Posts Tagged ‘Magento’

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

4 comments »

Posted in Platform

Tags:

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.

No comments »

Posted in E-Commerce, Tracking & Analytics

Tags:

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

6 comments »

Posted in Platform, Tracking & Analytics

Tags:

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

5 comments »

Posted in Platform

Tags:

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

19 comments »

Posted in Platform

Tags: