The right Magento widget can seriously help with production and sales. Here’s how to add the best to your Magento site and take advantage.A business without an eCommerce site is inconceivable in our super-wired world. Not only is it essential for brick and mortar operations, many businesses have decided to operate exclusively online. Online sales reached a staggering $335 billion in 2015 and, it’s only growing from there.
With the huge influx of online shoppers, sites are having to adapt – and fast.It’s important to stay ahead of online shopping trends and build your site to hit all of the right buttons to keep the conversions coming.Knowing one’s target audience is a big key in closing sales, and online shoppers have their own particular quirks.
These days, the conversation swirls around user experience and how to game it to get the results you need.There’s a lot of valid points out there, and it can be hard staying on top of the most relevant info. For example, did you know that the average time a person spends on your site is around eight seconds? That’s down from 12 in 2000, and you know it’s going to go down from there.
Eight seconds doesn’t seem like enough time to make your case and get consumers to shop with you, but that’s the reality you need to face.Getting customers to pay attention to your offerings is one thing, but you’ve got to seal the deal.Up to 42% of customers report abandoning an online shopping cart because they weren’t getting the info they needed. How can you make those eight seconds count and close the sale?
Magento – The Best Choice For eCommerce
While WordPress remains a monster in the world of blogs and websites (taking up a whopping 60% of the web!), Magento is the best choice for online sales.
Magento is only growing in popularity – and it’s not hard to understand why.While there is a paid version, for the most part, it’s free for anyone to use. Magento sites work with SEO to drive traffic to your page, upping your conversion numbers.It plays well with mobile, too, and scalable, so it grows with your success. And if you ever have an issue, not only is their customer service always available, their online forums are quite active with a community of users ready to check out your problems.
The truly best part of using Magento? The endless customization options.You already love your Magento site – but you can kick it up several notches with Magento widgets.
Magento Widgets: Your Secret Weapon
What’s a widget?A piece of code that you add to your website that is going to work wonders for your conversions.Beyond being a bit of code, Magento widgets are really the tool that’s going to boost your sales and create meaningful conversions.They have tons of applications, on both the back end and the front end.
Magento widgets run the gamut from showing you which products your customers view the most to urging visitors to your site to share their finds on their social media feeds. If you imagine it, there’s a widget for it.With these endless applications, there’s definitely one that you can find a place for on your site.
So how can you add a Magento widget to your existing eCommerce site?
If you’re not big on crafting code, that’s perfectly understandable. It’s got a few steps to it, but this guide is going to break it down so that you’ll be a widget wizard in no time.Once you get the hang of it, there’s nothing holding you back from using every widget you want.We’ll even show you how you can make a custom widget – it’s not that hard. Ready to go? Let’s get started.
Installing A Magento Widget on your eCommerce Website
There are a few ways to get this done, all of them super simple. Of course, you first need to find a Magento widget that you want to install.
- Surf over to Magento Connect and browse around until you find one that works for you.
- Make sure it works with the version of Magento that you have installed. Agree to the license agreement and click the button that says “Get Extension Key”.
- Next, navigate to your Magento admin panel.
- From there, go to System, Magento Connect, and finally, Magento Connect Manager.
- Once you’re there, you’ll need to enter your admin info one more time.
- You should see a “Paste Extension Key To Install” field. Here’s where you take that extension key and plug it in. Click on the “Install” button.
- You’ve got the Magento widget installed; now you need to plug it into the CMS directly.
- Go back to your Admin Area and go to CMS, then to pages.
- Find the page you want to use your widget with.
- Get to the content section, find the “Insert Widget” icon, and click on it.
- A drop down menu will appear with all of the widgets you’ve programmed. Click on Insert Widget and hit save.
Using Your Magento Widget with your Products
- Select “Widget Type” if you’re working with a widget that you need to connect to a product.
- You’ll also see a few fields that read “Anchor Custom Text” and “Anchor Custom Title”.
- It’s OK to leave the “Custom Text” field blank but for best SEO practices, add a title. Don’t worry; it won’t be visible on the front page.
- When you see the “Template” field, you’ve got two choices.
- If you want to put your link on a separate line, select “Product Link Block Template.” Pick “Product Link Inline Template” if you need to place the link on a separate line.
- Click on “Select Product”. This is how you’ll link your products.
- When you’ve got the right page, you should see a product tree on the left-hand side.
- Use it to navigate to the category you want to link to and select the product from there.
- The markup tag will appear in the HTML at the top, enclosed in double curly braces.
- You can copy and paste the code wherever you need it to pop up on your page.
- Your chosen Magento widget should show up on the front end when you go to check on it.
- The code will be available for you to use as you continue editing your pages.
Installing A Custom Magento Widget
- Using a pre-programmed Magento widget is beyond easy, but there might be a time when you want to go the advanced route and use a custom widget.
- The creating custom code gives you more variety and makes your page more customizable.
- Besides, you can’t go wrong with having more options!
- You can get your personal code by using a custom extension called Atwix_Widget.
- From there, you’re going to need three different files.
etc/module.xml
Registration.php
Composer.json
- Once you’ve got them, you’ll need to add another XML configuration too.
- The file that you need to get into for Magento is located in [module_dir]/etc/widget.xml. That’s the one that controls all Magento widgets for your page.
- Add that file to your extension.
- Each widget will have it’s own custom ID and a block class that you can use to render it.
- You’ll see a list of available parameters which in turn have their own labels.
- They can be translated with the built-in internationalization tools available.
- You can use the parameters to create a template, just like the one we created in the drop down menu in the last example.
- Just create a setTemplate() method inside of your block class and you should be good to go.
- Get into your Magento installation root directory and paste the following code:./bin/magento cache:flush ; \./bin/magento module:enable Atwix_Widget ; \./bin/magento setup:upgrade
- Just like that, you’ve got a custom widget you can insert into any CMS page.
Boosting Your eCommerce With Magento Widgets. Now that you’ve got your methods, find your madness. There are tons of incredible widgets out there that you can start installing today.And if you can’t find one you like, now you know how to create your own custom widget, too.
Once you get the ball rolling with widgets, you’ll be obsessed with optimizing your Magento site – and your conversions are going to go through the roof. If you’re asking what you can do with your Magento website, the answer is what CAN’T you do?
The best place to keep on top of the latest and greatest Magento news is at M-Connect – Magento eCommerce Blog. From managing an email campaign to finding out which extensions do what, this is the one stop shop for any and all eCommerce info.
If you’re going to stay ahead of the curve, slip this site into your bookmarks and check it every day.Get these pros into your Magento page and they’ll create a viable eCommerce site that will have you seeing incredible results.
Their professional and tech-savvy team is ready to guide your Magento page and shape it into an eCommerce powerhouse. Have you ever created a custom widget? Which Magento widget are you excited to plug into your website? Let us know in the comments!
