Selecting the Right E-Commerce Platform

1. IndependentGuidetoSelectingtheRight E-commercePlatform 101GuideSeries AnE-commerceManager'sChecklisttoKeyConsiderations FirstEdition 1 ForewordbyDaveChaffey PhilRobinson,AlanRowe&LindseyAnnison

2. IndependentGuidetoSelectingtheRight E-commercePlatform PhilRobinson, AlanRowe&LindseyAnnison

3. CONTENTS AbouttheAuthorsIntroduction WhichE-commerce PlatformsDoTheTop10,000GlobalSitesUseTop10ChecklistforChoosingAnE-commerce Platform Real-LifeChallengeswithIndustryE-commerceExpertsPlatformOptions PlatformConsiderations: Which PlatformShouldI Choose?PlatformConsiderations: Which PlatformShouldI Choose?PlatformConsiderations: Which PlatformShouldI Choose?WhyUseMagentoEnterprise,ornot? HostingSpeed ThirdPartyIntegrations BrilliantPluginsandExtensionsforMagentoWordPressIntegration BuildingaMagentoSiteThatConvertsBuildinganSEOAccreditedMagentoSite Proven35StepProcessforBuildingE-commerceSitesChecklistforChoosingaMagentoPartner Don’tForgetThese10Post-LaunchMarketingConsiderationsDownloadOurOtherDigitalMarketingBooks 4 5 6 7 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

4. ABOUTTHEAUTHORS ClickThroughisadigitalmarketingagency,providingwebdevelopment, searchengineoptimisation,payperclickmanagement,conversionoptimisationandcontentmarketingservices. Since2004,ClickThroughhashelpedseveralcompanies frombig brandstosmallstart-upsgrowGooglerankings,boostconversions,increasereturnondigitalmarketinginvestment,andstretchInternetmarketingbudgetstogetvalueformoney. Weprideourselvesongivinghonestadvicebasedonthelatestdigital marketingbestpractices. OurRITEcorevaluesofResults,Innovation,TrustandExcellencedriveeverythingwedo. Aproven&trustedagencysince2003 CreatorsofBidCops.com-Europe’sleadingfreeAdWordsAuditingTool WeareaTop100AgencyonRecommendedAgencyRegisterWehavepublishedseveralbooksondigital marketing,soldonAmazon Proventrackrecord fromourworkwithclientsincludingPeugeot,Triumph,Nectar, ComicRelief,ScottishPowerandHalfords Ourpeopleallreceiveourindustry-leading,DigitalAcademytrainingActivemembersoftheIAB,eConsultancyandSEMPO Thoughtleaders,givingclientstheinsidetrack onwhatmattersinsearch,socialmediaandthedigitalmarketplace...before it happens! Whether youarethinkingofchangingyoursearchordigitalmarketingagency, orjustlookingtoimproveyouronlineconversionrate,ourteam ofsearchconversionexpertscanhelp. Findoutwhatwecandotogrowyourbusiness.Calluson08000887486orvisitwww.clickthrough-marketing.com Phil Robinson is a digitalmarketingconsultant with over 19 years’ experience. In 2004, he founded ClickThrough - an agency focused on searchenginemarketingandconversionoptimisation. In addition to his role as Founder & CEO of ClickThrough,Philalso providesbestpracticetraining for businessesand writes books on digitalmarketingstrategies. Alan Rowe is Director of WebDevelopment at ClickThroughMarketing. He has 15 years of webdevelopmentanddatabaseengineeringexperience for companiesacross a widerange of sectorsincludingprojects for Peugeotand Kia. Alan spent five years as Technical Director at a webdevelopmentcompanyandwas also a trainer at Birmingham University teachingdatabase drivenweb solutions. LindseyAnnison has been an Internet marketingconsultant since 1995, and is a renowned author, conferencespeakerandblogger. She has beenauthoringbooksand white papers for ClickThroughMarketing for 6 years.

5. INTRODUCTION Thee-commercesectorcontinuestoexperience phenomenalgrowth.Whatthismeansforyoure-commerce storeisahigh-pressure,demandingroletobecomeand remainTHEmostvitallinkinrevenuegenerationforyour onlinebusiness.Itis,therefore,criticalthatyoumakeallthe rightdecisionsregardingdesign,buildandimplementation... fortodayandintothefuture. Youmaybe... • Sellingahandfulofproducts • Sellingthousandsofproductsfromamulti- locationcompanyacrosstheglobe • Alreadyusingonee-commercestorebutstrugglingbecauseitcannotachieveyourgoals • Enjoyingexpansionandneedtolookatascalablealternativeasyourbusinesscontinuestogrow the fundamentals of an e-commercebuildand look at all the important facetsandfunctionality that an e-commerce site should have to succeed. ForreasonsyouwillsoondiscoverandappreciateinthisGuide,wehavefocusedonMagentoasapreferredplatformofchoice.Agreate-commercesitewillbefullyfunctional,SEO-compliantandbuiltforconversions.Thegoalistolead(qualified)visitors intothesalesfunnelandthemoneyintoyourbusiness. You may be in any or all of the situations listedabovebutit goes without saying that developing an e-commerce site requires the rightchoices to bemade.Theplatform and the developer you choose are two of the key decisions that will needcareful consideration.ThisGuide will help to explain ThisGuidewilltellyousomeofwhatwehavelearnedat ClickThroughMarketingin220,000hoursofwebsitedesign,Internetmarketingande-commercedevelopmentsince2004.

6. WHICHE-COMMERCEPLATFORMSDOTHETOP10,000GLOBALSITESUSE CustomCart 31.94% Volusion 2.92% Magento 12.25% PrestaShop 2.79% WooCommerce 6.19% Shopify 2.48% Zen Cart 3.73% Yahoo2.48% osCommerce 3.47% Magento Enterprise 1.27% BigCommerce 3.31% VirtueMart 1.23% OpenCart 3.00% WPe-Commerce 1.19% Other 20.40% February2013snapshot:Magentohasa26%market shareofe-commercesitesintheAlexaTop1Million. Over125,000merchantsareusingMagentofortheir e-commercestorefronts,includingsomeofthelargest brandnamesinfashion,clothing,sportsandelectronics.(Source:CustomerParadigm,http://clikth.ru/1mXoTJG)

7. TOP10CHECKLISTFORCHOOSINGANE-COMMERCEPLATFORM 1 NAILTHESTRATEGY Whatexactlydoyouwantyoure-commerceplatformto achieve?Youneedtodevelopane-commercestrategythat worksforYOU,YOURbusinessandYOURbuyers.Thiswill includeassessing,understanding,designinganddevelopingforfuturegrowth,personalisedshoppingexperiences,easeof use,multiplestoresandbrands,affiliates,marketing,back-officeintegration,socialmediatie-ins,aswellastakingintoaccountlikelynewdevelopmentsandconsumerhabits. Understandtodayhowyouronlinestoreande-commercerequirementsmaygrowandadaptoverthecomingyears.Thiswillhelpensurethatyoure-commercestorehasthelifespanrequiredforsignificantROIandongoingcustomersatisfaction wellintothefuture. 2 FREEORPAID?OPENSOURCEORPROPRIETARY? MuchOpenSourcesoftwareisnowaviablepropositionfor anysizecompanyororganisation.Thesizeofdevelopment communitiesworkingonOpenSourceprojectsareoftenthe envyofreputablecompanieswhoquitesimplycannotafford tohirethatmanystaff.Thesedevelopercommunitieswork tirelesslyandpassionatelytoimprovethecodeandfunctionality, todevelopextensionsandplug-ins,toadvancethecore program,andtotroubleshootbugs.Whatthismeansisthatthe resultingsoftwarecanbeconsiderablymorerobust,advancedandreliablethantheequivalentproprietarysolution. 3 SCALABLETOFITWITHYOUREXPANSION Itcanbedifficulttoenvisagehowyourcompanymay expandbothonandoffline,but choosinganon-scalable platformcanleaveyouout-of-pocket.Youmayneedtobeginalloveragainwithyoure-commercebuildiftheplatformcannotadapttoyourgrowingrequirements.Magentoisoftencalledthe “platformforgrowth”withgoodreason. Forinstance,youmayneedtointegratemulti-channelsintoyour futurerequirements.

8. TOP10CHECKLISTFORCHOOSINGANE-COMMERCEPLATFORM Someoftheenterpriselevelproprietarysolutionsclaimto bemultioromnichannelsoftwareandthesamecanbesaidofMagentoEnterpriseaswellasMagentoCommunity(with extensions).ThebeautyofOpenSource,however,isthatyou canhandpicksoftwaretosuityourneeds,andthroughAPIscreateintegrationsintoyoursite.Wewouldrecommendfindingthebestsolutionsforeachchannelneededandintegrateinto Magentoifyouneedasinglehub,orkeepthemseparateifnot. WeoftenuseacombinationofthebestSAASalongside Magento.Forexample,throughintegratingwithstockcontrol systems,itispossibletoorderonlineandpickupfromthe nearestphysicalstore(click&collect).Theobjectiveof offeringyourcustomerauniquebrandexperienceacrossall shoppingarenasisnotsomethingthatcanbecontrolledandaccomplishedexclusivelythroughawebsitealone.Youneedtoevaluateallmethodsofcustomerandbrandtouchpointsinordertoensurebrandcontinuityandconsistency.Asfaras Magentoisconcerned,awell-constructed,responsivewebsite willprovidethisconsistency.Inaddition,itwillensurethatany 3rdpartyintegrationsarewellexecuted. “THEBEAUTYOFOPENSOURCE, HOWEVER,ISTHATYOUCANHAND PICKSOFTWARETOSUITYOURNEEDS” CUSTOMISABLE Thereare restrictionswithinsomee-commerceplatformsthat willpreventyoufromcreatingstoresthatexactlysuityour requirements.Thismaybeacceptabletoasmallcompanywith limitedproducts,littlein-houseexpertise,atinybudget,andina nichemarketwhereitsproductsstandout.However,beingabletocreatethestorethatnotonlybest representsyourbrand,butalsosuitsyourcustomers’needsandyoursarevital. Fullcustomisation,includingofthecorefilesandclasses,gives Magentotheedgeoverothere-commerceplatforms.Itallows youtocreateastorethatistheenvyofyourcompetition.Note thatyouwillrequireexperiencedPHPdevelopersforadvancedcustomisation-talktoClickThroughMarketingaboutthemyriadpossibilitiesforstoreandback-endcustomisation. 4

9. TOP10CHECKLISTFORCHOOSINGANE-COMMERCEPLATFORM 5 6 SELF-HOSTEDORHOSTED PERFORMANCEANDSTRAINONHOSTINGSERVERS Thedatabasesbehinde-commercestorescanbecomplex, andbusystorescanbeconductinghundredsofthousandsof transactionsanhour.Thiscanputastrainontheservershostingyourdatabaseandpossiblyeventhreatentheresponsiveness ofthedatabase.Whenthathappens,thespeedatwhichresults arereturnedtotheshopperwilldecline—notagoodthing! Mirroredserversaswellasseparatedatabaseserverscanhelptomitigatethistypeofproblem,butthesecomeatacost.Youshouldseekoutspecialisthostingifyouareplanninglargestores.(Seealso:HostingDo’sandDon’ts) Aself-hostedsolutionisonethatyouownalicense toand canrunonyourownhardware.Ahostedsolutionisaserviceprovidedtoyourcompanyforacost-thesefeescandiffer widelyandmaybebasedonrevenue,numberofproductsandtransactions,orevenbandwidthusage. Nohostingcompanycanboast100%uptime,butifyour e-commercepresenceandsalesareentirelyreliantonahostedsolution,youcanseetheimpactofdowntimeonyoursales;a potentialproblemoverwhichyouhavenocontrolshouldthat hostexperienceserverissues.Redundantandfailoverhostingservicesareessentialandtherecanalsobemigrationissues shouldyoubuildyourstorewithcertainhostede-commerceproviders.Afterspendingmoneyonastore,itwouldbedisappointingtodiscoverthatyoucannoteasilymoveittoa newplatformandyourownservers. Someprovidersmakeit impossibletomigrateyourdataanddesignelsewhere.Not onlythat,youmayfindyouhavetowavegoodbyetoyourIPshouldyoumove.Allinall,adrainontimeandresourcesanda situationyoudefinitelywanttoavoid.

10. TOP10CHECKLISTFORCHOOSINGANE-COMMERCEPLATFORM 7 SEOREADY/CONVERSIONREADY Somee-commerceplatformshavebeen builtwithout ensuringthatthefinishedstorewillconform toanSEO audit.Inanever-changingInternetmarketinglandscape,thiscancausemultipleproblemsandtheworkrequiredin ordertoovercomethesecanprovecostly.Thisproblemhas causedmanyanInternetmarketingmanagertopullhairoutin desperationwhenthefinishedproductsimplywillnotperform onthesearchengines.HereatClickThrough,wearefirst andforemostadigitalmarketingagency;weknowthepitfalls causedbydesignandbuilddonewithoutaccountingforthe complexitiesandintricaciesofSEO. EASEOFUSE 8 Whenchoosingwhiche-commercepackagewillsuityou, considertheexperience required toconfiguretheplatform tosuityourneeds-willyouusein-houseskillsorbring indevelopers?Magento,forinstance,hasverystringent qualificationexaminations,whichreflecttheknowledgerequiredtoconfigurethesoftware.Hiringadevelopertoworkin-house canprovecostlyandtime-consuming,especiallyifyoudo nothavemultipleprojectsrequiringthoseskills.YouwillneedPHPskillsavailabletocustomiseMagentosothatitdeliversall thatyouneed.Othere-commercepackagesmayrequireless programming,butmayalsodeliverlessfunctionality.

11. TOP10CHECKLISTFORCHOOSINGANE-COMMERCEPLATFORM 9 JUMPINGONTHEBANDWAGON Shouldyouusewhateveryoneelseisusing?No!Itis imperativetohaveaclearunderstandingofallfactorsthat affectyourstoreandyourbusinesspriortochoosingaplatform. Themostcommonerrorwhenmakingtheplatformchoiceis over-estimatingwhatyourequirebecausexyzbrandorabccompetitorisusingit.Theplatformneedstosuityourbusinessrequirements,andnotviceversa. 10 PROJECTMANAGEMENT E-commercedesignand buildisnotasimpletask.Inorder tocoverallthebases,competentprojectmanagementis essential.Youwillneedtoplancarefullybeyondjustthedesignandbuildprocesstothinkabouthowthefinishedstorewill assistthemarketingandsalesdepartments. “ITISIMPERATIVETOHAVEA CLEARUNDERSTANDINGOFALL FACTORSTHATAFFECTYOURSTORE ANDYOURBUSINESSPRIORTO CHOOSINGAPLATFORM.”

12. REAL-LIFECHALLENGESWITHINDUSTRYE-COMMERCEEXPERTS Workingwithan agencytodevelopyourstorecanpresent challengesyoumaynothaveconsideredbeforemaking yourdecisionsaboutwhichplatformandwhich agencyto select.Attheoutset,itmaybethatyoudonotknowwhat youdonotknow.Untiltheprocesshasbegun,youcannot asktherightquestionsthatwillsaveproblemsfurtherdown theline.AbitofaCatch22situationthere! BUDGETSHOCKS Hereisagoodexampletoillustratehowthefinancialaspectcanveryquicklyandunexpectedly, becomeanindomitablechallengeinyoure-commerceimplementationprocess.One companyhasbeenusingIBMWebSphereandencounteredproblemswiththatplatformbecauseitissimplytoo complex,tooexpensiveto support,too difficulttoamend (e.g.prices,attributesandextrafeatures)andsuffersSEOissuesthathaveprovenimpossibleforthemtoovercome.Ithas becomeapparentastimehasprogressedthatthere isonequestiontheclientfailedtoasktheagency.“How muchdoyouchargeforchangesorconsiderationofnew developments,technologiesorplug-ins?” When a simple conversation about, “Do you think we shouldadd MailChimp?” comes with an invoice attached for a chat, followed by a £1500 bill for MailChimp integration, this can becomeafinancialoutlaythatmaybeoutsidetheinitialbudgetfor your site. Simpleadd-onssuch as MailChimpshould not come with a hefty pricetagattached. Forthis particularclient,amovetoMagentoisnow imminent.And,thisisthe perfectexampleofwhyother companiesshouldmakeMagentotheirfirstchoicerather thantheirlastresort. SLOWPACEOFCHANGE Thedynamicsofthee-commercemarketandtheincreased sophisticationofshoppersarebothrapidchanges.Manystoreowners discoverthattheplatformthey chooseissimplynotequippedto keeppacewiththeirrequirements. Thisisoneoftheadvantagesof OpenSource;requestsfornew featurescanbeaskeddirectlyofthedevelopercommunity. Frequently,afeaturethatispopularis addedtothenext coreupgradeorismadeavailabletoallforfreeoratlow cost.Itcanoftenbeasimpleplugandplayextensionthat takesliterallyminutestosetup.

13. REAL-LIFECHALLENGESWITHINDUSTRYE-COMMERCEEXPERTS One client realised that the vast majority of their shoppers were accessing the store from mobiledevices.They took advantageof the latest version of Magentowhichincludesmultiple new features for responsive sites to cope with the different requirements for mobile users: • device-specificmediacapabilitiesforaudioandvideo • touchandswipefeaturesforproductsandimages • cross-sellandupsellcapabilities • productdraganddropintotheshoppingcart • andmuchmore! usability (UX). Whilst delivering a superb store from a design point of view, the developers also need to understand that the marketing team must also beable to promote it without beingpenalisedby the searchengines.Thecustomersupport team cannot afford to beinundated with complaints that the store will not work for users. If this doeshappen, it canlead to poorreviews andnegativeconversationswhich in turn will affect the brand’s reputation. As we know, it is tougher to bring on new clientsand far easier to retain existing ones...if you do the rightthingand ensure you retain their loyalty with a consistentlyhigh qualityexperience. POST-BUILDISSUES Your marketingdepartment may discover issues with the e-commerce store once it has gone live. The most commonproblem with certain platforms is the store structure whichmakes Internet marketing very difficult.Developers often donot understand the marketing requirements of a website or

14. REAL-LIFECHALLENGESWITHINDUSTRYE-COMMERCEEXPERTS CONDITIONALATTRIBUTEDEALBREAKER One hosted platform that has come on in leapsandboundsandwhichcanbe run on a very limitedbudget is Shopify. Thesame is true of BigCommerce. Don’t get me wrong;Shopify is wonderful; we love it, however, it is not always appropriate.If you are starting out andintend to use all the biggestandbestSaaS to cover your end-to-enddigital solution, then Shopify may beideal. One limitation that has been a deal-breaker for us andShopify is conditionalattributes.This is where you choose one product variation and this influences your subsequentchoices.So if you are selling a customisablePC, you mightbe offered the choice of Intel or AMD CPU.Depending on your choice you would then choose an appropriatemotherboard.You cannotachieve this with Shopify; however, it is built into Magento. ONEHOSTEDPLATFORMTHATHAS COMEONINLEAPSANDBOUNDS ANDWHICHCANBERUNONAVERY LIMITEDBUDGETISSHOPIFY.

15. PLATFORMOPTIONS Youwillneedtodecidewhetheryouwantasolutionunder yourfullcontrolandonyourservers,orwhetheryouare contenttouseaself-hostedsolution.Therearea numberof prosandconstobeconsideredwitheach choice. HOSTEDSOLUTIONS Volution andBigCommerce tout themselves as beingMagentoalternatives, however, they are hosted solutions. Shopify is a smaller scaleoption, as is MagentoGo. Pros:Hosted solutions are muchcheaper, more stableandeasier to use because they are built for the mass market andhence, are more user-friendly. This also leads to the hostingbeingpart of a more expensive server set-up than most individualcompaniescan afford.Theadvantage, of course, is muchbetteruptime.Plugandplay is easy to work with, andadd-onsand extensions are easy to install. Cons:There may be a lack of flexibility, (extensions, plug-ins, etc.)purely because it is built to suit the mass market rather than your particularrequirements. Additional issues couldinclude the inability to customiseand fit any bespoke needs that you may have, as well as a lack of functionality. Forinstance,Shopify is unable to cope with conditionalattribute configuration.There is also a level of vulnerability - beingpart of a shared environment makes it a more attractivetarget, so if the host getshacked, millions of sites may be affected. DOWNLOADED(SELF-HOSTED) like IBM WebSphere and .net, Magento Pros:This solution will give you completecontrol and total freedom of choice. It has the capability to tailor-make serviceprovisions to your market requirements. In addition, you will have control over market choices,such as which servers to use. It will also allow you to conduct testing from the live, commercial environment. Cons:You may bedealing with high monthly costs.Plus,everything will be your responsibility; whether this is maintaininguptimeand servers, resolving issues with the webdevelopers or host, and so on. You couldfind yourself becoming an island away from the developercommunity. Forinstance, if your store evolves away from the core to such an extent through the need to customise, it may bedifficult to find help. You will need a developmentplatform to test prior to going live, particularly if customisation has been extensive.

16. PLATFORMCONSIDERATIONS:WHICHPLATFORMSHOULDICHOOSE? Considerthecost- An e-commerce store needs to pay for itself and not become a financialburdensimplybecausepoordecisions were made when building it. Make your budget go much further simplybychoosing the rightplatform andanticipating what you will require in the future. Sizematters- If your business is quite small, with hundredsrather than thousands of productsandSKUs,and not requiringintegration with thirdparty systems, (such as accounting,stockcontrol, anddistributors), then Shopifymightbe more appropriate than Magento. Lookintothefuture- It is important to think clearlyabout your plans for future growth andavoidneeding to re-build your store 18-24 months down the line. Theavailability of e-commerceSaaSandplugandplay solutions have made entry level e-commerce extremely affordable for SMEs. Standoutfromthecrowd- Do not becarried away and just use what everyone else is using.Fewcompaniesrequire the complexity, or licenseandsupport costs of platforms suchas IBM WebSphere, which has often beenusedbecause of the bandwagon effect.Although it can also gobeyondthe requirements of many, Magento is often a more suitablesolution. What is important to keep in mind is that your

17. PLATFORMCONSIDERATIONS:WHICHPLATFORMSHOULDICHOOSE? store needs to stand out; not simplybe a clone of another company’s store! Thinkclearly- Many largecorporations are under the misapprehension that they require a Microsoft or other giantcompany’s solution (like IBM WebSphere). This is legacythinking.“No-one ever got fired for buyingIBM” is from the days when there was limitedcompetitionandoptionssuch as OpenSourcesimplydid not exist. Theothersideofthecoin- Smallercompaniestend to over- estimate their size andrequirements. Do not buy an Enterprise solution if you are an SME! of your e-commercedesign. A quick look at customerreview sites will allow you to discover that the customer thinks a certain brand’s e-commerceset-up is difficult to navigate or complicated to use. Bebrave- Your requirements may be met by a smaller scale or OpenSource solution. There are plenty of well-known brands usingOpenSource, so you will not be alone...just in case you needcomfort in numbers! Howcomplicatedisit?Simplify!- The architecture andinfrastructure needed to run some systems mean that it is really expensiveanddifficult to make changes.Thiscan further mean that SEO issues are very hard to resolve. Don’tactlikesheep- There canbe a degree of herd mentality, butdo not choose a package just because a largebrandname is using it. Look closely at how well these stores work before deciding to emulate them. Omnichannelling- Consider all the different channels that will berequired to reach your customer:mobile,bricksand mortar stores, website,socialmediaprofiles, and offline advertising all Makeitusable- User Experience(UX) is a vital component

18. PLATFORMCONSIDERATIONS:WHICHPLATFORMSHOULDICHOOSE? need to be considered to make your store accessible to every potentialcustomer. Theplatform you chooseshouldintegrate all channels so that access to your store is a simple matter, whatever the device orthe initial touchpoint fora consumer. Developerdilemma- Magentocanbe a challenge. It is considered an advanced system that requires advancedPHPdevelopersand front enddesigners. It canbe more expensive to support than an out-of-the-box solution. It is infinitely flexiblebut it doesrequire a level of expertise for developers. Nevertheless, Magentocosts are likely to besignificantly lower than the equivalent.NET or WebSphere costs. Howlargewillyougrow- Magento is built with multiplestores andglobale-commerce in mind; all built from the same database.This is particularly true of the Enterprise version, so scalabilitywill not be an issuefrom 100 SKUs to millions. Make‘empay- eBay’s ownership of bothMagentoandPayPalmean that PayPal is more tightlyintegrated with Magento than with many other packages.You will also have many other paymentgatewaysavailable as extensions to cater for multiplepaymentoptions. THEPLATFORMYOUCHOOSE SHOULDINTEGRATEALLCHANNELS SOTHATACCESSTOYOURSTOREIS ASIMPLEMATTER,WHATEVERTHE DEVICEORTHEINITIALTOUCHPOINT FORACONSUMER.

19. WHYUSEMAGENTOENTERPRISE,ORNOT? Itisgoodtothinkbig,butMagentoEnterprise,andothers inthesameleague,arebeasts.OpenSourcedevelopment oftenreliesontechiesandgeeks,whomaynotcomprehend alltheintricaciesofrunningabusiness,design features, marketingandSEO. Magentowasoneofthefirstplatforms toaddressalloftheseissuesinanaffordablepackage-the CommunityEdition. The Enterprise version was developed for larger corporations,and whilst using many of the same core files, it has additionalfeatures, increasedreliabilityandtightersecurity. Magento(Enterprise) is aimed in the same place as WebSphere and is much more agile,butmuch easier to personaliseandcustomise. Both the Community and Enterprise editions offer multiplestores using a commonback-end.There is a single administrative area meaning that all the products/inventory, customersand orders are held in the same place. Security has been built in from the outset with Magento; so many concerns that affect other packages have alreadybeenaddressed in both the Community andEnterpriseeditions.

20. HOSTINGSPEED Databasedrivenwebsitescanusebandwidthandprocessor powermuchasanoiltankerconsumesdiesel!Ifyou aregoingtosendalotoftraffic,youneedtoeitherhave aseparate,dedicatedserverforthedatabaseorensure MYSQLhascachingturnedon. Speed matters - Google researchback in 2009 showed that even a 0.1% improvement in load time canincrease sales by1%. In 2014, users are even more impatient to getresults; so if you want your site to deliverresults quickly, you will certainly want a dedicated server. SPEEDMATTERS-GOOGLERESEARCH BACKIN2009SHOWEDTHATEVENA 0.1%IMPROVEMENTINLOADTIMECAN INCREASESALESBY1%

21. THIRDPARTYINTEGRATIONS Manycompanieshavediscoveredthatane-commercestore cannotbeastand-alonesite;itneedstobeintegratedwith yourbackandmiddleofficesystemsoryouwillsimply createmoreandmoreadministrationtasksforyouralready overburdenedworkforce. If you are looking to join upbackandmiddle office, then Magento is great. Forexample, there are already extensions to integrate with Sage 50 and throughMagento’s SOAPAPI, you can integrate with SAP, Sage 100, 200 and many other 3rdparty systems. You can also create automatedconnections to fulfillment centres, receivefeedbacksuch as trackingnumbersto help you to follow an orderright through from stockcontrol, billing,deliveryaswellasrefunds,repairreturnsorexchanges. ANE-COMMERCESTORECANNOTBE ASTAND-ALONESITE;ITNEEDSTO BEINTEGRATEDWITHYOURBACK ANDMIDDLEOFFICESYSTEMSOR YOUWILLSIMPLYCREATEMOREAND MOREADMINISTRATIONTASKS

22. BRILLIANTPLUGINSANDEXTENSIONSFORMAGENTO BrilliantPluginsandExtensionsforMagento Therearemorethan7500plug-insintheMagento Connectmarketplacesoyouwillbespoiledforchoice. Thereisnoneedtodesignyourownsolutiontoaproblem whensomanyexcellentandtestedplug-insexist.Order alerts,in-aislecheckouts,orderaheadfunctionality, paymentgateways,frequentlyboughttogether,Ajax catalogues,onepagecheckouts,realtimevisitortracking andmuch,muchmore. In the extensions sections of the Magento site, there are ratings,reviews, plus the well-known thirdparty makers to helpyou choose the right,highquality, reliable extension for you. Reputable plugin makers include: Magestore.com(e.g.Ajax cart Extension) Webshopapps(.e.g.Multiple Table Rates extension) Aheadworks(e.g. Follow Up emailand Advanced Reports) Amasty(e.g.Extendedproduct grid with editorandCoupon Generator) Ajax Cart PreviewBlast Lucene Search INTHEEXTENSIONSSECTIONSOFTHE MAGENTOSITE,THEREARERATINGS, REVIEWS,PLUSTHEWELL-KNOWN THIRDPARTYMAKERSTOHELPYOU CHOOSETHERIGHT,HIGHQUALITY,RELIABLEEXTENSIONFORYOU.

23. WORDPRESSINTEGRATION YoumayhaveanexistingWordPresssiteorblogthat youwishtointegratewithyourMagentostore.Thereis aFishpigplug-inthatmakesthisasimpletask,allowing youtousethesamethemeforbothMagentoandyour site,associatepostswithproductsandyouonlyneedto loginoncetoadministerbothyourblogandyourshop. Fishpig also providessupport for a host of popularWordPress plug-ins that you may alreadybeusing.(Magento WordPress Integration) FISHPIGALSOPROVIDESSUPPORT FORAHOSTOFPOPULAR WORDPRESSPLUG-INSTHATYOUMAY ALREADYBEUSING.

24. BUILDINGAMAGENTOSITETHATCONVERTS Magentohastonsoffunctionalitysuchascrosssells, checkoutfunctions,pricingrules,discountcodes, coupons,andadvancedcustomisation.Thepointto bearinmindisthatiftheagencyordesignerbuilding thesitedoesnotunderstandconversion,aMagento- builtsitemaynotperformtomeetneitheryour objectivesnorthoseofyourvisitor. Out of the box, Magento features Cross Sells(people who bought this, also bought this), UpSells (…you are interestedin Bronze….why not considerSilver or Gold?),attributes (e.g.colours, size, etc.)andcategories(householdgoods, computers,clothing,books,etc.)which makes it easy for customers to drilldownandfindexactly what they seek, as well as related items for accessories. Therearealsomanydownloadablethemesavailableatlowto mediumcost.Thesefeaturescanbeagoodstart,butanagencythatunderstandsthecustomerandmarketplaceisbestplacedtoworkouthowbesttopresentthatbusinessandincrease conversionrate.Thismaybethroughuseofcolour,whitespaceetc.(wehavelotsofinformationonconversionbestpractice). Also connected to conversion rate is speed and there is a lot that needs to bedone to make a Magento site run quickly. This is connected to hosting and platform extension as well as setup. If you are consideringusing an off-the-shelf theme, beaware that it may bepacked full of codelibraries you might not need,whichcan slow your site downconsiderably. For instance, a site which takes 4 seconds to download into the customer’s browser canbeoptimised to load in around half that time. It is essential to have a developer who understandsthese issues, particularly as pageload time is one of the factors in the searchengines’algorithms.

25. BUILDINGANSEOACCREDITEDMAGENTOSITE For instance, by default, Magento generates many different URLs to serve up what is essentially the same page.Thiscreates canonisation issues. Also Magento’s layerednavigation creates thousands of unnecessary URLsand may endup with hundreds of thousands of GoogleindexedURLS when there are only a few thousandproducts.Precisestepsneed to betaken to deal with this anddirectGoogleappropriately in orderto avoidpenalties. This is the same problem with many bluechips on IBM WebSphere, .net or Vendor. Theysimplycannot solve the issues and this generatesproblems with Internet marketing as well as UX. Overthelastdecade,wehavedevelopedanSEO accreditation(orchecklist)whicheverysitewedevelop (orworkwith)mustpassinorderforustopermitthe websitetogolive.AnSEOaccreditedsitewillpassall ofthesearchengines’criteriatohelpimproveranking andperformance. Straight out of the box, any Magento system is poorlyprepared for SEO; other platforms are usually even worse andcanrequire even more work to resolve the problems. Understanding the importance of an Internet marketing-ready website from the outset means our Magento sites are built with SEOaccreditation as a developerpriority. We checkandcross-check 20 technicalcriteria in our SEOaccreditation,including the existence of broken links, use of redirects,application of robots.txt, use of canonical links, effectof duplicatecontent,instances of 404 errors, URL formatting,titles, descriptions & keywords,aspectsrelating to page text, home page aspects, use of page tags, implementation of image tags, internal linking & anchor text, searchengine inclusion, XML Sitemap Implementation, server location, server speed, use of branding, attention to detail, use of external links and many more factors.

26. Since 2004, we have worked on hundreds of webbuild, site migrationandecommerceprojects.We have evolved a unique35-stageprocess to successfule-commerce site build - the goalbeing to delivera conversion-led,SEOaccredited site that maximizes traffic volumes andconversions.

27. CHECKLISTFORCHOOSINGAMAGENTOPARTNER Magentoisanadvancedsystemanditrequires expertdeveloperswhoareabletodeliverthelevelof customisationyouwillneed.Mostcompaniesdonot havetherequiredexpertisein-houseandchoosinga partnerexperiencedwithadvancedPHPdevelopment isessentialifyouwantyourwebsitetomeetyour requirements. The design and functionality of your store is important, butso is ensuring that oncebuilt, it canbefoundand is easy to use. ClickThrough has all the requireddesign,programminganddevelopment skills in-house. In addition, you will have the advantage of our remarkable teams of successfuldigitalmarketingexperts, covering all the necessary expertise includingSEO,PPC,socialmedia, email marketing, conversions,PRandcontentmarketing.

28. DON’TFORGETTHESE10POST-LAUNCHMARKETINGCONSIDERATIONS Duringthesitedesignandbuild,youshouldremember thatoncethesiteislaunched,therewillbemarketing considerations,andtheseshouldbeincorporatedinto thedesignphase.Itcanbeextremelydifficult,ifnot impossible,totaketheseintoaccountpost-buildsodue considerationmustbegiventoaspects,suchas: Sitestructure for ease of use as well as for the searchengines On-pageoptimisation for pagecontentand keywords CTRs (ClickThroughRates) for optimisedmicrodata,whichincludeswell-writtenpagetitlesanddescriptions Clean keywordURLs (rather than default auto- generatedURLswhichcanplayhavoc with SEO) PageRank flow (or link juice) Productfeeds for Google’s PLAs(ProductListingAds)to ensure your products are included in the listings. Quality score for your PPC(PayPerClick)campaigns Content marketing,includingdownloadableguidesandlandingpages for specificcontent Social profile integrationsandRSSfeeds Review sites relevant to your sector, such as Feefo

29. DOWNLOADOUROTHERDIGITALMARKETINGBOOKS