WordPress has recently released a new Plug-in – P3 [Plug-in Performance Profiler]. This new plug-in is created by GoDaddy.

This plug-in creates the profile of the WordPress website’s plugins performance after measuring their impact on the site’s load time. Many a times, it is noticed that the WordPress website gets load slowly mainly because of the poorly configured plugins. The P3 plug-in is useful for identifying that what is causing the slowness of the website.

By using P3 plug-in it can be checked easily that which plugins are slowing down the WordPress installation. It scans completely through each of the plug-in and then creates a detailed report about the pages creating the database related queries.

From the chart delivered by this plug-in, it can be seen clearly that which particular plug-in is consuming more time. It shows the detailed information for each plug-in that includes its – load time, impact and MySQL Queries.

It uses the canvas element for drawing charts and it works well with Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and IE9 or later web browsers. This plug-in is not compatible with IE8 or its lower versions.

Simple Steps to install the new WordPress P3 Plug-in –

1] Login into the WordPress Account via WordPress.org

2] Go to Plug-in Menu and select – “Add new”

3] Locate “P3 Profiler” in add new list, and then click “Install Now” and then “Ok”. [It is added in the Tools menu in the Dashboard]

4] Simply click “Activate Plug-in” after the completion of installation.

With these four simple steps, you can easily use this new plug-in and improve the performance of your WordPress website.

Softweb Solutions is a WordPress Development Company with the pool of expert WordPress Developers who can provide all WordPress related services along with effective SEO services to optimize WordPress based websites and blogs. For more information, contact us at info@softwebsolutions.com.

Joomla is one of the most widely used open source solutions for Content Management Systems (CMS). One of the key advantages of Joomla CMS is that; you can easily customize it. Joomla can be used to create websites for:

• E-commerce sites and portal
• Small business sites
• Government and NGO websites
• Personal websites
• Educational institutions
• Corporate websites or portals

Let us now look at the steps to design quality Joomla websites:

• Install Joomla: The very first step to design quality Joomla website is to install Joomla on your website. You can install this CMS through “Fantastico”, an auto-installer script; if it is available on your hosting package. Choose “Joomla” from the side menu. You can find it under the “Content Management” section. Click on “New installation”. It will take a maximum of 3 minutes to install it on your website. The other way is to manually install it by uploading the Joomla installation wrap on your website. You will get adequate information to download it from Google.
• Configure Joomla: Once you have successfully installed Joomla; you will have to log into Joomla Admin area or Backend to configure it. Please note that the directory of the admin area is the administrator directory of your Joomla website. For ex; if you have installed Joomla on “mywebsite.com”; your admin area will be “mywebsite.com/administrator”.  Log into the CMS and select “Site” tab on the far left. Then click on the “Global Configuration” link. Follow the instructions to configure your site. This might take 3 to 10 minutes.
• Start Joomla Content: The next big step is to divide the content into sub-categories and content items or pages. The content sections are the most relevant sections on your Joomla site. The categories signify the sub-division of content for each section. To find a relevant content; you will have to select a particular category to see the content. For ex; to find “A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO DESIGN JOOMLA WEBSITES” content on your website; you will have to go to the CMS section and select the Joomla category. There you will find “A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO DESIGN JOOMLA WEBSITES”.

The content on the website will be displayed in the following manner:

Section ===> Category ===> Content Item/Page

You can create as many sections and categories for the content as you wish. There is virtually no limit to it. Hence; you can create rich content through Joomla CMS.

• Start Menus:  The Joomla Menu is divided into various categories. So you can have a menu category for your paid products, another one for freebies and also for other niche articles. You can also have various menus under each category. One of the menus can be for used for the purpose of linking your blogs; another one for your social networking sites; and yet another one for your traffic generation membership site and so on.

You can also point any of these menus for any content section. The idea is to create new ways of highlighting your content.

• Customize your website: With the help of Joomla CMS; you can easily modify and customize your Joomla site. So; even though you may be using the same template as your competitor, but the way the site is customized plays a very important role in distinguishing your website. You can re-arrange and modify the Joomla templates as per your requirements. Once the site is customized; it may look quite different from your competitor’s. There are different ways through which you can customize your Joomla website:

• Installing new templates and modifying them as per your taste
• Installing and modifying modules and changing their position on the website
• Modifying and customizing existing templates that comes with Joomla
• Installing new Joomla components

Can you add a few more points to design Joomla websites? If yes; post your comments and feedback now to an experienced Joomla development company.

Having an online store is one thing and managing it effectively is another thing. An online store comprises of various things like: managing inventories, shipping products, paying taxes, and developing new promotional strategies. It is not very easy to manage the online store single-handedly. There are so many aspects that are to be taken into consideration while managing your online store like: security, reputation, sales and SEO. Without these aspects, your online store will not be effective.

Let us now look at different ways to enhance your online store:

• Try to keep the check-out process to a single page: According to A/B Test Case Study, single page check-out process leads to a higher conversion rate than multiple page check-out process. Try to keep the check-out process as simple as possible. This will keep the potential customers interested in purchasing items from your store. If you are not able to contain the check-out process to a single page; try and see that the numbers of pages are kept to minimum. The best option will be to opt for Magento e-commerce software. Some of the salient features of Magento e-commerce include:
  • One-Page checkout
  • Check-out without account/ Guest checkout
  • Check-out with account to use address book
  • Option to create an account at the beginning of the check-out process
• Promote your brand with the company’s newsletter: According to A/B Test Case Study, when a company promotes their brand with the help of their newsletter containing educational content, potential customers are impressed with the brand of the company. But it is very important for the company to write appropriate educational content which should be rich and impressive. For ex; if you are a specialty food store, write recipes that incorporate with your brand. This will surely lead to increased sales. You should be creative in the writing and it will lead you to the next level in business. Magento e-commerce software offers the following marketing promotional tools to the company:
  • Newsletter Management
  • Catalog Promotional Pricing by percentage or fixed amount with ability to restrict to stores, categories, and products
  • Landing Page Tool for Campaigns
  • Private Sales including Events, invitations, and category access permissions only for enterprises

• Provide instant chat services in your store: It has been observed that customers usually like to ask questions via chat before purchasing the item online. Hence; it is imperative for the company to offer live chat feature on their website so that customers are assured quality services. Magento e-commerce offers Magento livechat support. It allows customers to live chat with a representative of the company and get answers to their questions in real time.
• Use strong passwords: It is very important to have strong passwords for the online store because you do not want the store to be hacked. One way to ensure that your customer’s data and your online reputation are protected is by using sturdy password. Here are some of the tips to create a strong password:
  • Avoid slang words
  • Make sure that the password is a mixture of four different characters i.e., numbers, lower case letters, upper case letters, and special characters like #, @ etc.
  • The length of the password should be a minimum of 8 characters.
• Use SEO techniques to optimize your online store: SEO is the key to generating traffic on your online store. If you have a limited budget it is imperative to make your e-commerce site search engine friendly by making sure that every page on the online store has a unique page title and unique page description. Utilize the keywords which highlight the type of your industry. It is also imperative to make sure that URLs of the website contain your chosen keywords and not just random category id and product id. Magento e-commerce offers the following SEO services:
  • 100% search engine friendly
  • Meta-information for products and services
  • Auto-generated sitemap for display in the store
  • Auto-generated popular search terms page

Irrespective of whether you have an existing store or wish to build an e-commerce store Magento e-commerce software is the best alternative available in recent times. Even if you are not familiar with all the functions of Magento it is worth giving it a try.

What do you think about this article? Do you think Magento is the best e-commerce platform available in the market? Are there any other ways to enhance the e-commerce store? Share your ideas with us now at: info@softwebsolutions.com. We will be happy to receive your questions and suggestions.

Image Credits : www.trademart.in

Open source technology has received lots of accolades from developers. It is received very positively by major organizations. One widely prevailing notion that price is the only advantage open source software holds, is wrong. In the current year, we have seen four big open source stories unfold to prove the fact, which are:

• The rise of Android
• Rising competition amongst different internet browsers
• Increasing profits of Red Hat (a die-hard open source user)
• The end of public open source Rivalry (Novell and Sun Microsystems losing their independence only Red Hat is standing as a public)

Open source technologies are highly beneficial to the organizations of any size and any domain.  They are as follows:

• Security: The biggest advantage of open source technology is it is open to public view. Hence, if there are minor flaws or bugs in the code prepared, they can be tested upfront and fixed immediately. Whereas in case of closed source technology, it is very difficult for organizations to fix the errors in the code because the product is available worldwide and the organization has limited set of developers and testers to scrutinize and correct the flaws. A good example in this case is of Microsoft. It takes weeks if not months for the organization to discover any flaw in the product. A recent example of it is Internet Explorer zero-day flaw.
• Quality: Open source technology is developed by thousands of developers. There are countless number of developers working on the same software package so, the probability of improved features and enhanced product increases. Open source technologies enable developers to create products closest to the user’s needs because the users also have a hand in developing these products. This is one of the prime reasons for organizations to select open source technology.
• Customization: Developers can use the same code used for different projects since, the codes can be re-used. This helps them in completing their tasks quickly. They can even modify the codes as per their needs
• Interoperability: Open source technology complies with open source standards. It does not limit users to proprietary data formats. Hence, organizations have the freedom of exchanging important details with other businesses, computers, and users without any restrictions.
• Audit ability: In closed source software, vendors proclaim that they are keeping the software secure and according to standards. But there is no way to check whether they are doing the needful. But in case of open source software, the codes are visible to all and hence, the organization is at a better stage to see whether the standards are followed or not.

Open source technology has created a rampage in the software development world. Many reputed companies around the world have integrated open source technologies in their businesses. If you also wish to be a part of this revelation contact an expert open source application developer now at: info@softwebsolutions.com and learn more about our open source services.

Online stores face grilling competition as customers become more demanding and look for the best user experience. Magento is a new generation PHP based open source e-commerce solution with rich features and user friendly capabilities. No doubt there are several ecommerce platforms having splendid features but Magento surpasses all. It is a comprehensive platform with a wide range of benefits of which some are described below:

• Strong Capabilities – Magento is the platform of choice when it comes to developing a shopping cart within a short span. It is equipped with all the advanced capabilities that complete your shopping cart.

• Growing Community – As Magento is the most popular ecommerce platform it has a large pool of developers, it is easy to report problems, offer suggestions, and share important facts. Presence of open source extensions is an added benefit.

• Transparency – As the ecommerce platform is open source, the operations are transparent which makes it easy for users to understand how Magento works. Developers can stay abreast with changes and prepare for future needs.

• Quality Traffic – Attracting quality traffic that is actually interested in buying products is very important being an online shopping site. Magento has extensive search engine optimization capabilities that help you convert quality traffic into conversions.

• Plug-ins – Magento supports a number of plugin features that helps users extend their functionalities. It helps make your shopping cart more customized and improve the existing features.

• Payment Options – The ecommerce platform supports a number of payment modes and international currencies. This irons out the shopping complexities for visitors and delivers an unmatched shopping experience.

• Flexibilty – With Magento you can add or eliminate features easily. If you plan to migrate from another platform to Magento, tools are available that help you import products, customers and order information. This a remarkable advantage when using this platform.

Softweb Solutions has an adept team of Magento developers proficient in using the most vital Zend framework. We implement best practices in Magento development to give you high quality results. If you are looking for a consultant who can provide you the Magento Platform for the enhancement of your ECommerce Business, contact us at info@softwebsolutions.com.