebook Insights
  2. Click green “Insights for your Domain” button
  3. Enter your domain name and select your account from the drop down list.
  4. Copy the Meta Tag that Facebook gives you and paste into your Magento Admin -> System -> Configuration -> Design -> HTML Head -> Miscellaneous Scripts
  5. Confirm the domain with Facebook

You should now be able to see all kind of cool reports in Facebook Insights.

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10 Free Premium Magento Themes

May 24th, 2010

Want a Magento theme that is professional and free? Check out this list of free premium Magento Themes from around the web.

1 – ElectroMagik

ElectroMagik is a minimalist professional design. Lots of white-space, easy on the eyes.

Info | Live Demo | Download

2 – Absolute Theme

Absolute Theme is a slick&smooth blue theme for Magento.

Info | Live Demo | Download

3 – Classic Theme

Classic Theme is a professional theme that comes in 9 colors.

Info | Live Demo | Download

4 – HelloWired

HelloWired has a very simplistic clean look with space for gallery images on the home page.

Info | Live Demo | Download

5 – Foot Prints

Foot Prints has a cool earthy tone to it.

Live Demo | Download

6 – EversonStore

Everson Store is a grayish theme that would work well for a clothing store.

Info | Live Demo | Download

7 – HM Modern

HM Modern is a yellowish modern looking theme.

Info | Live Demo | Download

8 – Glam

The Glam theme makes your store a glamorous one.

Info | Live Demo | Download

9 – Grayscale

The Grayscale theme is minimalistic, beautiful and sleek.

Info | Live Demo | Download

10 – Oops!

You got ripped off. I only listed 9 free premium Magento themes. You’ll have to check back for more another time.

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Posted in Platform, Site Design

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4 Quick Tips On How To Boost Magento’s Speed

December 10th, 2009

3380560365_e007c91946[1]

Magento is a great open source eCommerce platform. Merchants love it for it’s full feature set as well as it’s ability to add-on features via extensions. One issue that a lot of people run into is the page load speed. Magento is very picky about the server set up. Here are some tips to help boost the performance and speed of your Magento store.

1 — Query Cache Size

Change the default Query Cache Size, it should be 32 or 64mb.

Magento Blog: Modify the configuration for your MySQL server to take better advantage of your server’s RAM. Most Linux distributions provide a conservative MySQL package out of the box to ensure it will run on a wide array of hardware configurations. If you have ample RAM (eg, 1gb or more), then you may want to try tweaking the configuration. An example my.cnf is below, though you will want to consult the MySQL documentation for a complete list of configuration directives and recommended settings.

Example my.cnf:

example_cnf

2 — Disable Access Time Logging

Magento Wiki: For Linux servers, if you have access-time logging enabled on any of your mysql, web server or cache partitions, try turning it off for a performance boost. If you’re using ext3 or reiserfs there may be faster journal write methods you can use. For more information see Linux.com.

3 — Enable KeepAlives in Apache

Make sure your Apache configuration has KeepAlives enabled. KeepAlives are a trick where multiple HTTP requests can be funneled through a single TCP connection. Since the setup of each TCP connection incurs additional time, this can significantly reduce the time it takes to download all the files (HTML, JavaScript, images) for a website. More information at Apache.org.

4 — Memory Based File Systems

Are you using a memory-based filesystem such as tmpfs? This helps Magento move faster because of all the reads/writes.

Use a memory-based filesystem for Magento’s var directory. Magento makes extensive use of file-based storage for caching and session storage. The slowest component in a server is the hard drive, so if you use a memory-based filesystem such as tmpfs, you can save all those extra disk IO cycles by storing these temporary files in memory instead of storing them on your slow hard drive.

For more in depth tips on how to boost performance on Magento, see the Magento Blog.

Image Credit: Viernest

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How To Track Magento eCommerce Sales In Google Anayltics

December 9th, 2009

In a previous post we covered how to set up 3rd party tracking pixels in Magento. Setting up Google Analytics eCommerce tracking is much easier. There are two steps to this process:

Magento Configuration

In Magento, navigate to System –> Configuration –> Google API –> Google Analytics. Select “Enabled” and enter your Google Analytics account number. (The account number can be found when you login to Google Analytics on the main page, right next to the site URL.

Magento-Google-Analytics

Google Analytics Configuration

In Google Analytics, navigate to Analytics Settings –> Profile Settings –> Main Website Profile Information. Set “eCommerce Website” to “Yes, an E-Commerce Site”. This will track orders, total order amount, products ordered and quantity. It will also allow you to break down revenue by geographic location.

Google-Analytics-eCommerce-Tracking

Bottom Line

eCommerce Tracking is very simple to set up in Magento. You may as well take advantage of it.

Read how to track eCommerce sales in Google Analytics on other platforms. You can also track Site Search behavior in Google Analytics.

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Posted in E-Commerce, Tracking & Analytics

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How To Setup Conversion Tracking In Magento

December 2nd, 2009

3rd Party Conversion Tracking

Magento Commerce has the ability to track eCommerce sale with Google Analytics out of the box (more on that in a future post). Something that a lot of merchants struggle with is how to set up conversion tracking for other tracking software or comparison shopping engines.

ConversionTracking

How To

Here is an easy hack to track conversions for Shopzilla, PriceGrabber and the likes:

Open the file: app\design\frontend\XXXX\XXXX\template\checkout\success.phtml

At the end of the file, add the following code, this will create two variables with the order number and the order total:

<?php
	//Get Order Number & Order Total
	$order = Mage::getModel('sales/order')->loadByIncrementId(Mage::getSingleton('checkout/session')->getLastRealOrderId());
	$amount = number_format($order->getGrandTotal(),2);
?>

After the above code snippet, copy and paste the tracking code from the third party analytics software of comparison shopping engine. Insert the following variable where they suggest placing the order ID and the order total:

<?php echo $amount; ?> // Order Total
<?php echo $this->getOrderId() ?> // Order Number

Here is a code example for the Shopzilla conversion tracking tool:

<script language="javascript">
	var mid            = 'XXXXX'; // Your Shopzilla Merchant ID
	var cust_type      = '';
	var order_value    = '<?php echo $amount; ?>'; // Order Amount
	var order_id       = '<?php echo $this->getOrderId() ?>'; //Order Number
	var units_ordered  = '';
</script>
<script language="javascript" src="https://www.shopzilla.com/css/roi_tracker.js"></script>
<script language="JavaScript" src="https://eval.bizrate.com/js/pos_193511.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Image Credit: Search Engine Journal

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Posted in Platform, Tracking & Analytics

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10 More Essential Magento Extensions For Your Store

October 15th, 2009

In a previous post we featured 10 really cool and useful Magento extensions for your store. Here is another selection of 10 more great extensions.

1 – Layered Navigation Pro

Layered Navigation Pro allows you to customize the look and functionality of the layered navigation/search filters on your Magento store. You can use sliders, images, multiple check boxes etc… In addition this extension uses AJAX to load the new search results in real-time and you change your selection.

Layered Navigation Pro

Extension Page | Demo | Price: $99.00

2 – Google Maps Store Locator

Great for eCommerce sites with multiple brick and mortar locations. Very easy to set up, just enter all store locations and Google Maps latitude and longitude coordinates and your done.

Google-Maps-Magento-Store

Extension Page | Price: FREE

3 – Visualize Your Attributes

Adds the ability to display attributes with icons instead of drop down lists, radio buttons and check boxes.

Visualize Your Product Attributes

Extension Page | Price: $49.00

4 – IDEALIAGroup LightBox

This extension will install a wonderful and ready-to-use LightBox widget in your Magento store.

Magento LightBox Image Display

Extension Page | Price: FREE

5 – FreshBooks Integration

This extension allows you to import your Magento Orders in real time into your FreshBooks account.

FreshBooks Integration Magento

Extension Page | Price: $19.00 per Month

6 – Shop By Manufacturer

This is an alternative the the Shop By Brand extension we featured in our original Magento extensions post. It has all the basic features need to shop by brand but is not as feature rich as the other one.

Shop-By-Manufacturer

Extension Page | Price: $29.99

7 – Order Editor

This extension enables you to edit order information in-line without canceling and creating a new order. Does not allow editing of any fields that would affect order total.

Extension Page | Demo | Price: $69.00

8 – Facebook Connect Social Shopping

This extension adds the ability for your site visitors to connect with their Facebook friends without leaving your ecommerce store. They can recommend items to their friends or ask advice about specific items on your site.

Facebook-Social-Shopping-Extension

Extension Page | Price: FREE

9 – Twit Your Products

Take advantage of Social Media and add the ability for your customers to send products to Twitter with a customized Tweet.

Twitter-Twit-This-Product

Extension Page | Price: FREE

10 – Vertical Navigation

Don’t like the default horizontal menu? This extension switches your store layout to use a vertical menu bar.

Vertical Navigation Menu

Extension Page | Price: FREE

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10 Great Magento Extensions For Your E-Commerce Store

August 27th, 2009

Magento Commerce is a great open source platform. Here are some extensions that will help your store stick out from the crowd and add vital functionality to your business.

1 – Shop By Brand

Shop-By-Brand

This extension creates landing pages for each of your brands, which include information such as Brand Name, Logo, Description etc… The landing page will have an SEO link like this www.example.com/brands/sony.

Extension Page | Demo | Price: $99.99

2 – MouseOver Image Zoom

This extension replaces the default Magento image zooming feature. When you mouseover the image it will open a box to right where it will zoom into the image (sort of like Endless.com).

MouseOver-Image-Zoom

Extension Page | Price: $0.00

3 – Blog

A blog built from scratch for Magento. It’s not as extensive as WordPress or Movable Type, but it has all the basics. Should get you from point A to point B.

Magento-Blog

Extention Page | Price: $0.00

4 – Drop Shipping Management

If you do a lot of drop shipping you will definitely need help managing your orders. Magento is a great system, but it has no Drop Ship management features. This extension is pretty robust with a price tag to match.

Drop-Shipping-Module

Extension Page | Demo | Price $500.00

5 – Minimum Advertised Price

If you sell products that are protected by a manufacturer’s minimum advertised price policy (MAP), then this is for you. As always, rules are meanato to be broken. You can use this extension to work around the MAP policy withour ruining you vendor relationships.

Minimum-Advertised-Price-Policy

Extension Page | $149.00

6 – QuickBooks Integration

This is vital for survival. Accounting is key to the success of your business. This extension will synchronize your orders with QuickBooks. Definitely worth the price.

QuickBooks Integration THUB

Extension Page | Demo | $250.00

7 – Ticketing System

This extension will help you keep track of your customer service inquiries. It will help you save time by managing your workflow and will ensure that no emails fall through the cracks.

Ticketing-System

Extension Page | $0.00

8 – Color Swatches

Selling something in multiple colors? T-Shirts, Faucets, iPods? This is for you. It will add the ability to put color swatches and change the image based on the color selected.

Color-Swatches

Extension Page | Demo | $69.00

9 – Exploded Menu

Replaces the standard drop down menu with an exploded menu featuring multiple columns. Comes in handy when you have many categories.

Exploded Menu

Extension Page | $0.00

10 – Useful Product Downloads

This is great if you want to give your customers the ability to download PDF specification files for products. Just upload any file type and you’re done. Easy. Easy.

Useful-Product-Downloads

Extension Page | Demo | $49.00

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