magento Archives - Probytes Web Development Company

7 Things to Consider while Hiring a Magento Developer

Posted on May 30, 2016 by probytesnextjs

Magento is an open source content management system (CMS) and it is considered to be one of the complex eCommerce environment today. It is more capable in services like search engine optimization, modifications and customization, user capabilities, automation of orders and shipments, product types, gift codes, coupons, catalog browsing and management etc when compared to Woo commerce and Shopify.

Complexity of Magento makes it suitable for developers, difficult to layout and operate separately. It is not an easy task to find a good Magento developer.

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How to Find an Expert Magento Developer

When hiring a Magento developer, the following seven things should be considered:

Know What You Need

It is necessary to create a clear cut plan with all your needs and desires written on paper before contacting the developers. There is no need to become a Magento expert, but it would be useful to understand the basics, sweet spots and difficulties of the online store. In addition to this, there should be a clear understanding about priorities, timetables and the budget.

If the research regarding the above details is done properly, then professional developers will take those details very seriously. For being successful, it is necessary to stay up-to-date and get involved during the development process.

2. Gather Potential Magento Partners

It is advisable to ask for recommendations of a trusted colleague about finding the best Magento developer. If there is no colleague available, it is better to seek the aid of third party service providers such as hosting agency or accountants. Otherwise, one can also explore connections on Linkedin which helps to find professionals in any field.

3. Look for Certified Magento Developers

In order to certify developers using Magento platform, Magento corporation operates online training courses. And Magento certification exams are given to professionals who want to differentiate themselves from the existing competition with Magento credential. This shows their seriousness about the work.

According to the type of expertise within the Magento platform, different types of certifications are given. An example for this is a Magento Solution Specialist is a person who can efficiently place business objectives with Magento functionality and thus optimize the use of native features. For this they require a deep understanding of business in general and eCommerce in particular.

Other certifications include certified front end developer, Magento certified developer, social learning group certification, modification kit and Developer plus.

You May also Like:10 Must have Skills of Magento Developer in Magento Development Services

4. Find an Agency

Magento is having different type of certification as it has many aspects of eCommerce, such as business logic, drop shipping, PHP programming, content marketing, design and implementation, usability etc.

As mentioned above it has so many aspects to cover, hence no one can manage all of them alone. Hence it is better to hire a Magento Development Company for addressing all aspects of establishing and managing a Magento enterprise. These companies may differ in quality, size and availability.

It is essential to thoroughly study about various agencies and their services before making the decision.

5. Visit Customer Sites

Customer reviews can greatly help Magento developers, but at the same time such reviews can also mislead developers. Customers may not be able to judge the difference between a medium quality site and a high quality one.

It is really a good idea to see excellent reviews written by people who liked the developer personally and those written by people who have negative remarks regarding their website development.

One can check the portfolio yourself in order to pay attention to details like ease of use, user flows, internal links and accessibility of information.

6. Find a Long Term Relationship

Online store can sometimes work improperly due to virus, attack by hackers or simply not function well. There also requires regular updates, license renewals, add new features and ideas. All these should be managed by a programmer who will be available to solve in the long run.

7. Seek the Tycoons

It would be wise to look out for influencers who are well informed and have a good reputation in the industry. Such person should be an acceptable person who has authority to speak in conferences or one who post regularly either on a blog or on social media.

Seeking a good Magento developer is a critical step in the successful development of the web store. All the above seven things can be helpful to hire a good developer. Also, as the case of every developer, they should care the needs of the client and remain with them whenever the client needs them.

How to Find an Expert Magento Developer

Posted on May 19, 2016 by probytesnextjs

Magento is considered to be one of the most complex e-commerce environment available today even though it is trusted by world’s reputed brands. When compared to other platforms like Opencart and Shopify, Magento have better capabilities of Search Engine Optimization, product types, automation of orders and shipments, user capabilities, coupons, modification and customization, gift codes etc.

Magento is more suitable for developers but it is difficult to set up and operate independently. Only a Magento expert can use Magento regularly and resume the initial structure and development of a Magento e-commerce business irrespective of its size. It is not an easy task to find an ideal Magento developer.

The following are the seven things that should be considered while hiring a Magento developer:

Know Exactly What is the Requirement

It is a better idea to build a detailed plan about needs and desires of the company. There is no need to become an expert in Magento but it is advisable to know the basics which helps to understand about the focal points, advantages and difficulties of the online store. Also they should have a good understanding about priorities, timetables and regarding the budget.

The key to success is to stay up-to-date and involved throughout the development process.

Gather Potential Magento Partners

One of the best way to find a developer is to ask for recommendation from a colleague and someone from the industry you are working. If not, it is better to seek the aid of third party service providers. Linkedin is a great platform to find professionals in this field. Another way to find the developer is to check out in groups like Magento Developers Group, Magento Universe or any other Linkedin groups.

Look for Certified Magento Developers

Magento corporation conducts online training courses for certified Magento developers. Magento certification exams are made to know how effectively developers work and withstand the competition.

There are a variety of certification provided to developers depending upon their area of expertise. For example, Magento solution specialist is a person who can appropriately align business with magento functionality and optimize the use of native features.

Other examples of certifications include certified front end developer, moderator kit, magento certified developer, social learning group certification and developer plus.

Recommended Read:

7 Reasons Why Magento Is Excellent For E-Commerce

Find an Agency to do Everything

Magento includes many aspects of e-commerce such as PHP programming,content marketing, usability, business logic, design and implementation of programs and much more aspects.

A magento development company with can be hired to properly address all aspects of setting up and managing Magento enterprise. This company will provide members with needed skills. And these companies may vary in size, quality, availability and price.

Ask to see Customer Sites

Customer reviews are having great importance. It is difficult for customers to differentiate between medium quality site and a truly remarkable site. In order to avoid this, they often refer customer reviews that have negative as well as positive remarks. Special attention should be given to accessibility of information, ease of use, internal links and user flows.

Find Yourself a Long Term Relationship

If websites are built properly, sales processes will be automated without the requirement of programmer’s front. But there is chance for viruses, hackers or improper functioning. Here comes the requirement of a good developer. And that developer should be available for problem solving in the long run.

Hire the Best one with the Help of Influencers

If you are aiming for a big budget project, you can choose influencers who are well informed and have a good reputation in the industry. And those influencers can be respected people who may speak at global conferences or who may regularly post about topics either on a blog or a social media.

Finding an efficient and expert magento developer is the first step in making a successful web store. It is also one of the crucial steps that may affect the business in the future. The above things can greatly help in hiring the right magento developer for the company.

Magento Customization: Which are the Best Magento Extensions for Your Online Store?

Posted on April 5, 2016 by probytesnextjs

Magento Customization has solidified its place as the most supported content management system for creating online stores. It is easy to use, versatile and permits stores deal with their operations easily. Magento gets its true force from extensions which permit developers to execute functionalities in an exclusive way. Extensions that support deals are the highest point of the pick for any Magento designer.

Here are some of the extensions that help your deals.

Mobile Shopping Cart

To make sure smooth and secure online transactions, you can make use of the Magento extension Mobile Shopping Cart. All kinds of debit and credit cards are acceptable. This extension helps you to procure the tag of reliability by protecting the personal financial details of customers. These features bring you popularity in the competitive market of web business.

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The Best Magento Development Extensions for Blogs

Reward Point

Reward Point is one of the best extensions for Magento and a reliable system to extend your objective business sector. This income boosting extension for all intents and purposes permits you to modify your online store as indicated by your need.

In the event that you need to add any additional feature, it is possible to install this extension with a basic configuration. Besides, it empowers you to concentrate on the requirement of your clients. The implementation of this extension guarantees you increased profit and wider reach.

CreareSEO

In order to increase revenue and improve the sales, SEO is important for your store. It is true that Magento is a built-in SEO platform. But enhancing performance will give you more profit, which can be done with CreareSEO extension.

This extension allows you to customize settings and to enable new tools as well. You can manage issues like unwanted 404 pages, duplicate content, etc. with this feature.

Out of Stock Notification

The entrepreneurs and customers are able to know about the status of their items stock with the help of Out of Stock Notification extension. It will enable the entrepreneurs to arrange their products as needs be, clients can expect the interest of those items. Definitely it helps to develop a pseudo craze among buyers.

Online Auction

You can join the auction and bid for your favorites with the Online Auction extension of Magento. With this revenue driver extension entrepreneurs can ensure the demand for their product in the market

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6 Amazing Magento Extensions to Improve Your Online Store

Product Review

Keeping in mind the end goal to enhance your deal figures, Product Review extension is important to acquire the trust of your clients. As clients regularly check the feedback of individuals who are as of now utilizing the products, this extension will give clarity through survey, and reviews of products.

Daily Deals

The Daily Deals extension helps you to increase your sales dramatically. This extension offers you to imbue the marketing technique “up selling” into your business. Charming the clients through daily deal concept can be a fruitful revenue enhancer.

People always wish to get products at a reduced cost and Daily Deals is successful in bringing products at a discounted price. Moreover, you can list your special products for the day and make it available for 24 hours via this extension. This will definitely give you results.

Magento One page Checkout

One Page Checkout is a much needed Magento extension to boost your business. It is unpleasant for customers to go through 3-4 page checkout process for completing a deal. As the name indicates, this extension gives a pleasant shopping experience to customers who visit your site to buy a product by offering them a single page checkout process.

Cart abandonment is greatly reduced owing to this feature. SagePay payment method is another smart feature of this extension.

Magento Customization is a blessing for your web business. Installing the right Magento extensions will definitely boost your online business. So, if you haven’t installed these extensions, you might be missing some good business deals. What are you waiting for! Start with Magento.

Magento Setup: A Guide to Move from Magento Go

Posted on January 11, 2016 by probytesnextjs

Magento is the ecommerce software and platform which is trusted by the world’s leading brands. Developers love it since it’s open source, meaning one can customize the software according to their wish. Big businesses love it as it’s powerful, and they’ve got financial backup required for magento setup.

Usually for magento setup, global brands hire a team of developers to put an ecommerce store that fits their needs. Some of the leading brands include the North Face, Nike, Lindt, Sierra Nevada and Pentel.

Magento is not suitable for micro businesses. When you’re starting with minimum financial resources, one need a low-cost, creative solution, rather than a complex and expensive platform.
Magento Go was made by magento for catering to small business market. Without much expense, the Magento Connect App Store could be accessed using Magento Go.

Read also: Why Choose Magento For Your Responsive Site?

But due to its complication compared to other platforms, Magento Go store was deemed to be phased out by the company.

But as a way out for existing users of Magento Go, the company had introduced couple of solutions – Zoey and Blugento (Specifically designed for German merchants.

Zoey

If you are a small business developer who knows the powerful magento platform, chances are that you want to have your ecommerce sore with the same platform. But magento setup is usually time consuming and complicated. Well, not anymore. Because Zoey is a Magento solution that can be set up within a day, even if you don’t have a developer to depend on.

Other benefits of a Zoey magento setup include:

Scalable

As your business grows to new heights, it becomes easier to scale your website’s capability as Zoey is a very flexible platform.

Awesome Customer Support

Coming from an already established team, the support for Zoey is simply amazing. None of your doubts will be left unanswered. There are a number of free tutorials and phone/email support.

Superb Product Catalog

You can add as many product attributes as you want, and features such as one-click mass changes make Zoey a delight to use.

Recommended read:What’s New and Cool in Magento 2?

Shopping Cart

There are numerous ways in which you can customize your Magento site’s payment methods when compared to other platforms.

Marketing Friendly

This affordable magento solution makes it further easier for you as a small business owner with its immense marketing support features. It will help you make the best out of SEO, email marketing, product reviews and other marketing techniques.

Affordable

The Magento Enterprise solution is a very costly affair for small business owners. But Magento’s Zoey setup comes in three simple plans that are very pocket-friendly/

If you want to know how to setup Zoey for your business, You can find all the required information here

Zoey Magento store offers a gamut of attractive features for small businesses. It has superb features for website design, shopping cart, store management, product management, Marketing & SEO, Analytics, Web hosting and more. Apart from these, there are features that makes Zoey Magento setup easy.

Blugento is a magento SAAS exclusively for German merchants. You can know more about it from their website

10 Awesome Magento Customization Tips

Posted on January 5, 2016 by probytesnextjs

Magento is a flexible and extensible e-commerce platform that allow customers to optimize as well as customize their sites. It is a leading platform having more than 14000 stores which run either as magento enterprise, professional, go or magento community editions.

Conversion oriented interface of magento platform helps businesses to grow and helps to manage online stores better. Magento installation and configuration is easier but when it comes to customization it is rather difficult.

Here are the ten awesome magento customization tips:

1.Debugging Magento Store Layout

Magento provides powerful logging method in the controller. Enabling debug mode is easier and one just has to follow the code.

2.Contact Form on Magento CMS Page

Contact form is given great importance for any e-commerce site. Contact form is the primary means of getting in touch with customers. Hence every magento store owner needs it working in the store. For better navigation, it is better to create a contact form using CMS page.

Read also:Why Choose Magento For Your Responsive Site?

3.Display category Name on Product Detail Pages
Magento store owners always keep product category name on the product detail page. This will be useful information to customers as they get details of where they are and what they are buying. There is certain codes that can be added to show product category name wherever you want within your layout.

4.If users are not logged in, hide product prices

One has to edit the following file for hiding product prices or to display tired pricing to logged in customers:

app/design/frontend/default/default/template/catalog/product/view/tierprices.phtml.

If the requirements are little complex we can use Magento Hide Prices, which is a comprehensive extension to hide price of products, add to cart button, disabling cart, displaying call for prices, or displaying inquiry forms etc

5.Remove credit card information from transactional emails

Magento store owners would never want to show their credit card information openly in transactional e-mails. Sending such information is highly insecure. One can remove displaying credit card information from transactional e-mails following the method:

Editapp/design/frontend/default/your_theme/template/payment/info/cc.phtml file

6.Add language pack

Magento is used as a multi-lingual store by all major brands. It is pretty easier to create a new store in Magento. There are several steps that should be followed to create a multi-lingual store in Magento.

7.Adding social media on Product Detail Pages

It is a good way to promote brand using social media. The like button in social medias like facebook, twitter, google+ etc can be helpful in the promotion of brands. Grab attention with social media.

Recommended read:What’s New and Cool in Magento 2?

8.Hide Empty Cart

It is futile to display cart in the sidebar if there is nothing in cart. Follow the steps to hide empty cart from sidebar:

Editapp/design/frontend/default//template/checkout/cart/sidebar.phtml file

9.Add custom comment box

Each product in the cart has option, add custom comment. While ordering, customers can enquire Instructions, requirements or specifications of the product in the comment box.

10. Custom Add to Cart button on CMS pages

Selling products via customized landing pages is not new; Marketers can do all sorts of efforts and thus can create pages to bring customers. With the CMS pages, customers can add certain products in the cart.Inorder to add products one have to follow certain codes and procedures.

Better Business for Better Future

All these ten tips can help in the customization of magento. It can be a difficult task for beginners involving magento front end customization.

Good Customization can be an added advantage to every ecommerce site especially a popular e-commerce site like magento.

Why Choose Magento For Your Responsive Site?

Posted on December 31, 2015 by probytesnextjs

With the rise and growth of E-commerce worldwide, owning a web based business store has become a dream come true.

Web based sales immediately kicks out all the difficulties associated with maintaining a real world business shop. Right from the payment of lump sum amounts of rent every month to the strain of employee management is vanished in front of your eyes.

Read also:What’s New and Cool in Magento 2?

Even when you stick on with your shop, having an online store provides an additional income for your business. The only investment you will ever need is the initial capital you must invest while developing your website.

Ever since the release of Magento in the year 2007, it had a very great response from the world of e-commerce.Magento ecommerce services are open-source, which means you don’t have to waste your time and money focusing on the developmental of your site. Going responsive makes your initiative time-saving and cost-effective.

When you want to have an amazing framework for designing the website on your e-commerce venture, e-commerce platforms comes to your rescue. You don’t have to take any extra pain in building base codes. Hang on to Magento ecommerce services and you can take it for granted.

What does your site going responsive signify?

“Day by day, the number of devices, platforms,and browsers that need to work with your site grows.Responsive web design represents a fundamental shift in how we’ll build websites for the decade to come”-Jeffrey Veen

A responsive website means that it will respond and fit to all screen widths and resolutions, no matter whether you access the site from a personal computer, a tablet or a mobile phone. The advantages of using a responsive website include easy readability of content, better aesthetic appeal, and improved navigation through its contents. This could in turn enhance user experience and allow your business to reach a wider audience and grow.

What makes building a responsive site necessary?

Some benefits of using a responsive site are:

Ease to use: With more and more people using different devices to access your website, it is necessary that your website content is organized for better usability.

SEO friendly: Google recommends responsive mobile specific designs that ensure faster page loading time and SEO advantages.

Values your effort: Instead of spending your valuable resources on several sites, you can focus on developing and maintaining a single site.

Richer experience: Improved user experience and satisfaction.

What’s new?

Magento ecommerce services have included features that promote great adaptability and versatility for your e-commerce website over various devices. Instead of spending time and money developing separate sites with different themes for different platforms and devices, it is a wiser decision to invest on a single Magento responsive site that could be used on all devices and platforms.

Recommended read:7 Reasons Why Magento Is Excellent For E-Commerce

Magento services have recently released Magento Enterprise Edition 1.14 and Magento Community Edition 1.9 that features more than 50 enhancements to improve quality and security of your website, as the company promises. It also promises that it will enable responsive sites in half the time. They have also included a new payment option (The Bill Me Later service), streamlined checkout (PayPal Express Checkout) and Cross-Border Price consistency (For International customers).

It is perceived that the Bill Me Later service has increased sales for merchants, by at least 10 percent. The streamlined PayPal Checkout automatically tries for alternative payment options when a customer’s credit card is rejected. This also helps in increasing the total sales. There is a new configuration option called the Cross-Border Price consistency which lets your product price to be displayed alike for worldwide customers, irrespective of the tax rates applicable for each country.

So there is every reason that one should seriously consider Magento development services for their future e-commerce initiatives.

Magento Marketplace to Arrive In Early 2016

Posted on December 9, 2015 by probytesnextjs

New Magento Marketplace will be fully launched in early 2016.

It will be replacing Magento Connect.

Each extensions and providers in the marketplace will be reviewed by Magento. This review ensures that the right quality of products and services are offered by Magento Marketplace.

The extensions in the Magento app store will go through an automated basic check which will check for plagiarism, security including malware and viruses and Magento coding standards.

According to Magento Revenue Share model, 70% of the revenue will be distributed to providers and 30% to Magento itself.

The only drawback is that Magento users will see less extensions available than previously under Magento Connect.

The good thing is that there is no fee to submit apps.

(Source(s))

Magento Commerce to Introduce New Platinum Level

Posted on November 23, 2015 by probytesnextjs

Magento commerce, trusted by over 250,000 businesses worldwide develops deeper technology partnerships.

“These strategic changes to our technology partner program enable us to curate a set of best-of-breed partners and extensions that create great merchant experiences with the Magento platform,” said Mark Lenhard, SVP of Strategy and Growth at Magento Commerce. “We are committed to making strategic investments to develop the quality of our global ecosystem and to accelerate the sales momentum of qualified technology partners who are selling and supporting Magento Commerce solutions.”

Read also: Magento- No Longer an Ebay Company

“PayPal collaborates with leading technology partners like Magento to put exciting new products and features into the hands of customers that help millions of merchants and their shoppers more easily connect,” said Steve Fusco VP, GM North America Distribution, PayPal. “PayPal is honored to be named by Magento an inaugural platinum level partner. Together, PayPal and Magento have helped countless companies grow and prosper, and we look forward to working even more closely together in the years to come.”

It recognizes segment leaders and provides for deeper collaboration in key categories of greatest interest to dealers.

“We have always striven to provide sophisticated functionality that delivers the best marketing ROI for retailers in a way that is entirely intuitive and easy to use. We are delighted that Magento has recognized these unique strengths and awarded us this prestigious global Platinum Partnership status”, said Simone Barratt, CEO of dotdigital.

This ensures a higher level of satisfaction and confidence with dealers and solution partners, while providing market differentiation for Magento technology partners and developers.

Source(s)

Magento- No Longer an Ebay Company

Posted on November 6, 2015 by probytesnextjs

Magento, leading provider of open omni-channel innovation launched as a separate company, backed by Premira funds.

It boasts a strong portfolio of open-source and cloud-based omnichannel solutions

Magento, worldwide leader in eCommerce, powering more than 240,000 sites globally and supporting over $50 billion in gross products volume.

Read Also: Is Your Magento Website Slow? Speed It Up With These Tips

“Magento is at the forefront of a tremendous market opportunity. As an independent company, with the full support and global resources of the Permira funds, we are poised to accelerate our leadership as innovators, creating products that drive exceptional experiences across every stage of the commerce lifecycle”, said New CEO Mark Lavelle.

“During our time as a division of eBay, Inc., we grew revenue fivefold, made significant investments in our core platform and added innovative mobile and omni-channel products. Now, we will build on this momentum–continuing to innovate with speed and at scale while we put renewed focus on expanding our market leadership with stronger emphasis on our global network of system integrators, technology partners and developer community”, he added.

Magento Marketplace is the largest commerce application marketplace providing merchants with a curated user experience in finding high quality products and services.

Is Your Magento Website Slow? Speed It Up With These Tips

Posted on November 4, 2015 by probytesnextjs

With the usage and demand of Magento E-commerce websites increasing at a faster rate, speed of the website is also a major concern. Website’s speed allows your customers to have the best user experience possible while shopping in your ecommerce store. Many studies have found that most of the consumers will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

Another important value for Magento Performance Optimization is for your Google Rank, which is adversely affected by any slowness with your site. Search engine giant, Google mainly spotlights on the website speed in ranking it higher on result pages. So the speed plays an essential part in driving more traffic towards your Magento E-commerce website with guaranteed conversions.

Read Also:Build Your Ecommerce Store with $1000 Using Magento

Along with choosing a reputable magento development company, for your magento E-commerce development, you should also consider certain tips to improve the performance of your website.

They are –

Reduce the number of ads – More number of ads to your e-commerce website makes it down so its application should be moderate and precise. Ads or advertisements are those things that pop up at the screen when you want to click, or even block the clicks you want to make, and it is usually used for advertising products or services of your own or others.

Use the recent version – The increasing lead of online stores is almost fully dependent on Magento development. Magento, the most popular E-commerce platform keeps on releasing its new version from time to time. Also each version of this E-commerce tool comes with improved functionality as well as features. So it is the need of the day to go for advanced version in order to get better speed and optimized performance.

Clear database logs frequently – Unnecessary data can make your Magento store run slowly. Clean up of the database is the right solution for optimal results. To increase the speed of Magento e-commerce site, you should clear the database logs quite often. Though not so easy, the task will definitely reduce loading time of the websites.

Periodic checking is crucial – As an e-commerce web merchant, it is important for you to always check the time that your page occupies. This will allow you to identify the source of the fault and make you fix it in time so that it will not pile up. For non-tech savvy merchants, it is recommended to take help from established magento development services.

Reduce the web pages size – Reducing the page size of the website is also an important technique in improving both speed and performance of e-commerce website running on Magento. The unit of measuring the web pages is bytes, the smallest metrics being kilobytes. One of the things that occupy bytes is images. Avoid the use of big images because they affect loading time greatly. Make sure to check and restrict the image size and number before uploading them. Keep in mind that the standard time that a shopping website must take to load is not more than two seconds.

Recommended Read:4 Popular Types of Magento Web Hosting

Reduce the use of third party tools – Even though Magento is a highly powerful and flexible E-commerce platform, it allows the developers to integrate third party tools or extensions easily. The reduction of these third party tools is also an important process of minimizing the delay and poor performance of your web page, as it will result to a large consumption of space resulting in generation of kilobytes and increasing the time spent to load your pages. The more kilobytes that your page consumes, the more time it spends to load and data consumes bytes.

Proper utilization of in-memory technology and caching – Utilization of in-memory technology and caching properly helps to avoid unnecessary access to database for optimal performance. This practice assists in evading needless approach to the database for finest performance. Enabling cache allows the system to retrieve previously accessed items easily, without having to reinvent-the-wheel every time.

Well experienced magento E-commerce services can provide online merchants with more advanced features to improve their E-commerce website’s performance.