First of all, Magento is an open-source eCommerce web-application with a rich set of multiple features that allow for online retailers to fully manage their stores by modifying the website look through added functionality and amended content on demand. Based on Zend Framework (open-source software framework for PHP 5) it now works with the data storage model called Entity-attribute-value database.

The major advantage of Magento is the intuitive simplicity of administration interface, enabled with ultimate content and marketing instruments. Online retailers get an opportunity to meet their unique business requirements with bespoke solutions implementation. Another benefit is an entire scalability of the platform and high availability of the support network. Last but not least, Magento is compatible with multiple stores that can be developed and managed only in one installation. The stores in Magento deployment are interconnected by conceptual ranking.

eCommerce Magento Design should be discussed separately. It is powered with Search Engine Optimisation and catalogue management tools that result in a highly effective web marketing. Many off-the-shelf skins and templates are out there and they work with no downtime whatsoever.

There is also a Customised Magento Design for those who don’t like standard solutions available to wide audience and whose online presence has already been established. In such cases the store owners usually prefer more advanced online systems. What’s in it for them? Custom Design for Magento provides not only a professional look and user-friendly interface to a webstore, but thanks to a built-in Content Management System allows for quick and very easy content editing. For instance, with no particular effort one can add product names, categories, create new content pages and new blog articles. Basically, any eCommerce website based on Magento can be customised for every set of particular requirements. For instance, integration modules for such huge online merchandising platforms as eBay and Amazon are widely developed by web agencies. To have this work done properly it is highly recommended to hire professional Magento designers with a proven track record and according experience in similar projects. If hiring an additional employee is not an option, Magento community forums are an alternative, as a great deal of professional designers and experienced Magento users take part in Magento related discussions online.

Magento is also compatible with various mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad and gadgets based on Android OS. As a result, there is an extremely high demand of ready-made open-source based features. Being quite affordable, such solutions have a fully customisable admin section as well as a complete storefront integration; smooth submissions are another advantage of Magento Mobile. However, there is always space for improvement, and Magento Mobile is no exception. Therefore there are many approaches on scalability optimisation, operability increase and simultaneous following of particular mobile device standards, and a selected business model. Such procedures are all realised with the help of Magento Mobile theme design and are supplemented with different functionality for the purpose of sales and traffic growth.
To summarise this research and memorise the lesson learnt, I would only like to add that Magento eCommerce solution is very popular among both start-ups businessmen and experienced webstore owners, it is highly and easily customised and can be integrated with basically anything. For instance, such integrations as Magento Sage, Magento Quickbooks, Magento MYOB, Magento Mamut and many others are actively created by web agencies to meet quickly growing demands of the online businesses.
Have fun with your Magento and use it up – I know I will!

Guest Post Author: Elena Bizina, Marketing department of Holbi. Takes particular interest in eCommerce industry to learn from top professionals and share with beginners like herself. In the past  - an English teacher and a Business Development Manager, at present – a full-time mother and a part-time Assistant to Marketing Manager whose core responsibilities are researching the eCommerce industry and writing about it.

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DIY Link Building

DIY link building is an exact science, actually more exact than its paid for counterpart. This is because you get to specify where every link resides – so no more dodgy links coming in from sites that don’t sit well with search engines or parental filters. On the other hand, building your own links takes forever and can seriously impact on the amount of time you have left to do other work (like keeping your business operating smoothly). It’s like the email conundrum faced by large corporations, which are now seriously having to consider getting rid of email systems because their employees spend so much time on correspondence that they have no time left for anything else.

Link building takes time, a lot of time, which is why it has traditionally been farmed out to companies that do it for you:

Paid for Link Building

Well the cons here have been noted already – if you can’t control where your links are coming from you have no idea where your site is affiliated. Also, link building is generally viewed in a poor light by the denizens of the web: because it is basically cheating. Every link you build is designed purely to make your website appear high on the Page rankings, which is hardly playing fair by the end user.

Your end user wants your site to be recommended to him or to her on the basis of its content – not because you have paid a link farm to create a web of inbound links that come from places whose content the consumer couldn’t care less about. And that, my friends, means option three – doing it yourself properly by creating a place that people want to link to.

The Power of the People

No matter what you try to do to replicate its effect, there is no SEO strategy in the world that can beat going viral. If there was, then every site that paid for SEO services would be viral in a heartbeat. No – the biggest number of inbound links anyone ever gets are the ones that come from real people sharing your URL because it contains stuff they actually want to read or see.

Content is still your number one ally. Combine killer content with a strong engagement in the right social media circles and you are in a position to do some DIY link creation that really works.

There are three things you need to get right:

1: Content

2: Social media presence

3: Analysis

OK so 2 and 3 are interchangeable in the time frame: you need analysis to ensure that your social media presence is correct – and you need a good social media presence in order to generate results you can analyse to improve. But you get the picture.

Without your content you are nothing, as the thankful demise of all those awful sites that were full of advertising links for dodgy medication proves. Without displaying that content in the right places, you can be as great as you like and still hit no home runs.

Analysis and Social Media Presence

I have said it before and I will probably say it again. You can’t analyse too much. Analyse social media chatter streams to find out what people are saying not just about you, but about the kinds of things that you sell. Get a handle on the circles of influence and buddy up with the big boys and girls. Get them talking with you and about you. Your social media presence is defined by the quality of your analysis – if you don’t get it right you are just jumping in blindly.

If you do get it right, your link building strategy will take care of itself.

About the Guest Post Author:

Sara Parker is a Freelance and Staff writer who writes informative & creative articles on SEO and Technology for various UK SEO Companies. Her expertise are in writing articles related to internet providers, SEO, Social media etc.

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Website

Obviously, your business website is the first and most essential element of creating a strong web presence. This site at the most basic level must include your basic business information (goal, service, etc.), things that make your business stand apart from other businesses like it, and your contact information. With these basic elements in place, there are now numerous ways that you can create a website that better promotes your business. Your webpage should be easy to navigate and include an “About” page as well as a “Contact” page. The quality of your website is one way that consumers judge the quality of your business. Regardless of whether this is a reasonable variable to judge a company by your customers will do it.

Blog

A professional blog is a great way to drive traffic to your website and rank more highly on all of the major search engines. By creating useful and informative content for your website you can establish yourself as an expert in your field. This is great for business. Blog posts that are related to your business field will help drive people in your targeted audience to your site. Content marketing is a wonderful way to establish a prominent web presence. By producing regular blog posts, you will constantly stay in your consumers view.

Social Media

Of course, becoming active on various social media platforms will boost your businesses presence online. At this point, businesses that are not implementing social media campaigns are extremely dated and disadvantaged. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are basically unstoppable at this point. These microblogging networks provide wonderful ways to connect with your consumers and contact the community of individuals that would be actively interested in your company. Facebook and Twitter helps keep your customers connected to your company. You can stay better informed about their actions, needs, wants, interests and they can better locate you.

Byline:

This is a guest post by Jane Smith from background check. She is a Houston based freelance writer and blogger. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com

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SEO is one of the most important industries when it comes to small business expansion using digital media. Whilst there are geographical differences in search engines depending upon where a user is searching from, there’s no reason why small businesses can’t rank well in search engine results for a term regardless of location.

I’ve outlined below a few reasons why SEO can be an invaluable asset to small businesses. There are plenty of search agencies out there with the expertise to get a SEO campaign off the ground, be it though on-site optimisation or indeed off-site link building:

Additional source of leads to get a business off the ground – if a small business is in a remote location, leads can be hard to come by. Ranking well for a search term that is relevant to the business will generate additional visibility and vastly increase the potential for lead generation through the business’ website. PPC is another option that can be considered, but organic SEO is far more effective in gaining the attention of any users searching for the chosen terms. It may also be worth considering long lead search terms of greater length, since this could increase the likelihood of conversion so long as the website is optimised appropriately.

Leveraging locale-specific search in the short term – when first starting out, it makes more sense to work on keywords that are specific to an area. For example, a bakery business in Manchester may seek to optimise the search term “Manchester bakers” or bakers in Manchester. Although such terms are quite specific, they are likely to generate more leads, but more importantly leads that can be fulfilled by the local business without the requirement to stretch resource. In addition, in the case of Google there can also be good tie-ins with Google Places and Google+, creating additional value for a local business.

Movement to optimising generic keywords for wider benefit – once local search terms have been capitalised on as much as possible, it then makes sense to focus on search terms with wider relevance. As per the example above, this could be as simple as terms like “UK bakers”. There’s no reason why over time this couldn’t be expanded on a global scale, depending on the focus of the business and the resource available to fulfill the requirements of trading on an international scale.

Whilst the benefits of embarking on a SEO campaign are by no means instant, it can be a huge factor in the growth of small business. The terms don’t just need to be used for lead generation either; they could also cover recruitment or training, making the process of expansion and easier journey. Although it’s recommended that a professional online PR or SEO agency is consulted when it comes to the campaign, the cost benefits of SEO are almost second to none.

Note from the Editor: This was a guest post.

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Yet, there are other, less obvious elements to online store optimization you need to be concerned about. These hidden factors can make or break your online store. Simple changes like the ones discussed below can in some cases double your conversions.

Hidden online store optimization techniques fall into a couple of different categories:

1. Create customer confidence with advanced security measures.

There are a number of security measures you should be using in your online store. These not only protect your customer, they protect you from chargebacks. Perhaps most importantly, they instill a greater degree of confidence in your site.

Some of these measures include:

• SSL
• PCI-complaint shopping cart software
• Address Verification Services (AVS)
• CVV verification
• Security monitoring

Implement all of these and then make sure your customer knows they’re there in order to maximize customer confidence and reduce cart abandonment.

2. Increase customer comfort with pleasing and functional aesthetics.

Your site’s aesthetics are about more than a few pretty pictures. You need to take the whole visual effect into account. Follow best practices such as:

• Reducing visual noise
• Using large, well-labeled buttons
• Leaving plenty of white space by breaking up text
• Avoiding evocative images
• Using easy-to-read fonts and comfortable color schemes

If your page is aesthetically displeasing, you’re likely to have a significantly higher bounce rate – no matter how well-written your landing page might be.

A product that meets a need, good copy, quality images, and powerful marketing techniques are all important to your online store’s success; just don’t neglect security and aesthetics at their expense.

About the Guest Post Author: David Rodwell is writer in business and economics, taking a particular interest in credit card processing. You can find more of his articles located at CreditCardProcessing.net.

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Why Go Green?

Although web content is displayed in your computer screen which saves a lot of trees for making books and magazines, there is another factor that make the internet un-friendly to the environment, electricity. It will take a lot of resources to power electricity in fact, in today’s time the amount of electricity consumption of servers increased dramatically because of new internet services like music downloads, video streaming, VoIP calls, and video-on demand.

The consumption of electricity for servers doubled over the period of 2000 to 2005 both in the US and worldwide. Associated with this growth is the growing number of inexpensive servers.

In United States alone, the total power used by servers is 0.6% in the US electricity consumption and when cooling and other infrastructure are added consumption grows to 1.2%. This is equivalent to TVs turned on simultaneously all over US.

The issue here is not only on the resources used in powering servers like the oil which is very expensive but also the effect of global warming happening because of massive electricity consumption of web hosting providers. Imagine how hot it is inside your room if you don’t have ventilation system turned on and you’ve been using the computer for hours. Well imagine if there are thousands of computers turned on for 25 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you opt for services from green web hosting providers, you are one of the websites that helped reduce the amount of power consumption, minimize the reliance of power grids by most web hosting provider, and reduces global warming. Moreover, you’ll help advocate the use of renewable resources to power-hungry businesses like these web hosting providers.

How will it benefit my website?

Web Hosting providers offering that has green web hosting have its own power plant since they will be the one to produce their own energy or rent a power from green power plants. Green power plants have lower electricity costs compared to relying on power grids for electricity, which means the green web hosting provider can give lower monthly costs to their web hosting services. Each month, expect to pay a minimum $3 for shared web hosting or a minimum of $8 for business web hosting.

How to know if they are really green?

It is easy for any web hosting provider to say they are green but it is hard to detect if these so-called “green web hosting” providers are actually telling the truth. Here is my top 3 web hosting provider list that are real green web hosting:

iPage

100% wind powered host offering unlimited disk space and bandwidth for just $4.50 per month.

FatCow

100% wind-powered web hosting with unlimited disk space and bandwidth for only $4.67 per month.

GreenGeeks

300% green web hosting with unlimited disk space and bandwidth for only $4.95 per month.

About the guest blog post author: This article was written by Tom george, who is working as a .NET consultant. Tom help people to choose the best web hosting service.

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The process adopted by the India web design companies as well as the other web design companies include a few steps, which are conceptualization, proper planning, production, post- production, research and advertising. The success of the web design companies of depends on the team of web designers as the members of this team should have an in- depth knowledge on all the aspects and features of web design. These individuals should make an effort to be updated with the recent developments of the web design world, so that they are able to provide the client with utmost satisfaction. They should also employ new strategies to achieve fruitful results.

The services offered by the India web design companies vary from one another and the cost of these services also differ from one another. However all the web design companies that have their base in India offer you with a host of options but you need to opt for the best option as you want your website to rank high as compared to the other websites in search engines. These options comprise color schemes, layouts, pictures or graphics or animation or images, designs and the addition of a contact form. The font size is also taken care of by the web designers of India including the placing of the phrases or words.

Training and documentation is also a part of the services of the India web design companies and this service would help you to maintain your own website, without much effort.

The web designers employed by the India web design companies leaves no stones unturned to make the website of the customer keeping in mind his/her requirements attractive so that it arrests the attention of the web users and the websites created should also be user friendly.

About the guest post author: Shweta Ghoshal is a content writer, who is talking about India web design companies and Outsource Web Design India. She has provided all the details on this subject matter.

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When you go in for a readymade script, choose a PHP clone for cost effectiveness and time saving. You can buy the clone software and install it yourself without any assistance. The greatest advantage of using a PHP clone will be customization. You can make use of the different features and design your website according to your requirement. Though it appears to be easy, you need to checkout for a few things before you buy a readymade e-commerce script.

What to Sell: First you need to decide what you are going to sell on your website. There are websites like the etsy clone which allow you to sell both physical as well as digital products like movies and music.

Shopping Cart software: The second thing would be a good shopping cart software for your website. The shopping cart software should aid you whether its a small web store or a virtual shopping mall in a smoother and secured online buying and selling.

Features and friendly user interface: You need to buy the readymade script which is user friendly, easy to set up stores, buy and sell products or services. Clone scripts carry the advantage of an adjustable back-end administration. As the site owner you can configure according to your needs and have complete control on the website’s functioning. You can control products, inventories, coupons, members in an admin panel being the site administrator.

Payment Gateways: Using PayPal for payments is the general practice of all websites to complete transactions successfully. You need to ensure what methods are available in the readymade script and whether they would suite your requirement. The different PayPal payment solutions available are: PayPal Website Payments Pro, PayPal Express Checkout, and new in PowerStore 4 – PayPal Website Payments Standard. However, PayPal Payments Pro is the only service that can provide a checkout process that never leaves your website.

Website Design: When you purchase a readymade PHP script, the design of the website can be customized. Once set-up, the website can be edited and kept upto date all by yourself-avoiding the need for hiring a regular web designer just to add new content to the site. Web development companies shall help you customize it with your own logo, menus and pictures.

Hosting and Support services: Many companies offer e-commerce web hosting solutions according to your business website. You can choose to adopt the website hosting services which will improve your online presence.

Besides this important benefit, quite a few website developers offer their customers around-the-clock technical support that will come in handy when using the clone scripts for website development.

Note from the Editor: This was a guest post.

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If you have been using web hosting for months now then you are lucky you have gained the confidence in using that DIY web host. But is it really the best web hosting you are looking for? Here are the reasons you should shift to another DIY web hosting provider:

• When you get to design the website for hours only to find out later you have created the worst web design ever because what you did doesn’t go exactly as you like then its time you try another DIY webhost.
• Accessibility makes sure that anyone can visit and read your website even though your visitors are visually impaired. If your DIY web hosting does not offer accessibility options, shift to another DIY web hosting.
• Understanding SEO is not just a point and click thing where you select the one that works for your website and think that it will work. SEO is a tedious process not found in your website alone. It has to do repetitive tasks in order for the website to be search engine optimized.
• When you don’t know HTML you can’t get the code clean enough to meet the web standards. It may also be the reason that your WYSIWYS editor do not get what you actually meant. This is also one of the ways to get your website to be SEO friendly. If your DIY web hosting does not provide a clean code, find another DIY web hosting provider.
• Hosting reliability. If you happen to build your own website, you need to make it published and what better way to keep it published than to have a reliable web host. Their web hosting solution must come at a cheaper price, like what web hosting provider has and it should offer 99.9% reliability and uptime. More importantly, the hosting provider must offer a very reliable customer support so they can help you whenever a problem comes. If your DIY web hosting provider is not good at hosting, ditch that DIY web hosting provider.
• DIY web hosting is a good thing to save money in hiring web design professionals or buying designs in the web. But expect that you will not always get what you want. Like for example the design of your website may have already been used by other websites in which will not create a better brand for your site.
• Doing your website from scratch is still the most effective and rewarding task which is not possible in DIY website builders. Because when something happens, you can precisely determine the root of the problem and have a better solution for it.

Guest Post Author Bio:- This article was written by Tom George, who is working as a .NET consultant. Tom help people to choose the web hosting service for their business.

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Of course you don’t have to spend an hour creating a website – spend as long as you want. But in terms of lunch breaks, top secret missions and free time between your favourite TV programmes, here’s a guide on how to create a website in an hour…stopwatches at the ready.

Pronto preparation

You need to have an idea of how you want your website to look. Whether it’s for a company or for personal use, I’m sure you’ll be pretty clued up on what you want to represent. Now, have a quick look around the web. There are masses and masses of websites out there, some of which are brilliantly designed and some, let’s face it, are just plain awful. You want to make a winning first impression so taking inspiration from the very best of the websites out there is a must – having high expectations will get you far. Maybe make some sketches and take some quick notes on things that stand out to you and features which could benefit your site. This is already half the battle won.

Speedy start

Starting the process of making a website can seem like a mean task which is why you sometimes need a little helping hand. Using a website builder is probably the fastest way you’re going to be able to set one up. That way you won’t have to spend time messing around with complex code as it’s all done for you. Website builders are continually developing and whilst they are not everybody’s preferred choice you can’t argue with the fact that they are super-speedy. However, this is by no means a quick-fix solution. You will not have to sacrifice quality for speed. You literally can have the best of both worlds with this method. Tech experts all around the world are always thinking of ways to make your lives easier and to possess the ability to do twice as many things in half the time. In effect, they are allowing us to cheat our way to being superhuman. So, in regards to website builders, we are able to create a website even faster than Superman.

Brisk building

A selection of templates will be offered to you by the website builder site. The trick is to choose the right one for you. If it’s for a photography portfolio for example, you’re not going to want a template which focuses mainly on text so choose one that supports lots of images. If your website is for an online shop then you might want to choose a template that allows for multiple sections on the homepage and for a variety of images to be used. Choosing the right template is really important as the way your information is displayed is going to make all the difference in terms of promotion and first impressions.

Design in a dash

Using a website does not mean you have to scrimp on design options, far from it in fact. You may have the impression that it’s all regimented formats, basic options and simple, dated designs. After all, you don’t want your website to look boring and a replica of another built site do you? You might as well have a website which says ‘Insert title here’. Creators of online web builders have cottoned on to this fear-factor and have developed a range of easy to use design tools. This will allow you to design more in depth as each layer can be customised to detail and can vary from page to page. Columns and rows can be adjusted to your specification meaning no site will look the same.

Now is the time to be creative and really get into the swing of things. Be confident and even go as far as to adopt a persona if you like. Imagine you are a top web designer, making snap decisions and choosing styles on demand. Add your content, keep it engaging and relevant. Insert a company logo for a professional touch and include images and videos to make it your own. A lot of website building sites will have a drag and drop feature which allows you to add widgets, images and different sections very quickly while also moving them around your page. It’s no harder than using every day office software.

Chop-chop changes

So you’ve completed your website and still have time to make a quick cup of tea. You should be feeling pretty pleased with yourself. However, if you do go back and think ‘What was I thinking with that font?’ or have noticed a spelling error, you will be able to put your website into edit mode and make these changes within a few seconds. No sweat. Managing your site through a website builder couldn’t be easier, allowing your site’s content to remain fresh and up-to-date.

About the guest post author: Alex Woods is an online writer and blogger at BaseKit – an online website builder. She enjoys finding interesting topics to write about and sharing them with others.

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