The idea, when using Magento Ecommerce, is to go into it with an understanding of the top issues people run into when starting out on the magento platform. Here are a few pointers from our experience with the platform and recent projects:

1- Have a list of your important or must have pages and layout types per page; exemple –
– Homepage
– Category page
– Product detail page
– View cart page

2- Ecommerce without products is just a site. So, we need to emphasize the need to have a clean and ready product import process outlined. Payments and shipping options are key as well.

3- Major learning curve with Magento for our clients so far is in how to setup a product within Magento.
– Gaining a firm grasp of how to work with the following:
— simple products
— configurable products
— categories
— attributes
— attribute sets

4- Use as few extensions as possible. Avoid them at all costs if you can. If the site needs an extension, purchase it and secure all the files.

5- Make sure to identify how many CMS pages you’ll need to include upfront.

6- Watch out for a “blog”, those always add a ton of time to the scope of work.

7- Keep it as simple as possible, even small things have a way of ballooning during the process. Magento is pretty solid, so do your best to build on or use existing features. Extending Magento will always take much longer than you expect and should be avoided unless you have a large budget surplus.

Nicasio Design is a niche firm specializing in Magento, WordPress, and Wild Apricot. Let us know how we can help!