If you wish to start your online business and open a web store the easiest way is to use Magento ® platform. But many beginners make mistakes at first and then deal with their consequences in the process of the site implementation.
Here we review the errors most frequently made by beginners in Magento ®.
Magento Beginner Error in Uploading files
It seems to be easy at first sight: download the necessary Magento ® package, install it on your site and begin to work. But, this is where the first sticking point is hidden. Most of the novice users upload files via FTP while it would be much faster and more convenient to use such service as a download of Magento ®.
Out of habit, many programmers for Magento ® use FTP to work with it, as well as with dozens of other systems. But you should not forget that Magento ® is a unique system by all parameters. Working through FTP you will not only lose a lot of time but you also may upload files in a wrong order or miss some files while uploading.
Design and development
The second most widely spread mistake of beginners is trying to develop design and extensions for Magento ® by themselves. GoMage offers our customers the most necessary extensions, consultations and other services that will help you to avoid mistakes. Here is why you should not start changing design at once:
1. First of all, you need to learn as much as possible about the templates for Magento ®;
2. Then, you should read the full version of Magento ® Designers’ Guide which is available for download on the Magento ® site;
3. And finally, if you try making modifications to default files no one will guarantee that your web store will function properly after that. In the future, this may globally affect the number of customers, orders processing, indexing, etc.
The easiest way to create a new theme is to copy the files of the necessary theme into the root catalog of the existing template. But that is also incorrect, you simply need to copy the necessary files from /design/frontend/default/default/ into /design/frontend/default/MAGENTO_NEW_THEME and then do the same at /skin/frontend/default/default/.
Now all you need to do is save the modifications and enable your new theme. For that, go to the admin panel, then to System->Configuration-> Design. Then follow the instructions.
The main and the worst mistake is a modification of eCommerce Magento ® Platform core files. They include all files located in app/code/core. If you still need to change something there, perform the following actions before that:
1. Create copies of all files that are going to be modified;
2. Create a full backup copy of your site.
All these points are extremely important, because after incorrectly made code modifications some website functions may stop working, from multiple languages to upgrade installations.
The installation of an upgrade
This is a very painful process for many webmasters for Magento ®. The most important is that you need to install all released versions in their correct order, you cannot jump from version 1.6 to version 1.9, for example. Otherwise, you will put your business at risk. We strongly recommend that you consult with GoMage specialists in such cases, you may write comments or email us directly.
The choice of hosting
Many beginners look for fast ways to make more money and due to that sometimes choose the cheapest hosting providers. This is a big mistake. A web store based on Magento ® needs specific server requirements to be met, so the choice of hosting is one of the key factors you must pay attention to. It is necessary to find the best variant that will be appropriate for all requirements of your online store.
