PrestaShop is adopted by a huge number of entrepreneurs throughout the world. It is amongst the most prominent e-commerce platform starter solution, gloating of robust and broad features as well as integrations to enable users to assemble their online stores from level one. The framework is supported by a huge community with more than 800,000 members who are attempting to keep PrestaShop only committed to open source online business.
PrestaShop Features –
Vast selection of customizable e-commerce themes
PrestaShop Web Agencies
Mobile commerce
Intuitive Interface
Designer Pattern
Robust Store Builder
Instant Install Features
E-commerce SEO
Ecommerce Analytics
More than 50 world-class payment gateways and solutions
Shipping setups
User-friendly and Hassle-free customer checkout
Integrated customer service mechanisms
Configurable Tax Rules
PrestaShop – an open source platform for online business- can be downloaded from the PrestaShop site and hosted in the cloud.
So, in case you looking to create a website using PrestaShop, in this guide, we will show you the basics on how to build your e-commerce website using this comprehensive software.
Install PrestaShop Using Softaculous App Installer
Login to your cPanel account and in cPanel home, look down to discover Softaculous App Installer. Tap on PrestaShop in E-business menu on the sidebar.
Then, click on the Install Now button, you will notice the interface to give subtle elements of the installation.
In Software Setup, pick the version you need to install. Select the protocol you need your site to utilize on loading, you can select http://or http://www. Or on the other hand you can load your site safely by choosing https://www.. or https://. In case that you want to have the secured protocol then you should configure SSL/TLS for your site.
Next, pick the domain on which you need PrestaShop to be installed. In the event that you are intending to install PrestaShop not on any folder but on the principal site eliminate the content from the In Directory field. It ought to be empty since if there is any content in this field, Softaculous will make a directory and will introduce PrestaShop into it.
Now, you should give a name to your store in Store Name field. Then enter the path for your admin folder. It is vital that you utilize something difficult other than administrator with the goal that your site is secured from potential powerful attacks. So, what you write in this box turns into your pseudonym for the admin panel. For instance, when you have utilized robust admin, you will see that the admin login panel will be open on http://your-domain.com/robustadmin.
Lastly, in the Admin Account, give a desired username, password, and email for your Administrative account.
Now you just need to tap on the Install button and that’s it Prestashop in installed on your site.
Installing PrestaShop Theme
A Prestashop theme is the arrangement of design and functionalities that can be empowered for your online store. Prestashop is packaged with its own particular standard theme.
There is a quick, efficient yet proficient answer for changing the design of your website.You can simply visit the Prestashop Themes.For each template you can see the features, pictures and alsotry their online demo.
With just a couple of clicks, you can purchase the theme you liked and activate it on your website within a few moments.
When you download the theme, it would be a .zip file.This will take you to the page of the theme installation. Here you can install the theme in a couple of different methods – by importing from the web via URL, over FTP connection or by importing a file from the computer.
Then just head to your dashboard and at the preferences and themes option, you will see the “add new” theme button. After that you have to add a file, find your theme and click the save button.
Then go again to the Design option > Theme and Logo page and see the recently installed theme. As you hover it, a Use this theme button would pop, just click on it.
Finally, your new theme is now installed and activated!
Adding Products
Firstly, you have to add a new category of products. Login to your admin panel, go to Catalog > Categories and click Add new category button.
On the next page add information about your category. Afterwards, click Save button and it’s done.
Now, comes the real part- adding products.
Go to Catalog > Products and tap on the blue NEW PRODUCT in the top right corner.
On the next page, you must enter the product details like name, category, price, image, quantity, etc.
When done click on the Save button. On enabling it, the product will be available for your audience to buy. You may quickly enable a product by pressing the red cross beneath the Status option. The status would active on clicking it and now you would view a green tick rather than the cross.
Alternatively, to change the status of products in bulk – choose the preferred products and utilize the BULK ACTIONS drop-down menu.
SEO and URL Management
To activate this component, go at the dashboard, preferences, and then you will SEO and URLs. Here you flip at Yes for Friendly URL. Click save and at set shop URL you should let the default choices. Yet in case that you have not installed PrestaShop in your root directory, you ought to write the directory where PrestaShop is introduced.
Then when you go to the product, you can see that you have the name of the product in URL. You can change the arrangement of these URL when you go down at the route to products.
You can likewise modify the URL, Meta keywords, Meta descriptions, and page title from the page edit area.
The last segment is the Robots File Generation.
Tapping on the Generate a robots.txt file will automatically include a robots.txt file with exclusion mandates for directories and files that are not intended to be public and ought not be indexed.
This is just the procedure for a basic website. Extensive development is required to a full website and testing is required to ensure its stability. For this, an experienced web development company with skilled Prestashop experts can help you in the easiest way possible.
Prestashop can deal with a boundless number of page categories and static pages utilizing its CMS characteristic, yet there are circumstances when a blog may be vital, or essentially further developed CMS feature that PrestaShop or its plug-ins don’t offer. This is the place where more composite tool like WordPress may be helpful.
WordPress is presumably the most mainstream open-source content management system right now, with a significant number of the sites using it for different purposes, from a simple blog to a comprehensive corporate site.
Why you must consider integrating a WordPress blog into your Prestashop store:
To benefit as much as possible from your content marketing on your site.
To assist Prestaashop with ranking more effortlessly on Google and search engines.
To boost indirect deals and keep away from cart desertion.
So, your clients can have a superior user experience and best purchases when exploring your blog in the setting of your store.
With just one tap, the WordPress integration to PrestaShop platform enables you to make use of the WordPress blog framework in your PrestaShop as though it were a native Prestashop addon!
Let’s figure out how.
In case that you need to utilize WordPress as your CMS platform, and PrestaShop for dealing with your online store, instead of one of the eCommerce modules for WordPress, at that point there are a couple of alternatives for integrating these two platforms.
In the event that you would like to give PrestaShop a job to deal with the online store functionality, so you integrate the WordPress in a subdirectory or on a subdomain keeping in mind the end goal for enabling you to add a blog to your store.
Integrate your Prestashop online business on the blog. Or on the other hand, have a WordPress blog in your online shop: this is the arrangement you can incorporate. For integrating the two platforms you can follow the given three options.
The three solutions are –
WordPress PrestaShop Module
WordPress installed on the fundamental URL and prestashop on a subdomain/subfolder.
When you adopt this strategy, at that point, there are some PrestaShop plug-ins accessible that enable you to incorporate content from your WordPress website, or links to it, on your store. These modules can be obtained at the PrestaShop commercial store.
It empowers you to show the most recent posts from your blog on the e-commerce store, and the most recent items from your e-commerce store on your blog.
PrestaShop WordPress Plugins
PrestaShop installed on the primary URL and WordPress on a subdomain/subfolder.
There is likewise a module for WordPress that can support the integration between the two platforms.
One is PrestaShop Integration which is a free download from the WordPress.org module catalog. This module includes a choice of shortcodes and widgets to your WordPress webpage which can be utilized for showing items on your blog.
In case that you do utilize these two platforms in a pair, at that point some sort of integration is suggested as it can help in guaranteeing your clients know about the items you have on offer when seeing the blog. And furthermore, keeping the shopping cart in view for reminding them to watch out prior to leaving the blog.
One more addon is the Custom PrestaShop on WordPress module which enables you to integrate a few components of your store into your blog. These incorporate the header and footer, permitting you to make a more predictable look between the two sections of your site.
WordPress and PrestaShop introduced independently.
When you desire to keep each of them separate, the integration is simple. The most difficult thing to do will be to have a constant theme for both the platforms. You can either modify each platform’s default theme so that they seem as alike as possible or let a developer or designer create two uniform themes for both of them.
Remember that the WordPress theme API uses its own PHP function, while the PrestaShop theme API uses Smarty.
Step by Step Integration Guide
Step #1
Begin downloading the recent variant of WordPress, unzip the file in a folder on your PC, and afterward copy all the content in the folder of your web space also give that folder a name as a blogging.
Step #2
Afterward similarly install PrestaShop, however copying the files on the server to another folder, naming it e-store.
Step #3
Now, after naming the folders separately blogging and e-store respectively, you will locate them on the website either WordPress (at www. [Domain]. [Ext]/blogging) and Prestashop (at www. [Domain]. [ext]/e-store) and you should continue with the installation of both the platforms. Follow the guidelines of WordPress and Prestashop platforms for successful installation of both.
Step #4
Once the installation is done you can begin utilizing the two platforms yet endeavor to load the same graphical theme on both of them, else the audience may not understand much about it. Actually, in reality, by doing as such you will have two websites. When you can ensure that they are as same as possible, the client won’t be at all displaced.
For an ideal integration, a relatively empty WordPress theme at the CSS level must be set up on the grounds that nearly everything is naturally imported from the current PrestaShop theme. Nonetheless, you should copy the XHTML association from the prestashop theme to the WordPress theme. You can change the references of HOOK by the accompanying code –
<div class=”prestashop-sidebar”><ul class=”xoxo”>
<?phpdynamic_sidebar( ‘hooktop-widget-area’ ); ?>
</ul></div><!– .prestashop-sidebar –>
PrestaShop Integration Hook
This widget is employed to embed one of the principle Prestashop hooks –
Top of pages
Footer
Left column block
Right column block
PrestaShop Integration Products
This widget is utilized to show the item list appended to a WordPress blog post. In the event that there is no item attached, no output is formed. This widget has been obsoleted by the accompanying one.
Six gadgets are accessible to show your inventory data: Cart, top sellers, categories, new products, and promotions.
You can also use the shortcode to add information from Prestashop in your WordPress blog posts. For instance –
A button to add an item to the cart.
The picture(s) of your item.
Or on the other hand any item’s information like its name, cost, or short description.
You can likewise show a list of items.
Prestashopmultishop and WordPress multisite
This add-on works effectively with PrestaShop multishop and WordPress multisite traits. You can likewise connect a few WordPress websites to a PrestaShop blog.
Conclusion
In the end, the WordPress integration to PrestaShop offers you the following features:
Addition of a Smarty layout in WordPress.
Programmed addition of the HOOK_HEADER specifically the CSS code originating from the prevailing PrestaShop theme and also the JavaScript code.
Including one of the 4 fundamental PrestaShop hooks without a WordPress sidebar by means of instantiations of the PrestaShop Integration module.
Including a PrestaShop plugin as a widget.
Including a list of items connected to a WordPress blog post as a widget.
Blogging has confirmed to be the most powerful inbound promotion process for online stores. Thus, e-commerce sites powered by WordPress and PrestaShop integration can quickly begin blogging for their company.
Building the high-grade design with WordPress blogging and giving the most high-level checkout for online shopping with PrestaShop platform – that’s the ideal online success cocktail, and this is what WordPress-PrestaShop integration assist you with. After integration, the websites that blog successfully are building brand awareness, driving more consistent traffic, and creating shareable content.
From clothes to groceries, apartments to jewelry, we are buying everything on the web these days. This is a direct result of the reality that we find online shopping more intriguing and advantageous. In this way, various eCommerce sites are released each day. There are numerous open source eCommerce sites accessible with different themes, templates, and plugins. To fulfill this need PrestaShop is an eCommerce platform that professionalizes online stores in a consistent way.
It is exceptionally prescribed for medium to small-scale business. Comprising of different capacities, more than 310 dynamic features, 25,000+ plugins, and a lot of attractive themes PrestaShop has achieved wide notoriety among e-Commerce site proprietors.
The PrestaShop developers build up your site with all the basic data, features, and give it another expert look. An excess of technical learning isn’t required to modify your site with this platform.
In case that you need your webpage to pick up an aggressive edge and emerge from other online sites, at that point using suitable PrestaShop Development features is an unquestionable requirement.
PrestaShop Development Features incorporate
Templates and Theme:
Most of the customers visit an online store by judging the from its appearance. Hence, planning a site is one of the organized things that ought not to be disregarded. To enhance the image of your online business a proper website is certainly needed. So, with Prestashop, your sites will have a tendency to be more mobile friendly, SEO friendly, and easy to understand with a magnificent look and feel.
Plugins:
PrestaShop has a huge number of plugins to meet all business prerequisites of online store traders and clients. Your specialist development team will design, create, and execute PrestaShop augmentations according to the necessities and details. In this way, you can upgrade the ability of the e-store.
Integration:
You can incorporate PrestaShop sites with numerous payment gateways to offer smooth and secure payment administrations. With the assistance of this integration, you can maintain an effective online business without fretting over the payment procedure in your e-Commerce store.
Why pick Prestashop as your e-Commerce solution?
Here is a couple of the great reasons I’ll like to specify why:
It is free and always will be with open source community specialists supporting it to retain it that way.
Building on the web stores from the basic is very simple. Store components are adjustable so you can acquire their corporate components and make the stores yourself.
Stores and interior capacities can be enhanced with add-on plugins.
Master and complete training contents are given to you at all levels, guaranteeing that you get the most out of your Prestashop online store.
Integrations with a wide multitude of driving business administrations and applications.
Segment your visitors depending upon rational built-in algorithms or build custom target groups.
Broad capabilities for overseeing product listing, manufacturers, suppliers, payments, and transportation.
Getting started
Though as we said earlier PrestaShop is open-source and totally free still it is a hosted platform. So, you’ll have to get to their website to download it.
Drop your name, email address, and status as either a merchant, freelancer or organization are totally discretionary.
How to Install PrestaShop?
Extract the Prestashop package locally on your PC.
Transfer the package through cPanel’s File Manager or utilizing an FTP client. Remember that your uploaded package ought to dwell under the web root folder for your account- the public_html directory, or otherwise under a subdirectory of it.
Before starting the installation, another database ought to be made. For this, you can easily add the corresponding user to the database from cPanel >> MySQL Database.
What benefits you’ll enjoy after downloading the package?
The Dashboard
Otherwise called the Back Office – it is a really a smooth panel. Not at all like numerous other online business platforms available, the PrestaShop dashboard isn’t content heavy, nor does it offer compressed menus and pages.
You will find that Quick access to the product listing, profile settings, and your store’s home page is given at the top menu bar.
The sidebar can likewise be effortlessly minimized, enabling the primary window to become the dominant focal point.
The top menu, that gives access to most registrations, latest orders, messages, achievements etc. are flawlessly designed and un-intrusive, even with its drop-down menus. Along with this, you will get lots of accessible functions and feature in the left-hand sidebar, which are all listed beneath a convenient search bar.
Concerning the real dashboard page, you’ll rapidly discover how fact and detail drove it is. Charts and tables are the central part, and everything looks greatly professional and modern. You could state that it’s all the more a control center than a conventional dashboard.
Dashboard stats incorporate various diagrams which show deals, profits, orders, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Different widgets show things like current visitor action, abandoned carts, open shopping carts, etc.
Further, you can even integrate your dashboard with the Google Analytics module, which thus gives you more stats without the necessity to drop your PrestaShop admin panel.
Step by step guide to Edit the Home Page of your PrestaShop
Sign in to your back office, click “Modules” tab, and discover “Home Text Editor” module under “Tools” menu.
Now you click to “configure” button on the right side. There you can change what you need, or simply delete to not display anything.
You can change the image by uploading a new one, yet you can’t erase the image from your back office. To delete it login to your FTP and discover “editorial” module under “/modules/article/”. Then you will see picture named as “homepage_logo.jpg”, by deleting a picture from here, it won’t be shown on the homepage.
Adding Products
Normally, product creation assumes a major part with regards to choosing your online store. Obviously, PrestaShop has perceived this, and have done an intensive work in this fundamental region.
You can utilize the Quick Access menu over the highest point of the dashboard to rapidly locate the “New Product” menu.
The product creation page is very much detailed, enabling you to describe your product broadly. This incorporates determining whether the product is virtual or physical, its name, reference codes, description, visibility etc.
Duplicating products is likewise an element effortlessly available from the product creation page, alongside singular product deals stats for a current product. You can likewise review products before publication, which is dependably a convenient choice.
Generally speaking, there is an abundance of traits concentrated on product creation, and PrestaShop has figured out how to classify them well. None of these additional product determinations are compulsory. Thus, you should feel comfortable uploading a wide range of products, regardless whether they are exceptionally detailed or simple.
How to Add Products to PrestaShop?
Log in to your admin panel and go to the Catalog tab. Click the “Add new subcategory” button.
On the next page, you need to add the information of your category.
Now you can add a few products to this category. Go to the Catalog page again and tap on the “Sample category” interface in the table of categories.
Tap on “Add a new product” with a specific goal to add an item to the chosen category. Then enter the details for your item – name, price, image, qualities, etc. on the next page.
Click on either “Save and stay” or the “Save and back to the category” relying upon whether you are finished entering data for the item or not.
When you save and launch it, the product will be accessible for your visitors to buy.
Templates and Themes
Through the PrestaShop Official Marketplace, you’ll get more than 1,500 templates. more than 600 of them designed by certified accomplices whose pricing begins from around $84. Alongside 500 of the premium templates whose price range starts from as high as $157.
Over that, there are further templates created by other outsiders. That sums up as a lot of templates for us! Community created templates run from totally free, straight up to around $319.
PrestaShop’s templating alternatives are broad and – generally – of high quality. Nonetheless, it is decent to see premium templates begin at marginally low costs.
How to Install Themes in PrestaShop?
You can select between various outlooks from Prestashop. To introduce a new PrestaShop theme, you need to download it locally and extricate the document at your PC.
You ought to upload the whole theme folder to the “themes” directory in the folder that PrestaShop subsists in.
After that sign in to the admin panel of your shopping cart and go to Preferences then Appearance. From there, select the recently uploaded theme from the rundown of accessible themes. Click the “Save” button.
Your theme is installed! Check out the site’s new look at the front end!
Shipping, Payment Options, and Taxing
With regards to shipping choices, PrestaShop completes a strong action of enabling you to set up various carriers as you would anticipate. PrestaShop provides manageable shipping add-ons and is completely integrated with important carriers. You can give shoppers reliable shipping opportunities and the facility to add custom messages.Extra benefits incorporate the capacity to set default carriers, handling charges, etc.
In case that you wish, you can likewise configure at what order price free shipping starts at.
For setting payment gateways, PrestaShop has a pleasant assortment of free alternatives like PayPal, Google Checkout, Bank Wire payments, Cash on delivery and many more as per our preferences.
To place taxes for various areas, you have to go for Localization. Here, you just need to include the name of the tax, before giving it a rate.
In any case, to really configure tax rules for these same taxes, you’ll have to explore to another page called Tax Rules. Here you may then choose your current taxes, before allotting things like area, zip/postal code range, and so on.
How to Add Payment module in PrestaShop?
To set up the payment systems for your site, please sign in to your admin panel and tap on the “Payment ” tab. From this page, you can install, uninstall and arrange the supported payment procedures.
Go to back office – >module
Here you can download the zip file of the module.
Then search for “Customer Wallet” in the search box of the module and click install.
After the installation, you can configure the module.
How to Change or Add the Default Currency in PrestaShop?
Admin can also choose if the wallet will be operational for single money or various currencies.
By default, you will find three standard currency forms – The Euro, the Dollar, and the Pound. But, you can include or change new currency standards by going to the sub-tab under the “Payment” option and click “Currencies”.
Click on “Add New” to include another currency form and fill the form.
Secure Connection
Let customers feel safe about buying online. The SSL Certificate in PrestaShop offers you and your visitors with greater security amid shopping time. A secure connection is crucial to start receiving payments. Due to SSL certification, PrestaShop comes outfitted with everything a trader needs to be protected.In case that you need to employ an SSL Certificate, you may buy it from:
Client Area -> Order -> Extra Services -> SSL & Security
How to Set up the SSL Settings of Your PrestaShop?
Ensure SSL is as of now installed and runs with your domain name. To do that, go to the Admin area of your PrestaShop site and tap on Preferences – > General
Then tap on “Please click here to check if your shop supports HTTPS”.
Subsequent to doing as such, if the check was successfully done, you should see the green HTTPS symbol shown by the domain name of your site.
Subsequent to doing the vital check and ensuring HTTPS protocol to work for your site, you can easily activate it by heading off to same Preferences – > General page and enabling the two alternatives.
You can set Enable SSL to Yes which will approve HTTPS certificate for customer account ID and order process. In the event that you need to enable it for all your pages, alsoclick the button- Enable SSL on all pages to Yes.
At last, tap on the Save button.
Apps and Extras Plugins
To get additional usefulness out of PrestaShop, you can move to the PrestaShop Module Marketplace. Modules extend from payment security extras to advertising tools. More than 80 of those plugins have been created by PrestaShop, while more than 400 have been created by certified accomplices.
You’ll find that all of them are perfectly sorted, just hit the download button and you’re ready to use them!
Let’s now discuss the 10 best PrestaShop Modules that every e-Commerce website owner must Download.
Much the same as other well-known CMS applications, PrestaShop likewise gives its users benefits to install add-ons so as to expand the proficiency of their stores. These add-ons are known as PrestaShop Modules.
Many of us must have noticed that some first-time web store proprietors are picking PrestaShop over others available platforms due to its oversimplified navigation involvement and functionality that this Content Management System (CMS) offers. There is a wide range of useful free and paid modules available to add to your website store.I have listed some of them below –
MultiLogin 12 in 1 Module
We all hate filling forms due to the tiring task of adding same details again and again. To help many from this problem this module was created.
This Module enables users to sign on to a PrestaShop store by linking with one of 12 online networking logins, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so on. Once an online networking account is associated, the store account is consequently made. Along these lines, clients can purchase their desired item without the issue of filling the details in the form.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.6.0.4 – 1.7.4.0
Prestashop SEO Meta Tags Manager
This PrestaShop SEO Module gives a complete support to create the meta tags for your shop resources with only a single tap. Utilize applicable keywords to your business to enhance the search engine ranking on the search engines.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.6.0.4 – 1.7.3.1
Welutions Friendly URLs for PrestaShop
Provide your Prestashop store readable and simple URLs that are helpful with search engines. This add-on enables you to expel dynamic id from your URLs, and supplant them with SEO-friendly URLs, including products, CMS pages, categories, manufacturers, and providers.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.6.0.5 – 1.7.3.1
Abandoned Cart Reminder Pro Module
Every one of us has this habit of topping off a shopping cart and afterward neglecting it. For such diverting personalities, an email update is a significant friend in need.
This module does exceptionally the same activity. It reminds clients through email notifications that they had yet not completed the shopping procedure of their orders. The email sent by the add-on is customized with the client’s name and abandoned things.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.5.5.0 – 1.7.3.2
Trusted Shops
Organizations have discovered that their shopping promotions were tapped on more frequently when they indicated ratings thus it ended up less expensive to publicize.
So, Trusted Shops is a site reviewing add-on and you can add their module to begin getting reviews from your clients. The reviews incorporating a rating out of five stars and this rating can likewise show up in Google which can help impart more trust from new visitors.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.6.0.4 – 1.7.3.2
PrestaShop Request Info
Include a contact button on the item page to ask for more information about it.
This module will let you increment your sales by giving clients a simple method to ask about a product feature, accessibility, request a discount, and so on.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.3.6.0 – 1.7.3.2
SENDINBLUE
You will need to contact your consumers and you likely don’t have time to schedule for sending messages physically. SendinBlue is an answer that enables you to send emails to your contacts. You have limit of sending 9000 emails every month (300 emails each day) with a free account, which ought to be possibly enough when you have just begun your business.
With the free module, you’ll be utilizing the SendinBlue IP address. Thus, they need to abstain from being related to spam.
You can also utilize SendinBlue to send sales affirmation messages, newsletters, autoresponder situations, order affirmations, password reset notification and significantly more. There are layouts you can utilize or you can move to make your own configuration.
Compatibility – PrestaShop v1.6
Module Backup All Module
Prestashop Administrator BackUp module for all database, files and both! This module empowers you to easily back up your Shop on standard bases – manually or automatically.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.4.0.1 – 1.6.1.18
TM Advanced Filter
To streamline your store navigation, utilize this advanced PrestaShop module.
This is less demanding when your store is in use, for the more time customers will remain there. It’s your best need to let them feel comfortable when browsing your stock and locate the essential thing as soon as possible. It gives clients a chance to limit their item inquiry to the minor details and remove products that don’t fit their needs.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.6.x.
Watch the video tutorial on how to activate this module:
TM Lookbook Module
TM Lookbook Module displays how items look in usage, e.g. clothes on the body, furniture in rooms, makeup on your face shade etc. In the manner, you show your items has an immediate influence on customers’ decision to buy from your store or go somewhere else. Thus, you can boost the effectiveness of your product exhibition with this PrestaShop module.
A blog makes a smart decision to achieve high ranking as it draw in the more visitors. The Professional Blog add-on fills this need and brings some extra advantages as well. It offers multi-store and multilingual support that makes it without any doubt a perfect option for a wide range of Prestashop stores.
Compatibility – PrestaShop – 1.5.0.0 – 1.7.3.2
Protect My Shop
You should have just got a reasonable understanding by its name. Indeed, Protect My Shop add-on is a module that secures your commercial center from hackers and thefts. With protection as a noteworthy worry for online stores, Protect My Shop module ends up being a real assistance. The module incorporates 9 security scripts which can be initiated or inactivated one by one.
With this, you are secured against SQL Injections, SHELL Commands Injections, XSS Injections, CGI Injections, Code Injections, and so on.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.0.0.0 – 1.7.3.1
Print Labels Pro
You can spare some time when you can mechanize the procedure of formation of delivery labels. With Print Labels Pro module, you can get ready and print delivery labels and stick them on the orders and dispatch for delivery.
The module functiondoesn’t simply stop at label printing yet offers you alternatives to print certificates, envelops, and imperative documents. You can also include barcodes and images to the labels and alter all of your fields.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.4.0.1 – 1.7.3.2
Google Merchant Center
Envision uploading your store items to Google Shopping and getting very qualified leads?
With the Google Merchant Center, all is conceivable to get several customers purchasing on your online business store. It is amongst the most capable devices accessible in the market today. It incorporates friendly configuration, simple installation, and is exceedingly customizable.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.2.1.0 – 1.7.3.2
Cache Manager
With the help of this add-on, you can describe the zones of your site that should be cached. It in this way it viably diminishes your store’s loading time by nearly 50%. Speedier loading time would enable more clients to invest more time in your store, consequently expanding the chances of turnovers.
Additionally, your store’s position on search engine rankings is likewise enhanced, that moreover extends your transformation rate.
Compatibility – PrestaShop 1.4.0.1 – 1.6.1.18
How to Install the PrestaShop modules?
When you have downloaded a module from the Add-ons online store, it’s dependent upon you to have it introduced on your PrestaShop webpage. There are two methods to install a module: either utilizing your FTP client or using the dedicated form.
A PrestaShop module is provided as an archive document in ZIP format. An archive comprises of a collection a few files and envelopes into one file, either compressed or not compressed. A file is made with the assistance of compressure software, and such programming is important to play out the reverse task, that is to state to expel the material of the archive keeping in mind the end goal to run the module.
Installation utilizing an FTP client:
To launch a new PrestaShop module manually follow these steps:
Unzip the module .zip archive file. This must bring about another folder.
Utilizing your FTP client, put the folder in your PrestaShop/modules folder. Focus NOT to transfer that folder to some other module’s folder (which can result when drag-and-dropping things). You have to upload the entire folder, not only the files it contains.
Now in the “Modules” tab go to your back-office.
Find the new module from the modules list. You may need to look down; you can likewise utilize the rundown’s search box, which should give you a progressively refreshed list of coordinating module names.
In the line for the new module, tap the “Install” option.
Your module is currently installed and ought to be activated as well with a green tick confirming the activation. In case essential, tap on the “Configure” link of the module. Give careful consideration to any notification that may be shown by PrestaShop.
When setup is finished, make sure to test the module promptly to affirm that it fills in as needed.
Installation utilizing the dedicated form:
To add another PrestaShop module “automatically”, tap on the option – “Add a module from my computer” link at the topsection on the rundown of modules. This will uncover another segment.
Two choices are displayed in the “Add another module” area:
Include a module from a web server: just put the URL to its online compress file and approve.Include a module from your PC – so, browse from the module’s Zip file that you downloaded, and approve.
In the two cases, you should point to the module’s Zip archive, and not any of its unloaded files or its folder.
Once approved, PrestaShop will load the module (either from your computer or from the web). Now, unpack it, put the files in the right area, and refresh the page.All this is done in just a few seconds!
Check out the tutorial for better understanding:
What if any of the modules get deleted?
Often mischances happen and modules get untied from where they should be or information gets entered inaccurately in them. The most straightforward approach to settle them sometimes is to reset the module.
When you reset a module, it erases the majority of the data related to the module and reinstalls the module from the beginning.
Method to Reset a PrestaShop Module
To reset a PrestaShop module you should go to your modules page in the back office. When you are there, you should discover the module that is leading to the troubles. When you have discovered the module, you can tap the menu on the right side and select the reset option.
Performing this step will reinstall the module. Any information you have entered in the module will be deleted and gotten out of the database. Just reset modules in case that you needn’t bother with the information saved in them any longer.
PrestaShop SEO and URLs administration
Search Engine Optimization is very vital nowadays. Fortunately, PrestaShop gives a lot of alternatives to enhance your site’s SEO. Steps to manage SEO and URLs:
You may analyze them by exploring to the Shop Parameters menu > Traffic and SEO.
In the tab of SEO and URLs, you would see a couple of segments and we would talk about every one of them individually.
The first is named SEO and URLs.
In that segment, you may alter each page’s URL independently by tapping the Edit button beside it. Another screen with altering choices would show up.
You would have the capacity to change the Page Title, Page Name, Meta Keywords, Meta Description, and the Rewritten URL.
This is very useful segment as it enables you to setup Friendly URLs with simply the flip of a button. You may likewise empower Accented URLs in case that you need to utilize non-latin characters in your URLs.
In this area, PrestaShop enables you to pick whether you need to utilize Redirects to the approved URL and which HTTP divert status to be utilized (Permanent or Temporary). In this area, you may likewise enable or disable the Apache’s Multiviews alternative. You can utilize it when you have problems with URL rewriting, links demands for non-existing URLs to the nearest URL) and mod_security module.
Scroll down to go to the next area called Set Shop URL.
As clarified in the segment’s name, here you may refresh and change the space utilized by your PrestaShop application and the folder in which it dwells.
One of the last areas is named Schema of URLs.
Here, you can change the manner in which friendly URLs are produced by changing the route to an asset on your shop. When you have refreshed your fields, remember to save your modifications, then head on the Save button to recover your .htaccess file.
The last segment is the Robots File Generation.
Tapping on the Generate a robots.txt document option would automatically include robots.txt file with exclusion mandates for directories and files that are not intended to be public and ought not to be indexed.
How to Add Languages to PrestaShop?
You can undoubtedly add multiple languages in your PrestaShop site.
To do as such, you need to login to your site’s admin section and head to the International > Localization option.
At that point pick the desired language in the Import a localization pack area. You may likewise select what content you need to import alongside the language.
You ought to likewise select in case that you need to download the data pack from the PrestaShop site or utilize the one in the folder of the localization of your PrestaShop establishment. When you select the favored alternatives, tap on the Import button.
Once the pack is introduced, you would view a message to notify Localization pack imported successfully.
In case that you need to control the presently installed languages. Simply go to the International then Translations menu. You can examine, export languages from it update and furthermore change translations.
New version launched? Learn How to Easily Upgrade Your PrestaShop Store to the Latest Stable Version.
An immediate upgrade from PrestaShop 1.6 or older to 1.7 version can’t be performed because of significant differences in the application’s structure. In case that you need to perform such an upgrade, you should simply install a new application with the needed version and move your content to it.
Although when you are utilizing an outdated version and you need to upgrade to the most recent and stable one, the procedure would be very simpler.
What you have to do first is to login as an administrator to your PrestaShop’s admin board and go to the Modules > Modules and Services segment of your admin board.
Afterward, in the Selection tab, find and introduce the module labeled 1-Click Upgrade. After the module’s establishment, you would be provoked to login once more. When you re-login, at the list on the left and you would see that another segment named More has surfaced. You would discover the 1-Click Upgrade in it. Tap on the list to open up the upgrade alternatives.
You would be diverted to another screen where a framework check would be performed. On this screen, you would likewise discover backup creation choices and update options – make a point to modify them as preferred.
In the event that your site isn’t in maintenance mode, caching is empowered or there is another component that may meddle with the refresh, a notification would show up.
Make a point to determine those notices, else, you would not have the capacity to continue. Once the application is set up for the upgrade and the notice messages get out. You would see the button – Upgrade PrestaShop Now!
Tap on this Upgrade PrestaShop Now! option and wait for a couple of minutes until the point that the application is being updated.
Once the procedure finishes, you should see an Upgrade finish message with notifications for any files that may have been missed amid the update or backup.
To be clearer with the steps you can prefer the given tutorial too:
What benefits your business receivefrom installing the PrestaShopin a long run?
Search Engine Optimization
Every one of your endeavors could be purposeless when clients can’t discover your shop through search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. Regardless of whether, your store has a tremendous assortment of items, low costs, and 24/7 customer support. PrestaShop is upgraded for various search engines. Keyword tags, meta description for categories and products, modified URLs and several different traits are accessible to make your store more available in the list of search result.
Functionality
You would need your online store to emerge and this is the place PrestaShop prevails upon other web-based business advancement platforms. Its 25000+ modules enable you to accomplish wanted usefulness in your site. From multi-payment alternatives to social media integration, these modules let you accomplish all that you need.
Marketing
PrestaShop gives an extensive variety of benefits to make your store more appealing to the visitors. The newsletters membership assists in contact with customers and get them think about new products and offers in your store.
Extraordinary compared to other devices to influence clients to visit your store, over and over, is its commitment plan. PrestaShop permits remunerating clients with points which they can change over into a rebate to use later. In the back-office, you may efficiently configure the program and set up it in your own particular manner.
Multi-Lingual
In a universal world, you understand the significance of multi-lingual websites. PrestaShop platform maintains all the main languages on the planet and this enables you to enter profoundly into the market regularly going past the domains of a normal online store.
Adaptable and Easy to Manage Backend
The purpose behind why a huge number of online businesses claim a PrestaShop store incorporates it’s adaptable and simple to oversee backend. PrestaShop has got the most intelligent and simple to maintain backend from where a store proprietor can without much of stress upload items, visualize sales details, generate an invoice, make coupon codes, envision consumer action, search inquiry, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Mobile Friendly
Not just the UI, yet besides the admin can be run/managedvia mobile. True. PrestaShop allows simple to use backend management app and a completely responsive default template which best suits gadgets ranging from tablet to smartphones, up to iPad, computer, and also for continuous e-commerce activity.
Simple Learning Curve
Not at all like other online platforms available, you will find PrestaShop platform very much simple to learn. There aren’t any confused configuration frameworks or coding to manage. You and your colleagues would have the capacity to effectively deal with your store’s backend.
No Restriction in Product Number
Many of CMS’s can provide you a trouble with product number limitation. In case you want to display more stocks in your catalog – spend more.
But PrestaShop has announced a public policy on product number, that presents it as ready for an online store of any size — a theoretical second Amazon can develop anytime from PrestaShop.
Wrap up
PrestaShop is an extremely smooth and exceptionally point by point platform, as it offers an overwhelming detail of statistical information for vendors to examine and enhance their performance.
Viewing your very own net revenues continuously alongside orders, sales, and different parameters would normally goad you on to enhance and sharpen your store. These bits of knowledge are novel to PrestaShop, and they on a great level make a convincing case for the well-known platform.
PrestaShop offers all the important features to create your online store to make it profitable and popular. Indeed, we have seen in this article, the diverse range of available modules provides endless opportunities for the growth of your business.
This shopping carriage has improved SEO and marketing devices, its templates won’t leave you indifferent. All the processes are ensured by established standards and certificates. So, your customers will precisely be in safe hands. Further, the platform can claim stable business reporting policy and about 40 usable languages. Thus, when you choose to start your online business, PrestaShop can undoubtedly convert into your dependable associate on your way to progress.
If you find the entire process tedious or even tricky you can contact any Prestashop E-commerce website development company and seek their assistance so that the process will be carried out as swiftly as possible.
It is crazy how only until a few years ago no one knew what online shopping is and now is the industry is set to cross the $2 trillion mark in a couple of years.
The e-commerce industry has become one of the most valued and fastest growing industries across the globe. Whether you have only a few products to sell or a hundred different products, having an e-commerce website is a necessity.
Building a basic e-commerce website is a piece of cake however; to make it a fully functional and a successful one is indeed a herculean task.
To summarize,
Let’s go through 12 golden steps that can help you in the process.
1. Decide your target population
If you don’t know your target population well, no matter how good your product is, it won’t sell. Also, your target population decides the kind of design your e-commerce website should be of. So choose wisely, do your research, and check what the demand in each category of people is and only then decide your target population.
2. Design products for your e-commerce store
Now that you’ve selected your target audience, it is time to design your products. You might have the products in mind, but the end cost will depend on the type of materials you use and the marketing costs, which all depend on the kind of audience you want to target.
3. Set the value
Setting the price of the products is one of the most difficult things a businessperson has to decide. Make sure you include the following costs in your product price:
Material costs
Web hosting costs of your e-commerce website
Taxes and duty
Shipping costs
Share is given to credit or debit card companies or any other payment gateway
Marketing and advertising costs
Before setting the price, learn the market. Check the rates at which your competitor sells his products.
4. Research shipping costs
You might want to include shipping costs in the product cost or mention it separately on the product page. It is entirely on you but adding the shipping cost to the total cost can give you an advantage, which means you can advertise as free shipping, which is a significant selling point.
5. Select a domain name
It is the most fun and creative part of the entire process. Be as creative as you can but make sure that your store’s name can be pronounced easily by your customers. Don’t use names that have already been used even if the company isn’t a competitor. You don’t want to put yourself through unnecessary copyright issues.
In short, keep in mind four things while picking a domain name:
Short and creative
Easily pronounceable
No copyright issue
Suits your business idea
6. Choose the desired platform
Choose your web hosting platform and package wisely. If you are starting out and want to get a better idea of how the market works, you can first open your store on Etsy or Amazon and then move on to a full-fledged web hosting platform.
Different platforms offer different benefits, for example – HostGator is compatible with many e-commerce options so that you can work on multiple things on the same website. Or you can go for Magento or Prestashop, which has many ways to list products and provides an easy path to the shopping cart.
7. Design your website
This is the most critical part of building a website and also the one that takes most of the time. Only if you successfully carry on the earlier six procedures, this is going to be the easiest step of all. While you and your web designer is designing the website, get started with writing a web copy that will help you describe your wares and encourage website visitors to buy your products.
You can either build your website from scratch or use a website builder like WordPress to do so. There are some basic things that you must include in your e-commerce website, which includes:
The home page featuring daily deals and offers
About page talking about your company and what inspired to start the business
Products page
Customer service and contact page
The blog features articles about how to use your products, styling tips, and more
A confusion that every store owner faces is what theme to go with. You need to remember it isn’t about you but it is about your website visitors. Make the website interactive and mobile friendly as it has become vital in today’s world.
8. Add products to the website
Add your products to the website. Give your product a nice name and a crisp description. Add high-quality products and videos or audio to give your website visitors a better idea of the product. You can encourage your users to buy the products by mentioning the number of items left.
9. Set up the payment
The web hosting platform you’ve chosen has a payment protocol, which will help you set up the payment. There aren’t many changes you need to do in this section as everything is ready for you, you only have to add the variables.
10. Test checkout
Carry on a test checkout before launching your e-commerce website. Pay attention to the tiny things and how your website works on the computer screen, mobile phones, and tablets. Check if there’s anything that is slowing down your website and how you can change it.
11. Get SSL Certificate
Getting an SSL Certificate is very important for the website. It is the green lock that appears before your website link. It helps to keep your customer data private and safe. Don’t skip this part of the procedure because it will keep sensitive details will stay safe so that hackers don’t hack your website and steal credit card information.
12. Start selling your products
It is the final step of the process. It is time to sell your products and turn your start-up into a successful business. Invest in content marketing, promotion and advertising, and social media. If you don’t have enough money, go the old-fashioned way and do mouth publicity.
However, there are e-commerce website development companies who will take care of the entire process with ease. All you have to do is to check list the points mentioned above and have a detailed discussion regarding products list, pricing design etc. in short, you should brief them what you need and in turn and should make sure that all of it is incorporated in your website.
Prestashop 1.7, which was introduced a few months ago, added a whole new feature list with big improvements to the user experience. And now, with some more big features, PrestaShop 1.7.3 has entered the market. PrestaShop has always listened to the user community and evolves with improved user interface.
The main focus of 1.7.3 version is to improve functionality and performance, as well as optimizing web applications for better results. Overall, the improvements have led PrestaShop as an ideal platform for E-Commerce design and development. Not only e-commerce, but the platform is also ideal for other websites too.
Without further ado, let’s have a look at the improved features of this new version:
Enhanced mobile experience
With mobile devices used by shoppers for their quick shopping, m-commerce is trending way to do online business. With PrestaShop 1.7.3 you get an exceptional mobile navigation with responsive back-office browsing. Also, the shortcut keys have been modified so they offer you ease and understanding of the mobiles navigation.
Improved Security features
With the rise in E-commerce cybercrime, the security of the internet is at great risk. Scammers are spread across the globe to exploit users. Security is appreciated when it’s bigger and better, and the same has been brought with the new PrestaShop 1.7.3. It’s new and improved algorithm makes sure that your store remains secured and away from all the cyber criminals out there.
Revised Translations
The new version has seen an upgrade in translations with new updates every day. The country names are also translated automatically in the version. There is also an update to the design in the translation page which is certainly been liked by many.
Upgrade to the new versions
Upgrading from previous versions like 1.6 to 1.7.3 is now easy with ‘Upgrade all modules’ button included in the new version. This has made upgrading your old version to the new one simple with just a click. By running the update you will be able to access all the latest features and improvements available.
New native module for PayPal
PayPal is known as a complete payment platform for growing your online business. In the new native module, you can pay with a selection from the local as well as international debit and credit cards with the PayPal wallet. The payments can thus be easily managed with One Touch facility.
Starter Theme Enhancements
Another interesting addition to the new version is the improvement and enhancements made to the starter theme. Anyone with HTML and CSS skills can create a really pretty PrestaShop template in just a few days. SO now since you know PrestaShop has got you covered, start designing your ecommerce website.
Symfony Server Migration
Modules catalogue, Performance and System Information pages has been migrated to Symfony modules which will enable the user to override services, templates and more. The debug toolbar has also been incorporated with latest hooks which will display in-depth page information and the modules attached.
Addons connect
Addons manager is now easier than ever. This new feature equips users to manage and update their addons up-to-date.
Stock Alert
This new feature in Prestashop will help in notifying user if the stock is low. There will also be a stock overview page for better analysis of the stock.
With the new PrestaShop version, you are sure to make your online business a profitable venture. PrestaShop has always been the favourites among E-commerce businesses due to its rich elements and features it brings to the table. The new version has enables adding products to your cart very easy and interesting. Do migrate your business to the new module. And with all these features PrestaShop delivers its promise to the developers, buyers and sellers.
An average e-commerce website’s shopping cart abandonment rate of 77.3%. That is a loss of millions of dollars.
Whether it be any product or service that you sell, creating a need or extreme desire is essential. One easy way to do so is building a website, not only just a simple website, but an attractive one. No customer is much interested in knowing about the company but the products or services you provide.
Building an attractive product or service page is a lot more than just the color combination. It is also about how you place the products, fonts you use, and user responsiveness and many other things. And what better e-commerce platform than PrestaShop to host your website.
PrestaShop offers you free shopping cart softwareHere are nine design tips to help you create attractive product pages for PrestaShop store that will increase your online sales:
1. Product title
Always keep your product title less than 65 characters. Now you’d have one big question? Why so many product names on Alibaba have product titles that are two to three sentences long? That’s a different kind of marketing technique they use, but it is advisable not to do so as the customers don’t like that.
Also, choose an artistic yet easily readable font to attract your customers and avoid using your brand name in the title just to get rank higher in Google search.
2. Product images
It is something that can win you a customer every single time. And that is why invest in hiring a good product photographer who can bring the best out of your products is a must. Only upload high-resolution photographs that are clear, large, and crisp.
Always put two types of images. So if you have a clothing website, you can show the dress and then dress on a model. At least include three angles of every type of image. If you have a car parts e-commerce website, you can show a photo of the car part and a photo of its packaging.
3. CTA buttons
Customers find it very convenient when the call-to-action buttons like “proceed to checkout” and “add to cart” are placed close to the product. It puts off the customer when they have to search for these buttons. Some websites put it at the very top or bottom of the page, so remember no customer has so much time to waste.
Popular e-commerce websites like Amazon has two call-to-action buttons to encourage the prospective customer to purchase the product.
4. Description
Keep your product’s description crisp and small. It should be very engaging, so use more of actionable sentences. Use SEO but make the description informative by using bullet points. Most customers prefer reading the description, so they get a better idea of the product because images don’t convey as much.
Use fonts like Arial or Calibri. Avoid using Times New Roman font because it is a boring one.
5. Simplicity
The 21st century is the era of minimalism, and that is why websites that sell expensive products have a simple product page. So cluttering your product page will give the customer an impression that your product isn’t good enough.
The negative space encourages the user to think about the product and make a quick decision. However, make sure you provide all required information and then leave it to the customer.
6. Loading time
A product page design is a lot more than just fonts and description. Fast loading time is a complete winner for the customer. Slow loading makes customers impatient and lose confidence in your website, which will, in turn, reduce your conversion time.
So make sure your website loads in less than three seconds. If you have tried everything for purchasing a better server, take a look at your product page including CSS background and large product images.
7. Cost
Place the product cost next to the call to action button. Always give a discount on pricing it higher first. Discounts make customers happy and will purchase the product even if they don’t want to.
Use a large font and bright color to display the product price. Place the price on the right of the image or just below. Place call-to-action buttons just beside and below it respectively.
8. Shipping costs
Mention shipping costs on the product page because unexpected expenses during checkout will annoy your customer. Most websites offer free delivery to maximize their sales. But if you are a newbie and cannot afford free delivery, just make sure you mention the shipping cost crystal clear.
Either way, you can offer free shipping if the person reaches a certain shopping total. This can win the person’s royalty and also sell a product or two more so that the customer reaches the shopping target.
9. Daily deals
Is there a product you have trouble selling? Well, run it as a daily deal, offer a good amount of discount and watch as it will get sold like hot cakes. This also encourages your customers to return to your website to check if you a good daily deal going on.
On an average, keep five to six products on your daily deals, and you will see a steep increase in conversion rate. So make sure you keep updating the deals section by adding new products to it and not repeat them after the cycle is over.
Selling a product or service isn’t easy, but it can be a lot less complicated if you make an excellent first impression. Consider your sales opportunity as your imagination. It is unlimited, so don’t keep a closed mind and give up easily, something or the other will work out for you until then, keep trying.
The e-commerce world is continuously changing, so as you add new products to your kitty, also learn techniques and also develop your own.
Before jumping into step-by-step procedures involved in setting up Prestashop on your Amazon AWS, let’s get to know a bit about Prestashop.
So What Is Prestashop?
Prestashop is an open source e-commerce solutions which help in building your online stores quickly. This free e-commerce solution can be used to run your online stores in the cloud or through self-hosting. You just need to choose whether to install the Prestashop on the cloud or the self-hosting server, based on the business needs.
Prestashop offers relatively simple, easy-to-use shoppers interface with wide range of features. It provides around 300 powerful features which focus on boosting the customer’s online presence. Interestingly, you get to use all these features free of cost. Currently, Prestashop is being used by 250000 online shops globally and is also available in 65 different languages. It supports over 50 different payment systems such as PayPal, Google Checkout, Payments Pro, Skrill, etc.
How To Host Prestashop On AWS Cloud?
Now let’s get to know the process involved in hosting the Prestashop on the Amazon AWS cloud instance. You can either do it by yourself or with the help of service providers available in the market.
Let me brief you on the steps involved in manual setup
Launch AWS EC2 instance for Prestashop
Launch a new EC2 instance from your AWS console. You can select the EC2 of your choice.
Next, you need to select the network, the subnet, and the IAM role.
You need to define the size of your server. Keep in mind that the pictures and media will use most of your disk space.
In this step, you should assign security groups to this EC2. It will enable the new node to get connected to the internet.
Assign an SSH key to the server or create a new one. It will provide connection to the server through SSH.
After completing these steps, your EC2 server should be ready, up and running.
Configure the server and database for Prestashop
Once the server is up, you need to configure the server. For this, you need to SSH into the EC2 instance and set it as per your business needs. Visit this page to know about the commands and functions used in backend.
Once the server is configured, the next step involves setting up the database. You would need to login to the MySQL shell and create a database for Prestashop. Read the detailed process here
Install Prestashop
After configuring the server and database as per your requirements, you’re almost done with the installation. You would need to just set up the external file system for your online store and select the desired server location. Make sure you choose the location close to your target audience, thus ensuring the latency doesn’t get affected.
You can either follow the hard manual path for setting up your online store on Amazon AWS or choose the easy option. The most comfortable option is hosting your online store on the cloud through cloud consoles like Cloudways, Bitnami, etc. They make sure the Prestashop is launched quickly and take care of all the critical server and application management tasks. You just need to provide them with some necessary information that is required for the launch.
They continuously monitor all components, media files and libraries of your online store for vulnerabilities, and updates. You can also avail 24/7 support from these providers which comes in handy if you are not a techy. Remember, online stores are prone to technical issues and few hours of downtime during peak hours can cause severe damage to your business.
Click here to know the steps involved in setting up your AWS hosted Prestashop on Cloudways. If you prefer Bitnami, then check this link.
With Amazon grabbing 55.4% of US e-commerce sales and Holiday e-commerce sales growing up nearly 37.7% in 2019. There is no wonder why every business would love to set up their store online. According to reports, this dominant e-commerce industry is expected to make sales worth $4.479 trillion by 2021.
With the number of e-commerce solutions available in the market, it becomes difficult to pick a right one that suits our business needs.
PrestaShop is one of the industry leaders among the e-commerce platforms. It is widely known for its rich feature-set and functionalities. Prestashop is available for free in two different choices namely cloud-based Prestashop and a downloadable form.
Advantages of PrestaShop
Use of Smarty, web template system written in PHP makes PrestaShop the first choice among designers and programmers.
PrestaShop inbuilt functionalities make it easy for beginners and non-technical people to quickly set up their online store.
Compared with other platforms, PrestaShop offers an intuitive admin panel, which is easy to explore.
Magento is a powerful, open-source e-commerce platform owned by the eBay group. It is one of the growing platforms offering cutting-edge solutions for businesses who are aiming to make a significant impact on their online eCommerce store.
Widely known for its scalability and reliability, Magento host nearly one-fourth of the e-commerce websites in the market. It is indeed a market leader when it comes to enterprise-level e-commerce platforms.
Advantages of Magneto
It offers an easy-to-use user interface
It facilitates extensive customization due to open source platform
Supports over 9000 plugins/extensions to extend its functionality
Shopify is one of the popular e-commerce platforms and is known for its smooth setup, loading speed, customizable templates, and secure payment gateways. Shopify hosts more than 3 lakh online stores and is more focused on social and mobile shopping.
For SEO enthusiasts, Shopify offers provision to include Meta tags, auto-generated XML sitemap along with 24/7 customer support via chat, email, and phone, to help the business run their online stores smoothly.
Advantages of Shopify
Shopify offers more than 100 templates and themes
Contains 1000+ plugins/extensions for extended functionality
Enables you to connect the online store with social media pages and sell directly from them
Packed with mobile-friendly shopping cart and mobile app for all sellers
It provides 24/7 live support along with comprehensive resource library and online community
Launched in 2009, BigCommerce host more than 50,000 online stores including Toyota, Martha Stewart, etc. Offering pretty much similar features as of Shopify, also BigCommerce provides more built-in features along with unlimited storage & bandwidth.
Advantages of BigCommerce
It offers powerful built-in marketing features such as newsletters, coupons, analytics and more
All themes both paid and free are responsive and provide a seamless mobile experience
It enables online store integration with social media such as Facebook, eBay, Google shopping and product comparison sites
Developed by experts, Zen Cart offers the most flexible and secure platforms among its competitors. The multi-language support and secure payment gateways make Zen Cart one of the most trusted platforms for various businesses.
WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress developed by WooThemes. With the easy to install interface, WooCommerce offers you all benefit associated with building a WordPress website.
Since its launch in the year 2011, WooCommerce has supported nearly 1.5 million online e-commerce stores across the globe. The highly customizable, and user-friendly experience, makes it the ultimate choice for startups to start their online venture.
Advantages of WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free and open source e-commerce platform with an extensive range of features.
It provides high flexibility, easy customization options, in-depth analytics and a vast number of extensions.
7. OpenCart
Among all the available shopping carts OpenCart is known as one of the top-end solutions for its flexibility, simplicity, and functionality. Although new, it has managed to gather extreme popularity among both well-established brands and start-ups.
Advantages of OpenCart
It is a lightweight e-commerce solution offering high performance and usability features.
It offers multi-store functionality which helps merchants to manage their multiple stores from one admin panel
Drupal Commerce, one of the leading open-source eCommerce solutions tightly integrated with Drupal and enables to build robust online stores. It is the most preferred platforms for merchants who tend to give majority priority to Search Engine Optimization(SEO).
Advantages of Drupal Commerce
Tight integration enables Drupal Commerce takes full advantage of all the functionalities of Drupal
It acts as a reliable content management system and highly flexible e-commerce platform
Offer more accessible options to manage SEO, CRO and web analytics
Also referred as open source commerce, osCommerce offers a wide range of features and flexible shopping cart solution. osCommerce offers 7000+ free add-ons and modules and backs robust community support.
Advantages of osCommerce
Os Commerce uses PHP and MySQL and provides a versatile open source shopping cart
Use of indexed database enables it to handle a large number of products
As its tagline says – “We Believe in The Artist”, it proves to be a perfect e-commerce platform for artists, designers, and companies in the creative business. Right from its launch in 2005, Big Cartel has helped many artists and designers sell their creation online.
We better agree to the fact that you are looking for better traffic to your website. For this, you must optimize it well for search engines to find you. Anyhow you have to do this while you create your store and not after it. If you are looking forward to engaging your prospects that visit your e-commerce site and convert them into potential customers it is essential to do the SEO part.
After all, you expect revenue rolling out of your store and for that, you need more visitors to your site.
Let’s have a look at some useful tips for doing SEO in Prestashop websites.
Track The Website
The first step is to monitor the activities on your website. For this purpose, there are a lot of free tools on the web like Google analytics or Quicksprout. You really need to understand how you are doing in different areas to plan ahead of how you are going to implement your marketing strategies. You can monitor what people search online to reach your website. Normally people would search for phrases that contain the name of the product that they are looking for. You can be sure that people won’t be searching for the name of your company unless you have already become popular.
Register In Free Directories
It may sound insignificant and time-consuming but it is the easiest way to improve your website’s visibility. For this, you have to find the right keywords that you must use so as to rank well in search engines. Use the right description of 500 to 600 words to make sure that you reach the right audience.
Make Use Of The Power Of Content
Never underestimate the power of great content. Once you find out the keywords you need to use, start writing articles and blogs including the right keywords. Don’t stuff the keywords, but use them meticulously. Make sure that the content is search engine optimized. The right content will help you reach your target audience. You can be sure that a great content can help achieve a higher rank for your website.
Presence In Social Media
Optimize your content for social media platforms. You know that everyone is on social media nowadays and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to reach out to your prospects that are active in social media. Make use of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest etc to post your photos, videos, and info-graphics. Also, promote your website in Google plus, it’s a great way to rank in Google.
Link Building
Building links is a major aspect of search engine optimization. Search engines crawl the web using these links and rank you accordingly. A website’s or blog’s popularity is determined by the number of inbound links that you have added to your content. If you link other popular websites you receive traffic from these websites too.
Mobile Friendly Site
Google has recently chosen mobile-friendly website as one of the factors that determine to rank in its search. While optimizing your website as mobile friendly, design it for touchscreen as most websites are accessed from smartphones and avoid pop-ups or flash. Also make sure that haven’t blocked CSS, JavaScript, or images.
Increase Website Speed
Consider increasing the speed of your website as Google views this crucial to your website’s performance and thus ranking. A better page load speed can improve the conversion rate and also the revenue. It is nothing complicated; nobody wants to visit a website that is loading at a slow pace. You may not have direct control over the website’s page load time but if you have the development skills that are required to implement changes to your site’s performance you can be sure to get a better ranking.
URL Setting
Making use of friendly URLs is important. When a search request is made, search engines identify friendly URLs rather than unfriendly ones. It would be great if you have the product name or its category in your URL. This ensures your products are listed while a search query is made. Ultimately that is what you expect from optimizing your website.
Sitemap
Sitemap shows the structure of your website. I recommend that you use the Google sitemap as it is better indexed. When you add a sitemap search engine bots find it easier to navigate and index your websites. Having an updated sitemap helps your website users to navigate through your website too.
Title your photos
Since you are working in the product category you might add a lot of photos of your products on your website and other social media. Make sure that these photos are rightly titled. As Google can’t figure out images as such, it searches for titles or descriptions added to it. Once you add titles to your images Google will be able to find what image you have added.
Prestashop is a versatile platform that lets developers customize the online shops of their clients according to their needs, preferences, and products.
It has got thousands of modules that help in enhancing the functionality of Prestashop. But to reap the benefits of it, you need to hire the services of an expert. Every web developer is not an expert in Prestashop. Let us go through some points that you should remember before hiring a Prestashop expert.
Expert in PHP
Prestashop uses object oriented PHP as its programming language. The prestashop expert needs to be skilled at PHP to modify the modules in Prestashop and overriding the cores files. So good knowledge in PHP coding is an essential prerequisite for a Prestashop expert. You must enquire about his or her PHP certificate and work experience.
Company vs Freelancer
Many people make a blunder in choosing this. There are many freelancers in the market that claim to be an expert in PrestaShop. But having many dawbacks of hiring a freelancer, it is advisable you opt for a company or a team.
Expert in object oriented programming
Object oriented programming is the mainstay of Prestashop. So the expert in Prestashop needs to be familiar with object oriented programming. Otherwise, he will not be able to write unique modules for your online shop. So you need to enquire about his experience in object oriented programming.
The person also needs to have good knowledge about writing SQL queries. This is because the data for your Prestashop-developed online shop will be stored in MySQL database. So knowledge of SQL is a must for the developer.
Look out for communication
Communication has always been a key factor in any ecommerce website. Hence, the same applies to PrestaShop experts too. Check for the communication factors while interviewing a prestashop expert. Note down how long they take to repond to your quesries and calls.
Embedding PHP in HTML code
Prestashop uses a template called Smarty which uses a unique, but simple syntax that helps designers embed PHP in HTML code. However, simple it may be the developer needs to have complete knowledge of it before starting to develop new modules. In other words, he must be experienced enough. An experienced developer will definitely have knowledge about the syntax of smarty. So, ask the developer about his experience.
Mockups is a must
Module development is a specialty in Prestashop. The expert needs to develop a module that best suits the requirements of your service, product or nature of supply. Do insist on your expert to provide you with the mockups so that you have a clear understanding about how the design and development will be carried out. The developer needs to have good coding experience since he needs to code to design new modules that will add some unique functionality to Prestashop.
Experience in implementing overriding
The process of Overriding is something unique about Prestashop. If the developer is an expert in overriding classes, then he will be able to replace parts of the core code with his or her unique code. He would not even touch the core code and yet change the function to something useful and unique to your online shop.
Hosting on apache server
The expert, you are hiring as Prestashop expert, needs to have the experience of hosting websites on apache server. Prestashop e-commerce websites need to be hosted on Apache 2X web server though it also works with Apache 1.3. So the developer needs to have some experience of hosting websites on Apache server.
Conclusion
All in all, don’t forget to check the background and profile of the expert you are willing to hire. This will allow you to understand the various projects were done and research about it.There are many cases of fraud individuals who boast about their achievements. So make sure you through their profile well before hiring them,
SSL certification is the ultimate concept that attracts buyers to use their credit or debit cards to conduct purchase online. So apart from everything else the developer or the expert should have some expertise or some experience in implementing SSL certifications.
