What is Magento

Magento is an open source eCommerce solution. It comes with a variety of tools, necessarily for building a successful online shop. Magento offers a lot of built-in capabilities, such as promo pricing and coupon codes, detailed statistics, and SEO options.

This Magento tutorial will provide you with comprehensive installation instructions for Magento shopping cart and will also show you how to create and manage a web site using Magento.

How to Install Magento

There are two main ways to install Magento. The fastest and easiest one is to use the Softaculous autoinstaller available in cPanel. To learn how to install Magento via this tool, check our Magento Softaculous Installation Tutorial.

You can also perform a manual installation using the Magento Installation Wizard. Read along to see how to do that.

Manual Installation of Magento

The steps which you must follow in order to complete the Magento manual installation are:

STEP 1Download the latest stable Magento package from:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/download.

STEP 2Upload the package on your hosting account through your cPanel -> File Manager or using an FTP client.

You can learn more about cPanel from our cPanel Tutorial.

There are 2 options where you can place the Magento download file:

• Either under the public_html folder, which is the main one for your web site content. Then your web site will be accessible directly through your domain.
• Or under a subfolder, for example if your domain name is called yourdomainname.com and you decide to install the script in the public_html/magento folder, you will open the web site at: http://yourdomainname.com/magento.

Once you upload the package, you can extract it through your cPanel -> File Manager. Using the same tool, please change the file permissions for the Magento files to 755.

STEP 3Create a MySQL database and assign a user to it through cPanel -> MySQL Databases. Remember the database details, since you will need them during the script installation.

STEP 4In our example we will install Magento in the public_html/magento folder. Once the package is uploaded and extracted and you have a MySQL database, navigate to http://yourdomainname.com/magento:

         

Click on the check box next to "I agree to the above terms and conditions" and click on the Continue button.

STEP 5Choose the preferred Time Zone, Locale and Currency:

         

Click on the Continue button.

STEP 6Enter the database details: Database Name, User Name and User Password. You can leave the other options intact.Click on the check box next to "Skip Base URL validation before next step".

       

Click on the Continue button.

STEP 7At this point you should enter the personal information and the admin login details which you want to use. You can leave the Encryption Key field empty and the script will generate one for you.

       

Click on the Continue button.

STEP 8Write down your encryption key; it will be used by Magento to encrypt passwords, credit cards and other confidential information.

       

Well Done!Your Magento installation was successfully completed. Now you can navigate to its Frontend or Backend.

Automatic Magento Installation via cPanel Site Software

Magento installation is easy and fast through the Site Software tool in cPanel.

First go to cPanel find the Site Software icon.

       

Find Magento in the Ecommerce section and open it.

       

Enter the admin user name and the corresponding password.

You can also define the folder for your Magento installation. Leaving it blank will install the script directly in the web root directory for your account.

Click on the Install button to complete the script installation.

At the end you will get a confirmation screen with the URLs of your installation's front and back ends, the Magento admin login details and the link to the SiteGround Magento tutorial. The Magento encryption key will also be visualised.

       

Magento Encryption Key

The Magento Encryption Key is generated during the Magento Installation. It is used for the encryption and the security storage of the sensitive data in the script's database.

The Magento Encryption Key is kept in the app/etc/local.xml file. You can open it through cPanel->File Manager. You can find more details on how to view the file content in our cPanel tutorial.

The code which you should look for is:

<crypt><key><!--[CDATA[ENCRYPTION_KEY]]--></key></crypt>

The ENCRYPTION_KEY string is replaced by the actual encryption key.

You need it if want to move your store data to a new Magento site. The Encryption key is used to recover the encrypted data.

When you migrate your database content to a new Magento installation, make sure that the encryption key from the existing installation is written in the new web site's local.xml file. Otherwise the encrypted data, stored in the new database will not work.

Magento Features

The large array of the Magento features is one of the main benefits of Magento. Through them you can easily develop and manage a successful online store. Magento features like different payment engines and shipping options along with the international support and high security using a private SSL certificate will make your shop an attractive place for e-commerce.

Magento main features include:

• Analytics and Reporting - the script is integrated with Google Analytics and offers many different reports.
• Product Browsing - multiple images for products, options for extensive reviews, wishlists and much more.
• Catalog Browsing - easy navigation, advanced product filtering system, product comparison.
• Catalog Management - inventory management, batch import and export of products, different tax rates per location, additional product attributes.
• Customer Accounts - order status and history, e-mail and RSS feeds for products in the wishlist, newsletter subscription, default billing and shipping address.
• Customer Service - enhanced features for customers' accounts, Contact Us form, comprehensive order tracking and history, customizable order e-mails.
• Order Management - create orders through admin area, create multiple invoices shipments and credit memos, call center order creation option.
• Payment - different payment methods: credit cards, PayPal, Authorize.net, Google Checkout, checks, money orders, support of external payment modules like Cybersource, ePay, eWAY and many more.
• Shipping - shipping to multiple addresses, flat rating shipping, supports UPS, UPS XML (account rates), FedEx (account rates), USPS and DHL.
• Checkout - one page checkout, SSL support, checkout without having an account.
• Search Engine Optimization - 100% Search Engine Friendly, Google SiteMap support.
• International Support - multiple languages and currencies, list of allowed countries for registration, purchasing and shipping, localization.
• Marketing Promotions and Tools - coupons, discounts and different promotion options.
• Site Management - control of multiple web sites, multiple languages, tax rate with support for US and International markets, customizable outlook through templates.

Create a Magento Web Store

Once you have completed the Magento installation, you can proceed with the configuration of your web site. In this article we have briefed the basic options in Magento, which will help you set up your web store. Below you can find the following topics:

• Log into Magento;
• Magento System Configuration;
• Manage categories in Magento;
• Manage products in Magento;
• Magento catalog;
• Promotions in Magento;
• Magento reports;
• Magento Base URL;

By default the main page looks as follows:

Log into Magento Admin Area

In order to start populating your web site with content, you need to navigate to the Magento's admin area:

System Configuration

Log in with the details entered during the script installation and navigate to System -> Configuration. Here you can configure the script options per your personal needs. Most options are self-explanatory:

Magento Catalog

From the Catalog category you can also manage the attributes, rewrite URLs for the products, perform searches, edit tags, generate a GoogleMap and manage reviews and ratings:

Promotions in Magento

From the Promotions section you can set promotions, define the rules for them and the customers' groups for which the promotions are valid:

Magento Reports

Multiple comprehensive statistics and reports can be obtained at the Magento admin area -> Reports.

Magento Base URL

If you want to configure Magento to work with another domain, you can do this by changing the Magento Base URL option in the admin area. To do this, go to your Magento admin area > System > Configuration and click Web on the left menu. Click the Unsecure option and then edit the Base URL field to configure the URL that will be used for normal (HTTP) connections.

To configure the URL for secure (HTTPS) connections, click the Secure option and then edit the Base URL field. Note that in order to use HTTPS connections for  your domain without receiving a warning about the SSL, you need to buy a private SSL certificate.

Magento Products

In this tutorial we'll cover one of the most important aspects of managing an online shop - products. The tutorial includes the following topics:

• How to add products in Magento
• How to add images to your products
• How to manage product attributes
• How to manage product tags
• How to configure the quantity of your products
• How to manage your products' prices, discounts, etc

How to Add Products in Magento

You can add products from the Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products > Add Product (located at the top right of the page).

You need to select the product's settings (Attribute Set and Product Type) and click Continue.

On the next page you will have to fill in the product options (Name, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), Weight, Status (Enabled/Disabled), Tax Class, etc). You can also add custom attributes to the product using the Create New Attribute button.

When ready, click Save and Continue Edit to go to the next step. Here you will have to fill in the price for your product. You can also add additional price options such as Tier Price and Special Price.

Click Save and Continue Edit to go to the next screen where you will be asked to enter some description for your product.

Click Save and Continue Edit and the product will be saved. You can further customize the product from the Product Information menu on the left. In order for the product to show up on your front page, make sure you set it as In Stock from the Inventory option in the left menu.

How to Add Images to Your Products

Adding an image to a product in Magento is simple. All you need to do is select the product which you want to add an image to from the product list available in the Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products.

Once the product is selected, click the Images option available in the Product Information menu on the left.

Click Browse Files and locate the file on your computer which you want to use as a product image. Then click Upload Files to upload the image to your shop. Finally, label your image and choose where it should appear using the radio buttons on the right. Click Save to save your product's image.

How to Manage Product Attributes

Clicking on the [Create New Attribute] button will allow you to add attributes to your products:

Once you are ready with the attribute, click on the [Save Attribute] button. Then you can click on the [Save] button in order to store your product information.

Finally, you need to assign the new product to a chosen category:

How to Manage Product Tags

By default Magento includes the option to allow customers to tag your products. When a customer tags a certain product, the tag appears as pending and must be approved before it can show up on the product page.

Let's add a tag to our product, approve it and see how it then shows up on the product page. To add a tag to a product, simply write the tag word in the Add Your Tags: field available on the product page and click Add Tags. We'll add "Great" as a tag. A confirmation message will show up saying that the tag has been accepted for moderation:

Now go to your Magento admin area > Catalog > Tags > Pending Tags to view all your pending tags. In our case, there will be only one pending tag for the word "Great":

Click it and you will be taken to a page where you can change the status of the tag. It will appear as "Pending", so le't change it to "Approved" and click Save Tag.

Now that the tag has been approved, all other customers will see it on the product page.

You can also manage tags on a per-product basis. Go to your Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products and click the product the tags of which you want to check. Then from the left menu click Product Tags and you will see all the tags for that product.

How to Import Products in Magento

It is rather inconvenient to manually add a large number of products at once to a Magento installation. Inserting products one by one will take a long time especially when you have hundreds or thousands of products.In such cases you need an automatic way to add all those products to your Magento online store. We will address all steps you need to take in order to achieve a successful import.First, access your Magento administrator backend and go to Catalog -> Manage Categories.

Create all product categories you will need. You can do so by filling the form displayed below:

When you fill the form with all the information you like click the Save Category button.

Bear in mind that at this point you should make note of the newly created category ids. It would be best to save them in a simple text file as you will need them for the import. The category ID will be displayed upon saving the category. It is recommended to make notes as shown below

If you plan to have additional attributes for the products you are importing you will need to create those via Catalog ->Attributes ->Manage Attributes -> Add new Attribute. You can use this functionality to add all custom attributes that are not present by default in a standard Magento installation. Note also that you can add additional attributes later at the moment you are creating a sample product. It is up to you whether to create the attributes before that or at the point you are creating the first product.The next step is to manually add a product to your Magento installation. You will later export this product and use it as a template for importing the large batch. Make sure you include all attributes you will use for the products you are going to import in the sample product. You might want to delete all default products that might be present as you will not need them and then create the new product you will use as a template for the import.

Once you create the new product and save it it will appear in the products list for your Magento store.

You are now ready to make the sample export that you will use as a template. In the Magento administrator area go to System -> Import/Export -> Dataflow - Profiles -> Export All Products. Under Profile Information -> Store choose the desired store where you will be importing the products. This should also match the store where you have previously created a sample product. Under Data Transfer drop down menu choose Local/Remote Server. Under Data Format make sure CSV / Tab Separated is selected for type and click Save Profile. Then click export all products again and Run Profile in Popup.

This will save a file named “export_all_products.csv” under the var/export/ directory for your Magento installation. The export success screen will look like this and will specify the file name where the products were exported.

Using an FTP client download this file to your local computer. The file will include columns for each of the attributes you have defined for your products. Open it in a spreadsheet program (MS Excel, Open Office Spreadsheet) and add the products you would like to import. Make sure you are copy/pasting the corresponding attributes in the correct columns. Also here is when you will have to add the category IDs. Use the IDs from the text file you saved earlier and put the corresponding category ID for the products you are adding.

Once you have accomplished the above go back to the Magento administrator area and choose System -> Import/Export -> Dataflow - Profiles -> Import All Products. Then choose Upload file and browse for the .csv file that you have updated with the products that need to be imported. Once you have uploaded it click Import All Products again, then Run Profile, select the .csv file you have just uploaded from the drop down menu and click Run Profile in Popup. A status screen will open and the products will start importing

When the import completes you will get an export success message.

You can now go to the products section of the Magento administrator backend and check the imported products. They will be present there and assigned to the corresponding categories with the attributes you have added for them.