10 Must have Skills of Magento Developer in Magento Development Services

If you are one among the young aspiring business people, who are searching for a great opening of their E-commerce project, then you are at the right platform and reading the right article. With Magento development services you can own a clear E-commerce store.

However, to acquire the undeniable advantages of this open – source platform, you have to use Magento designer for getting ideal benefits in setting of business growth and income generation. These passionate web designers try to execute best of class web development ventures for your business.

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With the increasing demand of exclusivity in E-commerce industry, the established as well as the rookie businessmen are switching to conventional shopping stores rather than the traditional ones which were used earlier. The main question, apart from choosing the best web development platform, is how would you know if the designs and development strategies which your hired Magento developer is applying are correct or not? It would be difficult for you to know it if you are not that technically sound.

But don’t worry, here is a list of 10 brilliant qualities which you can search for while hiring an expert Magento developer.

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1. Developer’s Knowledge

The developer ought to have proper knowledge of all the technical fields. Additionally, he must show an enthusiasm to learn about the latest ideas and updates identified with his portfolio. This would enable him to understand the limitations and developments of the web business.

2. Innovative Mind

If you want to create a unique commercial portal, you have to hire an innovative web developer who has faith in researching new ways to create unmatched web designs, webpages, and so on for your business growth.

3. Imaginative Perspective

An experienced developer ought to hold an imaginative perspective to convert your business a success. He could work in line with the strategies of your business brand. Such a developer is fit for building an undeniable website from scratch.

4. Professionalism

Professionalism of your developer makes an intense effect on your business and also on your customer base.

5. Multi-tasking Ability

A passionate developer understands multi-tasking ability which gets exhibited while working on business projects.

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6. Marketing Knowledge

Creativity of a developer is a demonstrated advantage of enlisting an expert hand. They build exceptionally inventive and creative shopping stores that keep clients down to the site.

7. Quality of Work

Ensure that your magento developer is utilizing quality techniques and technologies as a part of your web ventures.

8. Experience of Developer

It is better to check the portfolio of the web developer before employing because experienced designers are reliable and responsible for their work and developments.

9. Awareness of your Business

The principle motto of your web designer is to understand the business motives, so that he can arrange out methodologies to take care of your demand.

10. 24/7 Availability

It is good to hire a web developer who is available day in and day out all through the process. They are capable of completing tasks on time without compromising quality standards.

Therefore, you can consider these 10 qualities before employing your web developers. Always keep in mind these skilled developers of Magento development services adopt brilliant methodologies to deliver demand specific projects ranging from Magento customization to upgrading and then to development.

The Best Magento Development Extensions for Blogs

Blogs are an extremely important part of websites. It nurtures your website with valuable thoughts and, information, news and much more.

Here is some of the best Magento Development Blog Extensions:

1. Blog – Community Edition by aheadWorks

The blog extension from aheadWorks is reckoned as the best for creating buzz and word of mouth marketing tips. It not only provides you regular customers with up -to- date information but brings additional visitors to your site, builds relevant SEO-friendly text links, and serves as assistance in building sales strategy. This Magento blog extension helps you in creating relevant and valuable content to attract and engage target audience.

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It gives you a noteworthy opportunity to communicate with your regular customers and casual visitors. With a blog you can create an interactive two-way communication platform to provide official information on your store news, upcoming products, promotions, and get customers’ feedback.

Blogging has proved to be one of the best effective marketing tactics. If your customers feel that they are listened to and their needs are responded to, they are more likely to come back to your store again and again.

2. nBlog – Blog Extension by Neotheme

nBlog from Neotheme enables you manage your blog without need of any additional framework. This extension is integrated into Magento backend so your eCommerce store and blog are both in one place. You can change blog layouts from the backend without need of any programming knowledge. Moreover, you will have complete control over the blog publish date and time.

3. Blog Pro

Blog Pro from MagPleasure is a new and extra powerful Magento blog extension of excellent quality. This blog extension comes with the social sharing ability which means you do not need to add any extra tools to allow your customers share your blog posts on social networking websites such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn etc. It has intuitive interface that makes it easy to control each aspect of blog posts such as tags, description, comments, category, URLs, author etc.

Read Also: 6 Amazing Magento Extensions to Improve Your Online Store

4. Simple Blog

Simple Blog Magento extension gives you an opportunity to run blog for your eCommerce store and helps you boost your content marketing activities. It is easy to install and manage extension comes with 15 days money back guarantee.

5. CMS Pro News/Blog by MageWorld

Manage your eCommerce store news and blog easily. CMS Pro News/Blog by Mageworld Magento extension is very useful and easy to install. It works brilliantly without any issue and delivers exactly what it promises. Customers who visit your store will see the latest news on the home page as well as the side bar. You can control the number of blog news to be shown per page with pagination support.

6. Blog Post

As we all know, today it is impossible to imagine a website without blog since blog is one of the effective ways to tell people about your blog stores upcoming deals and offers. It helps you interact with your customers. Blog Post – a Magento blog extension from Magegaga is a handy tool that helps you present the information on your Magento store and increase store traffic.

7. Blog by Innobyte

One should use this extension to communicate the latest Information (how to buy, current promotions, latest arrivals or even job openings) to regular buyers and on- site visitors. With this extension you can have user – friendly links which increase the opportunity to attract new visitors to your store. This extension is compatible with CE and EE edition and comes with 30-day money back guarantee. With Blog by Innobyte, it is easy to manage and create your store’s own blog.

Recommended Read: 6 Major Companies That Provide Magento Extensions

8. Magik BlogMate

Magik BlogMate is a very powerful, yet simple blog extension for Magento eCommerce websites. It provides an easy way to keep your customers connected with your store announcement and offers. It also helps build SEO – friendly URLs for better link building strategy. This extension enables you to create an unlimited number of categories disable comments for some post.

9. Marketplace Blog

Marketplace blog enables you create blog posts for your lovely customers and improve shop presence on the internet. Blog is one of the ways to improve shop sales and conversation. Use this extension for your Magento eCommerce store which comes with WYSIWYG editor for the blog post creation and generation of SEO friendly URLs.

Installing Magento 2 for your Online Store

Magento Development Company has released its latest version Magento 2. It became a major release for magento as it has so many architectural changes in it. The level of magento installation is very high in this version. When compared to its previous version, it is harder to install Magento 2.

Here are the details about the installation of Magento 2:

For installation of Magento 2 you need a web server with programming language as PHP and a database server such as mysql. The following are the conditions to install magento development services on your local computer.

1. A Web Server

Web Server can be either Apache or Nginx. The version of Apache can be 2.2 or 2.4. The version of Nginx can be 1.8 or higher version.

Read also:Magento Setup: A Guide to Move from Magento Go

2. A Database Server

The database server to be used for installation of Magento 2 is Mysql 5.6.

3. Programming Language

The language can be PHP 5.6 or higher. The following extension should be enabled:

a. PHP Data Objects or Mysql

b. Mcrypt

c. Mbstring

d. Mhash

e. Simple Extensible Markup Language

f. Curl

g. Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)

h. GD Library or ImageMaick

i. Simple Object Access Protocol

j. Intl

k. Openssl

Steps for installing Magento 2

STEP 1: Download magento 2

You need to download magento 2 from Magento Website Download Page. Then select the one you want to install. If you want to install with sample data choose download with sample data. Extract the downloaded file in the XAMPP htdocs (directory) folder once downloading is completed.

STEP 2: Create database for the magento 2

Once XAMPP is installed it comes along with Mysql and XAMPP panels to manage Mysql database. These are the steps to be followed for creating database for installation of Magento 2.

a.http://localhost/phpmyadmin/is the Uniform Resource Locator   (URL) on the your browser

b. By clicking the above URL you will get a web page

c. On the homepage of phpmyadmin, click on the database tab. Otherwise you can click on highlighted tab with red border which is the database tab

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d. On the database page, a small text box with “create new database” appears on the bottom. Enter the name of the database you want to use. After that click on the create button

Step 3: Open Magento Installer in Browser

Step 1 and step 2 are compulsory for the installation of Magento 2. After completing step 1 and step 2, you can open the http://localhost/magento2 in the web browser. In this URL is the name of web server and magento 2 is the folder having unzipped magento 2 code files. You will get a screen with version details and terms and agreement. To read terms and agreement you can click on the option Terms and Agreement And if you need to proceed further click on Agree and Setup Magento

STEP 4: Readiness Check

After clicking agree and setup Magento button, readiness check screen of Magento 2 installation wizard appears. Here in this step Magento 2 want to ensure that all the required PHP extension are installed in the computer. You need to click on “Start Readiness Check” button on the readiness check screen. After successfully completing readiness check you can click next button to proceed with the database step.

Recommended read:Why Choose Magento For Your Responsive Site?

STEP 5: Configure Database

If readiness check is completed, then the next step is to add database credential to Magento 2. A form will be appeared on the screen for entering database credentials.The information include the following:

  • Database server name

  • Username of your database server

  • Enter the database password

  • Table prefix is optional so you can leave it blank

After filling the details you can click Next button.

STEP6: Web Configuration

After completing the information regarding database, the next step is to configure URL. A form will appear which ask for Your Store Address and Magento Admin address. In the field Your Store Address there is no need to change anything. But in Magento Admin, replace with “admin” and click on “next” button. Advance option will also be available there. These are not compulsory for installation. After installation you can change advance options.

STEP7:Customize your store

After the customization of URL, follows the step of customization of store configuration. It is very easy step. One can change three field as per the requirement and those fields are:=

  • Store Default Timezone

  • Store Default Currency

  • Store Default Language

The remaining can be skipped as default value and you can click Next button.

STEP8: Create Admin Account

The next step is to configure admin account. A form will appear on the screen. After filling the form, you can click Next button.

STEP9: Final Install

It is the final step after completing all the above steps. Click on “Install Now” button. After clicking the option, installation process get started and the progress bar will show the percentage of completion for installation. You will get screen showing success, after the installation is completed.

Click on the store URL to go to the store.

What’s New and Cool in Magento 2?

Magento 2 is a brand new version of the popular e-commerce platform. This next generation platform offers unmatched flexibility and opportunities for innovation to ecommerce websites. A competent Magento Development Company would be able to make the best out of this software’s features. It has so many provisions to customize your ecommerce website.

Multi shopping and more

Within a single transaction, one can experience multi shopping with Magento e-commerce platform. It is the leading provider of open omnichannel innovation. In 2015, Magento was named top ecommerce platform with 41 merchants confirming Magento as their e-commerce platform on the inaugural Internet Retailer B2B eCommerce 300 guide. Magento services provide the customer an opportunity to compare and review products.

Read Also : 7 Tips to Optimize Your Magento Ecommerce Site’s Page Speed

Magento 2 introduces testing as a part of development.  It has new technologies, better rapport with the community, new resources for documentation, improved scalability and performance, reduced upgrade costs and efforts.

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 There are two major changes in the structure of magento. Firstly, it is placed under the app structure. Secondly, it has a view directory to access template, layout, js and css files.

Magento 2.0 Key Features

Some of the key features of Magento 2.0 are:

  • More compatible and popular platforms
  • Migration from prototype to jQuery
  • Improved speed. It is 20% faster than the older version.
  • It has component oriented architecture
  • Introduction of new directory called ‘pub’ which provides better and clearer view structure for the developer
  • Helps the developer to make automated testing easily
  • Provides better security
  • Supports only one Javascript framework.

The new included technologies in Magento 2.0 includes HTML5, CSS3, RequireJS, Apache 2.2, full page caching, magento performance toolkit, CSS Pre-processor, MySQL5.6, PSR Compliance, Magento UI Library, and PHP 5.5x.

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

Easier Editing

With the help of Visual Design Editor, one can modify containers and blocks without much technical knowledge. One can easily make changes in admin panel. Hence there is an improved customization all in all. There is easier development in frontend. This means one can find it easier to look and feel the site with least use of CSS pre-processor and HTML5 themes. There is reduced upgrade cost and efforts. Magento includes information about the policies of versioning. Installing magento 2.0 is much faster with the help of new standalone installer. It also checks for any prerequisites before the installation.

Improved Scalability and Performance

New indexers, new Magento performance toolkit and Varnish Cache are some of the examples of improved scalability. Improved indexers introduce more efficient updates to increase performance. Magento performance toolkit is used to verify and optimize the performance of the system.  In order to reduce server load and increase the speed of page loading, one can seek the aid of Varnish Cache. Magento 2.0 includes necessary documentation and enables faster development and also supports continuous integration and testing practices.

With the introduction of Magento 2.0, there is better interaction with the community. Platform, special events and seminars through internet can be possible with the Magento 2.0. Magento 2.0 is a clean upgrade and there will be more responses than the older versions.

Let us know what you think of the new version of Magento by commenting below.

7 Reasons Why Magento Is Excellent For E-Commerce

In your search for the best e-commerce platform, you might have seen several options. One among those is Magento. It is hugely popular and is adopted by many brands such as Nestle and Samsung.

Read on to know why these brands make use of Magento for their websites.

Open source

Magento is a free platform. Simply download and start customizing the site based on your requirements. Being open, this platform is always on the top with regular updates.

Recommended Read:How to Fix Common Magento SEO Problems?

Hosting service is chosen independently

Magento allows you to select the hosting service according to your requirement as compared to others. This will be helpful in switching the hosting service if you find any problem with the existing one.

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If you need a hosted platform, then Magento will provide you exactly the same with all benefits which is in Magento Community edition platform.

Flexible and Customizable

Magento is expected to be naturally highly customizable and flexible as it is an open source platform. It allows you to develop an amazing front-end customer experience.

You can modify your template and layouts according to your choice. Backend can also be redesigned to suit your business needs.

Made for SEO

Search engine traffic is one of the essential factors in promoting an online store. Creating a website SEO friendly is not an easy task and is a big issue for large e-commerce sites. But it can become easy with Magento.

With the help of HTML5 capabilities of Magento, you can easily develop mobile friendly websites. This will help avoid lot of trouble and save your time.

Run Multiple Websites with Same Common Backend System

With Magento you can run several websites with the same backend system. Each and every website has different layouts and domains for each website respectively. You can manage them simultaneously using Magento. It is an asset for e-commerce business.

Read Also:6 Amazing Magento Extensions to Improve Your Online Store

Scalability

Magento has the efficiency to host several products in your online store. Several businesses start with free community edition and after they experience the growth, they switch to Magento enterprise edition. This platform really grows with your e-commerce business.

Secure

People have the fear that their website might be hacked. But with Magento, your website is highly secure. Because, its developers are always on the lookout for potential security flaws and take precautions as soon as they are spotted.

As you see, Magento is the best platform for your e-commerce business. Over 600.000 store owners are using Magento to sell their products online.

So, if you are looking for providing the best shopping service to your customers, then Magento is the one that you must select.

Things to Consider While Planning a Magento Store

 

Magento is an ecommerce platform trusted all over the world. It helps you to drive more traffic to your site.

Throughout the past few years, Magento has grown tremendously in the internet due to its functionalities, dynamic attributes and user-friendly nature. Various ecommerce websites are choosing Magento platform to give their e – store a refreshing and a new look. Being the most popular platform for its high-performance and flexibility, Magento is a fantastic choice for all kinds of ecommerce websites that are selling a variety of products.

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This article will discuss about the essential things that make good ecommerce possible and gives you suggestion on what you should pay attention to when planning a Magento online store.

Some of the general tips that you must know:

  1. Mention who all will be in this planning process and their roles.
  2. You should involve in some of the legal and financial matters which are unavoidable in the online business.
  3. Go through some articles of the ecommerce website development to know about the development process. It will help you to know what to expect when planning an online store.
  4. Before contacting a Magento development company, prepare the project concept.
  5. Project will not get implemented devoid of your commitment.

Recommended Read: 6 Major Companies That Provide Magento Extensions

STRATEGY AND GENERAL MATTERS

-Define your target market and audience

This is something which you need to consider while planning a Magento online store. If you don’t know about your target market and audience, then your chance of creating a successful online store will reduce. Knowing who will buy your services and products can influence your website structure and design.

-Select the edition of Magento platform

It is essential for you to know about the Magento edition you are going to use. There are two versions – Enterprise and. Community. According to the size of your business, the amount of products you plan to use in the store and other required functionalities, define the edition that meets your needs.

DESIGN

Design plays a vital role in the online field. Having a professionally designed website will make your site more attractive and user-friendly.

There are two design options for your Magento store:

  • A ready-made design theme
  • Creating custom design

A ready-made design theme

Using a ready design theme helps you to create a good looking Magento Online Store and expel the need of custom design. Presently there are hundreds of ready design themes accessible on the market such as Template Monster and Theme Forest. The disadvantage of using such themes is that there might be lots of other stores using the same theme. That would be a slight negative for established brands. They are ideal choices for small and medium enterprises though.

Creating custom design

A custom design will be unique for your website. For this you should look at several online stores and select what you find appealing. It could be navigation, color, layout or any other thing. Being built by you ground up, functionalities and design can be according to what you desire, without the limitations of a theme.

PRODUCTS

There are 6 types of products in the Magento context. They are as follows:

Simple– This is a simple product in Magento that you can ship as it doesn’t have any options like size or color.

Configurable– This product is used when our products have various choices related to it such as size, color etc.

Downloadable– It is used for online software items and it does not allow for the selection of a shipping method as there’s nothing to ship.

Virtual– It is used for a virtual item like insurance, an extra product guarantee, a reservation, etc.

Bundle– This product allows client to build their own product from the several options. Each item in the bundle is a separate, standalone product.

Grouped– This is a set of simple products. For Ex: If you want to sell a camera+ camera lens, then each of those is simple product; but if you group them together, it is called grouped product.

Read Also: 8 Reasons Magento is the Best Choice for eCommerce 

PAYMENTS AND SHIPPING

These are the essential things required while planning a Magento online store. We should get familiar with the payment and shipping options accessible in Magento and should select which option is good for our online business.

Payment methods:    

  • PayPal
  • Credit card
  • Bank transfer
  • Cash on delivery
  • Purchase order
  • net

Shipping methods:

  • Flat rate
  • Free shipping
  • Table rates
  • Online rates

MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS

This is another area where Magento is best. You should plan what marketing and promotion method you need to use when selling to increase your sales. You can add lots of features through extension also.

The best thing about this platform is that it comes with a complete selection of ecommerce modules that can be easily personalized as per your company requirements. When you select for other platforms, they need lots of money to customize and for shopping cart options. Therefore, it is beneficial for you to go with Magento platform.