Magento THE ANSWER TO ALL THE WORLD S PROBLEMS

Brent Peterson WagentoCommerce

Antoinette Mkwapatira SCOE

The Answer to All ONE of the World s Problems MAGENTO

Magento: Do you have problems

Magento: Shopping Cart Solution Sell. Your. Stuff.

Who owns Magento?

Magento: In their own words

Who Uses Magento?

Why should you use Magento? Free! Very powerful Looks good on most mobile devices without any customization Easy to customize via downloadable extensions and themes Setup and manage multiple stores Easily translate content to different languages If you need support, it s available from the Magento community

How do you use Magento? Find a domain and a web hosting service Decide how you want your site to look and get a theme Decide if you need any extra features and get an extension Add your products and custom information Choose your payment processor and add your account

Domain and Hosting Domain: www.yourdomainname.com

Look and Feel

Extra Features Custom shipping/checkout Custom promotions Integrate with external services Fancy navigation Zooming image displays

Pages and Products Create customer service pages Create a product spreadsheet Upload images Upload spreadsheet

Payment Processing Authorize.net PayPal Others

Magento and Marketplaces

Open Source Alternatives

Hosted Alternatives

Questions? MAGENTO: THE ANSWER TO ALL THE WORLD S PROBLEMS ANTOINETTE MKWAPATIRA

Answers How do we work with a developer? Save money by using extensions that are broadly available to the public Name your price by posting your job on a website like odesk to find a good developer Go the traditional route by contracting with a Magento integration partner a company that does custom Magento development and provides individualized support

Answers Are there transaction fees with Magento? No. There are no transaction fees (or any other fees) payable to Magento for hosting your own community version of the Magento application. You will encounter domain registration fees and hosting fees payable to those service providers. You may also encounter transaction fees from your payment processor.

Answers Will sites selling themes install them on your Magento website? Yes. Most of them will install them for a modest fee, usually betwee $25 and $75. A few of them will do it at no additional charge.

Answers Does the presenter recommend any specific developers? No, not specifically. Finding the right developer depends on individual factors. If you have questions, email me at Antoinette@SCOE.biz with a description of what you re looking for in a developer, and I will be happy to point you in the right direction.

Answers How do we adjust Magento to improve SEO? The greatest SEO improvements are content driven. I strongly encourage the use of product reviews/recommendations from your customers to add original, relevant content to your site. What are product reviews, and how do they impact SEO? Product reviews are commentary on how well a products works. These reviews should be written by customers have purchased or used the product. They improve SEO by increasing the amount of relevant content on the product page. Google and other search engines can also use meta-data on the product page to display these reviews when customers use Google to find your store.

Answers How do orders and inventory move between multi-channel sites that include Magento, and how does M2E help this process? It is possible to automatically list products and download orders on ebay and Amazon when you host your own store on Magento. The M2E Magento extension is one means of automatically syncing orders and inventory. With a Magento extension, you upload your inventory directly to Magento, and your web server communicates inventory and order information to your other channels. You can also partner with a multi-channel service provider that integrates with Magento. If you use an external service provider, your inventory and order management will flow through the service provider and then be posted on all of your different channels.

Answers How do store owners get access to more detailed user documentation? I usually find my favorite sources of unofficial Magento documentation by using my favorite search engine. If you are currently working with a developer, you might want to consider hiring an additional staff member to conduct administrative work in the Magento admin/backend area. A Magento admin expert will know many tips and tricks that aren t commonly found in books and online user guides.

Answers How aggressively should store owners upgrade their Magento sites? New versions come with new features as well as new bugs. If you really need the newly available feature, it may be worth tolerating a few bugs in the new version. If a newly discovered bug puts your business at risk, you would benefit from operating up to two versions behind the latest version. Also, note that the Magento development team is aware of the difficulty that store owners face in completing upgrades and installing patches. They are transitioning to an Agile development method that involves a shorter development cycle and regular releases, which means smaller upgrades that occur more frequently.

Answers How well does Magento work with Shipworks? I have found that they do work effectively together and would encourage you to try it if you are not currently using it. If you are already using Shipworks, I wouldn t recommend switching to another shipping provider simply in search of a better experience.

Answers What are the added features available in the Community edition of 1.8 and 1.9? For a complete description, review the release notes on Magento s website Magento CE 1.8 and 1.9: http://www.magentocommerce.com/knowledgebase/entry/ce-18-later-release-notes.

Answers Does Magento work with GoDataFeed? Yes, using the GoDataFeed extension available on Magento Connect at http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/godatafeed.html.