5 Essential Tips to Manage Your
Magento 2 Website Efficiently BY SALT CITY DIGITAL
If you are one of those smart e-commerce merchants who have recognized the wide-ranging capabilities of the Magento 2 platform, and have adopted it for your business, then the next step for you is to learn how to make the most of this wonderful platform. Because Magento 2 comes equipped with so many features, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of optimization options you have for managing your store. The key is to prioritize your goals and approach the store management process step-by-step. As you do, here are a couple of tips that you should definitely try as a Magento 2 store owner/manager to get the most out of the platform:
SALT CITY DIGITAL
02
GET YOUR STORE CONFIGURATION RIGHT
Bef ore you do anythi ng el se i n your Magento 2 stor e, make sur e that you’ ve conf i gured al l the necessary, general store detai l s. Thi s means that you’ l l have to spend consi derabl e ti me i n the Stores - > Setti ngs -> Conf i gur ati on secti on of the admi n panel . I n thi s secti on, you can conf i gur e setti ngs at 4 l evel s: Websi te, Store, Gl obal , and Store Vi ew. Even though there ar e pl enty of conf i gur ati on opti ons present here, you onl y need to worry about a f ew i n or der to get the store up and runni ng. Start by conf i guri ng basi c i nf ormati on detai l s l i ke your busi ness i nf or mati on, payment detai l s, domai n detai l s, shi ppi ng i nf ormati on, etc. Set a def aul t country, and al so speci f y the l i st of countri es wher e your stor e can sel l pr oducts. For your domai n rel ated setti ngs you shoul d set your base URL, as wel l as Secur e Base URL, i f your websi te i s SSL certi f i ed. Don’ t f or get to enabl e the use of secure URLs on storef ront and i n admi n.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
03
GET YOUR STORE CONFIGURATION RIGHT...
Next comes managi ng the desi gn aspect of your stor e, whi ch i nvol ves setti ng up thi ngs l i ke l ogo, theme, etc. Thi s i s the part wher e you set your stor e’ s theme to ei ther a responsi ve theme, that you’ ve purchased f r om Magento Mar ketpl ace, or to a custom- bui l t theme. I f you have a l ogo i mage r eady to upl oad, whi ch you shoul d al ready have, do i t i n the Header secti on. Al so, upl oad your l ogo i mage i n the Emai l s secti on, because you want thi s l ogo to appear on al l the emai l communi cati on too. Movi ng on to the SEO secti on, the mi ni mum you shoul d do i s to ensur e that the Def aul t Robots f or the store i s set to I NDEX, FOLLOW. Next, i s setti ng the f ooter of your websi te i n the Footer secti on. Thi s i s wher e you speci f y the copyr i ght detai l s f or your websi te. Other i mportant conf i gurati on parts i ncl ude: cur r ency setup, emai l addr esses setup, shi ppi ng setti ngs, payment methods setup, and tax management. Pr i or to di vi ng i nto other store management aspects, i t’ s cr i ti cal that your stor e i s at l east conf i gured ri ght. Go over the Conf i gurati on secti on of your stor e to make any necessary addi ti ons, changes, or updates.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
04
UPGRADE YOUR WEBSITE HOSTING SOLUTION
Shared hosti ng i s not recommended f or Magento 2 websi tes. The pl atf or m needs the push of hi gh-qual i ty resources, l i ke CPU and RAM, i n or der to del i ver the hi gh perf ormance that’ s expected. Opt- i n f or a dedi cated ser ver or a Vi r tual Pri vate Server. To check whether your current hosti ng sol uti on i s appr opr i ate f or the Magento 2 websi te or not, there’ s a si mpl e exer ci se that you can do. Take a f resh copy of the Magento 2 versi on that your websi te i s bui l t on and i nstal l i t on the same hosti ng sol uti on whi ch your l i ve Magento stor e i s r unni ng. Now, compare the speeds of the f resh Magento 2 copy and your l i ve websi te. I f they are equal l y sl ow, the probl em l i es wi th the hosti ng sol uti on. I f the f r esh copy i s f aster than your websi te, the i ssue i sn’ t wi th the hosti ng pl an but embedded somewhere i n the code archi tecture of your websi te.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
05
USE THIRD-PARTY EXTENSIONS WITH CAUTION
Yes, i t’ s true that extensi ons are a bi g hel p i n customi zi ng the Magento 2 pl atf orm to your own i ndi vi dual busi ness needs, but when you don’ t choose wi sel y i n thi s regard, you mi ght end up compromi si ng the per f or mance and securi ty of your overal l websi te. Consi der searchi ng thr ough Magento Marketpl ace to see i f there’ s an extensi on that meets your needs. Thi s i s a rel i abl e reposi tory of qual i ty extensi ons. I f you f i nd that your busi ness needs can’ t be f ul f i l l ed by any of the extensi ons there, then you wi l l be l ooki ng at hi ri ng Magento devel opment ser vi ces to devel op the ki nd of extensi on you’ re l ooki ng f or . Thi s i s wher e you need to be caref ul about who you choose to work wi th. Stay away f r om amateur and unprof essi onal Magento devel opers. Onl y work wi th pr of essi onal and experi enced Magento devel opers i f you want your custom extensi on to wor k ri ght and work wel l , f uncti onal i ty and perf ormance wi se.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
06
TAKE NECESSARY MEASURES TO SECURE YOUR STORE Magento 2 i s one of the most secure e- commerce pl atf or ms to wor k wi th. Whether i t’ s the use of SHA- 256 hashi ng al gori thms i n passwor d management or the ease of setti ng up f i l e permi ssi ons f or users, Magento 2 of f er s var i ous tool s to mai ntai n a secure envi ronment i n the store. Of cour se, when i t comes to securi ty, i t al ways pays to be extra cauti ous. . Al ways i nstal l Magento 2 securi ty updates as, and when, they ar e r el eased, don’ t sl ack of f here. Ask your hosti ng provi der to remove any unnecessar y sof twar e f rom the server that’ s hosti ng your websi te and use the saf est passwor d you can thi nk of f or the admi n panel . Even though the smar test passwor ds can f al l vi cti m to hacki ng attacks, i t’ s a good i dea to suppl ement the secur i ty of the admi n panel wi th a two-f actor authenti cati on. To f urther pr otect the admi n panel agai nst hackers and bots, enabl e the CAPTCHA technol ogy of f er ed by the pl atf orm f or the admi n l ogi n.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
07
TAKE NECESSARY MEASURES TO SECURE YOUR STORE... Create and manage backups f or your store f i l es f r om the admi n panel by si mpl y goi ng to System -> Tool s - > Backups. Thi s way, i n the event your stor e does get hacked, you’ l l sti l l have al l your database and medi a and system f i l es i ntact. Make sure that whatever devi ce you use to access the admi n panel i s f r ee f r om any mal ware and vi ruses. Li mi t access to the panel by def i ni ng user r ol es f r om here, System -> Permi ssi ons - > User Rol es. Conf i gur e Admi n Acti on Log to keep a cl ose eye on al l the acti vi ti es taki ng pl ace i n the admi n panel . I t’ s especi al l y necessary when there are mul ti pl e admi n users. Keep anal yzi ng the tr af f i c to your store and watch out f or any suspi ci ous acti vi ty.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
08
SIGN-UP FOR MAGENTO BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ESSENTIALS Magento BI ( Busi ness I ntel l i gence) Essenti al s i s a cl oud-based subscr i pti on servi ce that of f ers superi or data anal yti cs and repor ti ng to hel p mer chants get hel pf ul i nsi ghts f rom thei r store data. We’ re l i vi ng i n an age wher e i nf or mati on i s power. Magento BI Essenti al s si mpl y empowers you to make i nf or mati on-based deci si ons. You get a f ree 7- day tri al , af ter whi ch, ther e’ s a monthl y pr i ce that’ s based on the Gross Merchandi se Vol ume of your stor e. I f you’ re al ready f ami l i ar and experi enced wi th advanced data anal yti cs, go wi th Magento Busi ness I ntel l i gence Pro. Don’ t run your stor e wi thout the power of data and the usef ul i nsi ghts that are deri ved f rom i t.
SALT CITY DIGITAL
09
CONTACT US
Salt city digital 474 I STREET, SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84103 (801) 316-3123 HTTPS://WWW.SALTCITYDIGITAL.COM/
Turn Your Ideas Into Reality!
SALT CITY DIGITAL
10
THANK YOU SALT CITY DIGITAL