You are here: Home

Simple way to test site in Developer Mode On the Fly in PHP

By on February 11, 2012 in Magento, PHP, Utilities

check it out y’all

If you have some code you want to test out quickly on your site, but you don’t want anyone else to see it, you can use this quick hack to make your edit only visible to you using $_REQUEST. You set the ‘debug’ variable to ‘true’ simply by appending ‘?debug=true’ to the end of the url in question. Simple, easy, effective way to run your site in developer mode for only your eyes to see.

Example url:

http://testURL.com?debug=true


if($_REQUEST['debug'] == 'true'){
/*test stuff...*/
}
Comments { 0 }

Make Everything OK

By on February 10, 2012 in Stress Relief

make everything ok in business

Comments { 0 }

Milestone: A Number One Ranking on Google for my eCommerce site:)

By on February 10, 2012 in Uncategorized

My first #1 search result on Google!

My first #1 ranking on google (as far as I know)!

My first #1 ranking on google (as far as I know)!

Comments { 0 }

Sales Funnel and Magneto Onepage Checkout Upgrade

By on February 9, 2012 in Uncategorized

I was checking out my google analytics report for my eCommerce site, ScooterDoctor.com, and I noticed a major issue in my sales funnel.

If you don’t already know, in the latest version on Google Analytics (GA), there is a great graphical interface that helps webmasters visualize their traffic and when and where potential customers are getting stuck in the process.  I use Magento Community edition as my eCommerce platform, so the sale funnel looks something like this.

Add item to cart/View Cart -> Proceed to Checkout -> Checkout Success

Here my actual data from the site:

56 users added an item to the cart and viewed that cart -> 36 of those users proceeded to checkout – > only 6 of those who proceeded to check out ended in a conversion for site! 56->36->6!

While it’s upsetting to learn that 83% of users who viewed the cart later abandoned it, it’s also encouraging because in theory, a few modifications to the checkout page, and I can start converting many more of those users who previously abandoned their cart.

I just implemented these changes last night, so I will not be able to post results for a while, but here are two simple fast and easy adjustments I made in Magento to completely simplify the check out process.

1. Simplify the check out page:  The built-in magento onepage checkout is feature rich, but is not good for usability for the average user.  The onepage checkout requires potential customers to choose whether they are going to checkout as a guest, or a registered member before they are even presented the fields for entering their billing and shipping info.  This is annoying and confusing for simple customers who just want to enter their billing info and be done with it.  This is how the Magento onepage checkout looks out of the box:

Magento Onepage Checkout

Clunky Magento Onepage Checkout

As you can see, this is perhaps a great feature because it allows you to register customers to your site and potentially increase site re-engagement, but you can accomplish the same thing in a less clunky manor that won’t scare off newbies who just want their product!

Introducing the Skip Checkout Step 1Magento extension FREE and compatible with version 1.6. Wow, I just loaded this puppy in my Magento Connect Manager and seconds later, not only have I gotten rid of that annoying step 1 in the onepage checkout that confuses and scares people away, but i’m retained the functionality and it cleverly (optionally) asks for a password after the client enters their info and automatically registers the customer if they enter a password in the optional field. Here’s what it looks like now:

Improved Magento Onepage Checkout

Improved Magento Onepage Checkout

What an improvement! Now those 36 people who saw my checkout page will automatically be one step closer to completing the transaction!

 

 

 

 

2. Add Paypal Express Checkout to your Magento Payment Methods.

Although I lost several customers because of a confusing checkout, perhaps another reason they abandoned their cart is because they wanted Paypal. Almost everyone has a paypal account, and for those looking to buy Scooters or Scooter Parts quickly, they may be looking for the Paypal option so that they don’t have to re-enter their information on my site. With Paypal express checkout enabled on the magento back-end: (Config -> Sales -> Paypal), Customers can skip the whole checkout out process and have Paypal supply me with the payment, and their billing and shipping addresses.

The potential downside is that I never get to give customers a chance to register on my site by using the default Authorize.net payment gateway, but I potentially get additional sales who those who wouldn’t register anyway and just want a fast and easy checkout process, and that’s the name of the game: more sales!

Here’s a screen shot of the site’s shopping cart now with Paypal Express Checkout enabled:

Paypal Express checkout Enabled in Magento

Paypal Express checkout Enabled in Magento

There you go. 2 quick and easy advances to your Magento onepage checkout that makes that turns the clunky magento checkout into a versatile, easy to use, and fast checkout process with options! I did both of these fixes in about 15 minutes total (including the time it took to sign up for a paypal business account with Express Checkout). I will be sure to post the results of these changes as they apply.

Comments { 0 }

Using Magento 301 Redirects to Fix Broken Search Engine Results

By on February 8, 2012 in eCommerce, Magento

Finding Magento product listings in Google Search Engine Placements

I was curious about the landing pages for the top keywords that bring me traffic from search engine placements in my Magento eCommerce store, ScooterDoctor.com. So I went to my google analytics (GA) account and go to Traffic Sources -> Sources -> Search -> Overview:

Magento Store Keywords Results in Google Analytics

Top Search Traffic Keyword in Google Analytics

As you can see, 5 of my top search traffic keywords are a variation of “mc-jlc4″.  This is great news for me, since that’s a very specific keyword and could be called a buying keyword, however, on closer inspection there’s some troubling data here!

Can you tell what it is?  Our Avg. Time on Site for a few of 5 variations were as low at 10 seconds!  No one can buy a scooter in only 10 seconds!!

So what’s going on?  I gotta know what’s happening.  I run a few of the searches in Google to try and see what’s going on, and low and behold my site was easy to find, but the links were all pointing to a 404 Error page ;( oh no!

But wait, there’s a quick and easy solution! Because Magento has 301 redirects as a built in feature so you don’t have to mess with your .htaccess file, and that may not be productive anyway, because any redirect in Magento backend will override what’s in your .htaccess in my limited testing.

Fixing a Broken Search Engine Result in Magento’s Backend using URL Rewrite Manager

Create a Custom 301 URL Redirect in Magento

Create a Custom 301 URL Redirect in Magento

Go to your Magento back end: Catalogue -> URL Rewrite Management.  Go to your broken link, and copy everything after your url and it’s trailing slash (example: if the url is ‘http://20rule.com/resources/index.html’, then copy ‘resources/index.html’)  In the magento back-end, add a new ‘custom’ URL rewrite, and place the copied string and paste is both ’ID Path’ and ‘Request Path’, and then place the correct link (including http:// and all) in the ‘Target Path’ field.  Make sure to select ‘Permanent (301)’, you almost never want to use 302.

Comments { 0 }

Using Task Managment to Organize your Life

By on February 8, 2012 in Life-Style Design, Resource, Task Management

Trying to live like a champion doesn’t come without some planning and organization.  I’ve noticed that it’s easy to neglect areas of your life in favor of “higher priority” things going on.  For example it’s easy to imagine someone neglecting their body and diet in favor of working longer hours and earning big bucks.  But what good is money going to do for me if the new clothes I buy go on to a fat and un attractive version of myself?

For me, I’m not just about making money, I’m about having the whole life style and making enough money to suppor that lifestyle that I design.  In order to make this happen, I need to need at least a minimal attention on all facets of my life just so I don’t let crucial things slip through the cracks.

In my view of my life, career is just 1 out of 18 components of life that I’m worried on.  When I look in the career “bucket”, it is more full than the other 17 buckets since that’s currently my primary focus, but when viewed from the side, the career bucket is the same size as my relationships bucket, or family bucket, or travel or learning buckets and I’m reminded that my ideal life is a careful balancing of these 18 buckets, and I can fill them with anything and everything i love and want to attract.

Here’s a screen shot of how it looks on Workflowy:

18 Life Buckets

How I organize my life from a top level view.

Here’s a full list of the areas of life to focus on for a well balanced life style.

Having buckets to throw your ideas is a huge stress reliever. Every time you write something down and document it, you stop the idea from bouncing around in your head and you create space for new ideas to come in a flourish without distraction.

Comments { 0 }

Simple easy to use personal task management system

By on February 7, 2012 in Task Management, Utilities

Online Task Management

Workflowy.com is a simple to use, easy no fills personal task management web application. I say personal because the share feature isn’t yet up to snuff since when you share a task with someone, it doesn’t integrate into their task list, but has to be accessed via a unique long url and bookmarked by who ever you’re trying to work on a task with.

Although it’s not ready for me to implement in my online business for shared task management with partners, I do really like it as a personal task manager. It’s has zero over-head, and just plain works.

Here’s a simple list.

My house tasks on workflowy.com

It has great usability- the tab button makes any new task a child of the above task, and shift+tab moves up the current tasks level in the hierarchy. Also, you can drag and drop tasks around the page, share and task and all its children from any level in the hierarchy, and it saves everything on the cloud on the fly.

Another useful feature is that it allows you to hash tag # and @ symbol on items. For example you can set the task:
Buy Milk #monday @jon

This way I could enter in the search box #monday, and I’ll see all of my Monday tasks. Or I can search my name and see everything that person or I have to do.

I just keep it open in its own window in a work space on my mac and it handles my brain dumps just fine. Clean and simple, 20 rule approved.

Again, not ready for business collaboration yet, but

Comments { 0 }

Questions to ask yourself when building a Business Concept

By on February 6, 2012 in Business Planning

First of all, what is a business concept?
A business concept is the basic points of your business and it helps you communicate business to clients, customers or investors. It will become the Executive summary of your business plan.

When developing your business concept, makes sure it can answer all of the following questions:

What does the service or product do?
How it is different from other products or services?
Who will buy it?
Why will they buy it? Is it different?
Where will it be sold?
When will it be ready to be sold?
How will it be promoted and sold?

I know this is simple stuff, but I think everyone no matter their experience level benefits from reviewing the basics. Where you start your business and then on at least a yearly basis, you will want to answer these questions about your business. This is the basic premis upon which the foundation for the business is built. Make sure your concept is concise and confident before you move on in the business planning process.

Comments { 0 }

Best Free Text Editor + FTP utility for Mac

By on February 6, 2012 in Resource, Utilities

Fast, free and lite, TextWrangler is my favorite program to edit code in.

Text Wrangler Info + Download Page. The download link is on the right side of the page.

It is the little brother to BBEdit, which is also very good, but costs about $50.

A few things I like about Text Wrangler are its integration with my favorite free FTP utility, Cyber Duck. With Cyber Duck, it includes a link to edit any files on my servers using Text Wrangler right on the program. Here’s a screen shot of my FTP showing the Text Wrangler edit button on the top.

Simple use of text wrangler in Cyber Duck

What’s great is that when I save a file in Text Wrangler that was opened via Cyber Duck, it automatically pushes the updated version of the file to the server. This makes on the fly edits a breeze since you don’t have to re-upload files every time you make an edit that you want to see live.

It’s also a great program for editing code since it recognizes core classes for most programming languages, so basically it lights up your code with pretty colors letting you know when you forget to close a paren or a comment tag.

Free, useful, fast, lite, barebones.  Text Wrangler is great all around.

Comments { 0 }

2 Options for Buying Domains

By on February 5, 2012 in Domain Names

I used to use godaddy.com and then I started using domainsinseconds.com, but then I realized that it’s most likely actually owned by GoDaddy. They are fully functional, but I’ve found a better offer from a smaller site that doesn’t have the same political leanings as GoDaddy, NameCheap.

What I like about Namecheap is that they often throw in extra domains for free (.info versions of your domain) and they give you 1 free year of WhoisGuard so no matter what kind of site you’re launching you have the added protection of anonymity online.

However, I do not recommend necessarily activating it depending on the nature of the site. For example, I made sure to deactivate WhoisGuard for my eCommerce site since I want customers to know who they are dealign with for a higher level of trust. Trust should not be underestimated for the longevity of a healthy business.

Also it’s not just me who likes this registration site. The guys over at Lifehacker also recommend it:

Comments { 0 }