Magento basic setup instructions

Changing the theme

To change the default visual theme, please visit

http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/themes.html

You can select only free themes by clicking the filter in the upper right corner of the screen. You need to register to be able to download themes.

Choose a theme, click Install Now, and copy the key. Then login to your Magento admin and go to System->Magento Connect -> Magento Connect Manager . Login with the Magento admin password, and paste the key into the field called “Paste extension key to install”. Click to install theme, and you will see your front end changed. To activate the theme, go to System -> Design, then click Add Design Change and choose your theme.

If you don’t have any products yet, not much will show up on your store front end. You can enter products manually, and you will have products once we start the upload from your preferred supplier.

If you want to be ready for mobile, what you need is a ‘responsive’ theme which would automatically change layout resize appropriately on a mobile device. For example, www.cp-dev.com is responsive,try looking at it from a mobile device and it will change layout. To view responsive themes enter the ‘responsive’ keyword in search box on the link above, or go to http://www.templatemonster.com/magento-themes.php and pick one of the beautiful commercial responsive themes (choose ‘responsive’ in the menu on the left on their website)

Setting up payments

With Magento you can have any payment provider out there. But you’re probably going to need PayPal anyway. To accept payments via PayPal you need a PayPal Business account. When you have one, login to

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-api-run

to get the API Key. Then, in Magento admin, go to System->Configuration, then Sales-> Payment Methods, and configure “PayPal Payments Standard” .

Basic setup

You’re going to want to change the website default title, description, footer: Configuration->General->Design->Header

We have selected for you ~10 minutes of front end and backend tutorial videos to jumpstart your Magento administration:

Magento front end tour:

Basic backend configuration:

We can help you out

If you just don’t have the time to configure your store yourself, we offer Magento support & development service packages to help you set up your store. Posting products to your store from a single supplier comes as a part of our basic subscription. But we can also do all the additional work on your store or just help you out as much as you need as part of our standard support packages.

In our experience, 10h will get your store all setup with minimum activity on your side. 5h support will get a lot done, but will require you do some of the work yourself. We’ll explain in detail via a phone call with screen sharing what you need to do. If you plan to have us continually adjust your store, and take care of your store for you, the 5h monthly package is for you.

No Comments Yet.

Leave a comment

*