Wishing Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to Magento community!
Christmas is around the corner. Its holy breath is felt everywhere. So what is Magento doing these days? First of all Magento team have wished Happy Holidays to everyone who is interested in Magento. Hope you share my passion for Magento eCommerse platform if you read my posts 
Roy Rubin advised everyone to follow Magento on Twitter. Having visited Magento page on Twitter I’ve found the next news, “Magento 1.2 downloadable products screencast preview (available in late Dec.) http://tinyurl .com/3z72cl”. Hope this news is useful for you!
And not I’d like to use my chance and congratulate my readers and the whole Magento community with coming Christmas and New Year’s Day!
May your days be happy, heart be light
And your Christmas be joyful and bright.
I wish you all the happiness and prosperity!
Dear readers I truly appreciate your attention to my blog. Next year will bring more news on Magento and therefore more posts on my blog.
Magento online merchants can receive feedback from their users
No doubt online merchants are interested to know how their clients feel about their online stores. This knowledge will help them improve their online stores and make them more successful and profitable.
As we know online shopping doesn’t imply face to face communication. Online merchant can’t ask his potential customers what prevents them from ordering at his site. He can only guess why potential customers don’t become real customers.
Every online merchant is striving for the largest conversion. Luckily there is a helpful solution. It’s Kampyle.
Kampyle allows online merchants to collect, analyze, and manage feedback submitted by their visitors. Using Kampyle online merchants listen to their clients, take their ideas into consideration and offer the best solutions for every customer. Isn’t it the right way to 100% customer satisfaction?
“How does it relate to Magento?” you may ask. The case is that Kampyle can be implemented on Magento.
Online merchants who run Magento-powered online stores may be sure that implementing Kampyle into Magento is really easy. Kampyle implementation requires copying the Kampyle code to Magento template. The code is composed of 2 sections that need to be copied.
Kampyle Team is ready to give support to anyone who needs it. It has been mentioned at Magento blog when it was announced the advantages of adding Kampyle to Magento.
Kampyle is useful for online shoppers as well as online merchants. Online shoppers can communicate their feedback on certain online stores while online merchants can improve their online stores and get a higher conversion.
Google Website Optimizer integrated with Magento
December 3 was an important day for online merchants and Magento developers. On this day it was announced that Google Website Optimizer has been integrated within Magento 1.17 and up. It has been mentioned at the Third Maximizing Magento Webinar.
The key speakers at this Webinar were Trevor Claiborne, product marketing manager for the Google Website Optimizer team; Roy Rubin, founder and CEO of Varien, the Magento company; and Yoav Kutner, Varien’s CTO. They were discussing the advantages of Google Website Optimizer and its integration with Magento.
Trevor Claiborne has explained what website testing is about. Then he has told about Website Optimizer and its main features. To be short “Google Website Optimizer is a free website testing and optimization tool to test and design via A/B and multivariate testing.”
So what are the main advantages of Google Website Optimizer? Google Website Optimizer allows you get better conversions by choosing the best appearance and functionality of your website or online store. Using Google Website Optimizer you can decide which design and functionality is the most successful for your online project. For instance you can create 2 and even more designs with different buttons, head lines, images and texts and see which of them returns with the largest conversion.
It was mentioned that people get traffic but they have troubles converting the traffic into real revenues. This is where Google Website Optimizer steps in. It allows you try different content and shows what page has the best effect on our visitors. So you can decide on the most successful design for your website or online store.
The speakers have also mentioned mistakes you should avoid while making your first test.
Trevor Claiborne has told about the most successful experiences of using Google Website Optimizer. For instance one company has got 30-percent increase just trying different buttons and text and adding new links.
If you want to learn how to get the most out of the Google Website Optimizer and Magento you can read the full version of this Webinar and even watch the video.
Live Demos of Magento Themes are available
As we’ve already mentioned famous template provider Template Monster started developing Magento Themes. The first Magento Themes were added in the beginning of November. These designs were of a good quality but they didn’t have live demos. So you couldn’t see the way your online store will look like before your purchase a certain theme. Of course screen shots were available but not live demos.
Template Monster team was working hard all month long and now each Magento Theme they produce goes with a live demo. It’s really important for online merchants and Magento developers to see live demos of Magento Themes before purchasing them. So they can be sure that certain designs fit their projects best of all.
So what should you do to see the live demo of a certain Magento Theme? First of all you should browse the whole collection of Magento Themes and choose the one you like most of all. Then you should click any button (View, Add to Cart or Buy) to see its preview. Finally you should press the button named Click here to see Live Demo of this template. Seems it’s very simple, isn’t it?
At the same time the number of Magento Themes is constantly growing. Currently you have a lot of designs for Magento to choose from. So Template Monster designers keep promise about updating their collection of Magento Themes.
The number of Magento Themes is growing
Template Monster goes on developing new Magento Themes for online stores. Each theme is created by well skilled web developers. So each design looks in a very professional way.
Recently added Magento Themes can be used for different kinds of online stores: drug store, flower shop, jewelry store and lingerie store. Each theme looks very original and it can be easily integrated with Magento shopping cart. The more Magento Themes you see the better choice you have. Isn’t it good news?
Note Magento Themes represented at TemplateMonster.com have different color schemes. Each of you can find a theme to your liking. To my personal opinion Jewelry Magento Theme looks really posh and eye-catching. Seems it’s shining in spite of the back that it’s black and white.
It’s great to know that Magento developers and online merchants can purchase professionally developed Magento Themes at fair prices. Note Template Monster provides support for every Magento Theme you purchase from this company. In fact Template Monster customers get free support from Magento Team. Having purchased Magento Theme from Template Monster you get free Magento consulting that is a part of Premium package at Magentocommerce.com.
Template Monster has launched Magento Themes
As we’ve already mentioned Magento Themes are ready made web page designs that are used for online Magento shops. Magento Themes are easily integrated with Magento application and it makes them the best designs for Magento online store development.
Most famous web templates company TemplateMonster.com has launched Magento Themes. These Magento Themes have fascinating design, great functionality and they are easy to edit. So it’s time to forget about spending extra money for Magento custom made design. Here are some samples of Magento Themes you can find at TemplateMonster.com. Don’t you think these themes look really attractive?
No doubt Magento open source shopping cart is a great foundation for eCommerce development. It’s great that such a well-known web templates company as Template Monster has created professionally designed Magento Themes. It means there won’t be same-looking Magento online stores any more. Each Magento developer or Magento store manager will be able to choose a theme to his liking. It’s so wonderful to have a wide choice while choosing designs for Magento stores.
TemplateMonster.com is a well reputable company that provides web page designs for any purpose; whether you build online stores, personal web pages, corporate web sites, web blogs or web portals. Note TemplateMonster.com provides 24/7 support as well. Having purchased Magento Themes from this company you choose the best designs for online Magento stores.
From now on you can build originally-looking online Magento stores because TemplateMonster.com offers a lot of Magento Themes to choose from. Go for your Magento Themes! View the whole range of premium Magento Themes represented at TemplateMonster.com. That’s the place to find astonishing designs for jewelry online stores, flower online stores, CD&DVD online stores, electronics online stores, clothes online stores and etc.
Choosing Magento application you choose the best basement for your online store. Don’t you think your online store deserves to have the best design as well? If you agree with this statement you should see Magento Themes launched by TemplateMonster.com.
New payment gateways supported by Magento
Good news for Magento store managers and Magento customers. From now on 50 more payment gateways are supported by Magento.
Recently added payment gateways are available via Magento Connect. Note Magento Connect is the marketplace where community and commercial Magento extensions are being exchanged. Having visited Magento Connect you can see different Magento tools which can help you improve your Magento store’s functionality. Magento Connect is the right place to come in a case you’re looking for a new Magento Theme or Magento module. If you want to add functionality to your Magento store you can find it at Magento Connect as well. Don’t be in a hurry to develop a new Magento tool. Probably someone has already done it and you can download it at Magento Connect.
So Magento webmasters don’t stand still and they go on developing Magento application and enhancing it with new extensions. Currently Magento open sourse shopping cart supports over 50 payment gateways. It means customers have a wide choice of payment methods to choose from. So Magento online stores look more welcoming than the other online stores when it comes to payment options.
Here is a list of payment gateways that are currently supported by Magento:
• Fontis Australia
• Cybersource
• Protx
• Tweakmag Payment
• SPPLUS
• Fontis New Zealand
• eWAY
• ChronoPay
• ePay
• Paybox
• iDEAL
• Flo2Cash Web Service
• Protx Direct Payment Module
• PagSeguro Payment Module
• CyberMUT Paiement / Paiement CIC
• Modu? platnosci.pl dla Lento
• Payone
• PaySimple
• UOS Paymentmodule
• Fontis Paymate
• Fontis Payment Express
• Dibs Payment
• WorldPay
• Bank Prepayment
• VCS
• Saferpay
• Datarans Paymentgateway
• SecureTrading XPay Module
• Ogone Payment
• Payment Module: ECS Clearing Interface
• Modulo Banca Sella 1.1
• Magento LinkPoint API Payment Module
• LinkPoint API Payment Module for Magento
• Fontis SecurePay
• Cash On Delivery
• PSiGate API Payment Module
• Nedbank iVeri Paygate
• PayPoint.net (SECPay) Payment Gateway Module
• Metodo de pago Servired
• Servired
• 2Checkout.com payment module
• Fast Transact Integration module
• BBS Payment Gateway
• Fontis Westpac PayWay
• Fontis NAB Transact
• Barclays ePDQ
• ClickandBuy
• Optimal Payments Firepay
Note this list doesn’t include Authorize.net, Paypal (various products), Google Checkout and Check/Money Orders. The case is that the above mentioned payment modules have been supported by Magento before. Of course they are still supported by Magento application together with the new ones.
Magento 1.1.6 has been released
As each ecommerce application Magento benefits from different updates. So a recent release of Magento 1.1.6 has been warmly accepted by Magento community. No doubt all bugs noticed since the last Magento release have been taken into consideration and fixed. Having explored Magento 1.1.6 you’ll find out the next improvements:
- Google Checkout table rates work perfectly;
- While upgrading existing databases you won’t experience SQL error any more;
- Refreshing products count in categories management page won’t make you any troubles;
- From now on order status after creating an invoice will be shown in a right way;
- Translations and locale settings used in PDF print-outs have been fixed as well;
- Managing product categories has been also made more effective.
Note we’ve listed just several improvements which have been made. Of course there aren’t perfect things but there are great things and Magento belongs to the last ones. In fact Magento has launched a blank theme for building online shops. This theme has a very simple design but it can be useful for those who can’t afford custom made design or purchasing professionally designed Magento themes.
Magento wins one prize after the other
Magento open source shopping cart goes on meeting with warm recognition from the public. As you probably already know SourceForge.net has announced the winners from 2008 Community Choice Awards and Magento has been recognized to be the Best New Project of the year.
Recently Magento has won one more prize. “Best of Open Source Enterprise Applications (E-Commerce)” at Infoworld’s annual BOSSIE Awards to be exact. Considering the fact that BOSSIE Awards is InfoWorld’s awards for the Best of Open Source Software Magento seems to have really good reputation. The 2008 BOSSIE winners include 60 products in nine categories covering business and productivity applications, development tools, middleware, networking, security, and storage. So BOSSIE has chosen 9 companies to be the best ones and Magento is one of them.
It has been mentioned that choosing winners is always difficult because the quantity and quality of free software offerings is constantly growing. Still Magento is worth to be chosen the winner. The number of downloads it already has proves that the prize has found the right company. Seems Magento users should be proud to apply such famous and fast developing software.
TemplateMonster.com will launch Magento Themes soon
TemplateMonster.com is famous for being the most popular web templates’ provider on the net. It develops web templates and themes for personal websites, commercial websites, online stores and web blogs. The quality of these designs has been numerously approved by TemplateMonster’s satisfied customers.
Note TemplateMonster.com has a huge collection of various ready made web page designs which already includes website templates, Flash templates, SWiSH templates, ZenCart templates, osCommerce templates, WordPress Themes and etc. Seems this company is already a true leader in web templates industry but it goes on adding new categories of products. This time TemplateMonster has good news to those people who like Magento and wish to find professional designs for Magento online stores.
In spite of the fact that TemplateMonster already offers templates for different shopping carts it’s going to add Magento Themes to its collection. It means TemplateMonster believes Magento shopping cart is a great basement for online shops.
Currently TemplateMonster hasn’t introduced any design for Magento but it has launched a special page for Magento Themes. Having visited this page you can subscribe to TemplateMonster’s Magento newsletter. It’ll help you be aware of Magento Themes’ release as soon as it happens at TemplateMonster.com.
TemplateMonster is a wise company and it won’t ask its developers create something useless. If TemplateMonster.com whose templates’ collection is already huge will start developing Magento Themes in the nearest future it means Magento Templates are going to be in great demand because of Magento’s growing popularity.