Step-By-Step Guide to Setting up Your Magento eCommerce Website

Why is Magento one of the best eCommerce platforms?

Nowadays, eCommerce standards are rising beyond the sky. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, then it is important to choose the right platform. MagentoMagentoMagento is an open-source based e-commerce platform that provides online retailers with an easy and flexible shopping cart system. Also, it gives control over the look, content, and functionality of the online store. is one of the best E-commercee-commercee-commerce is the activity of electronically buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet. platforms to build your online store. Even some big brands like Lenovo, Samsung, and Ford have built their online store on Magento.  Magento is Open SourceOpen SourceOpen-source is a type of computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. software, which means you can completely customize the website as per your needs. It is one of the key factors for developers to go ahead with Magento. Now, let’s see how to set up your Magento eCommerce website.

1. Server Requirements

In terms of hosting, you need to fulfill some of Magento’s definite requirements. Before you choose your hosting provider, you should take a look at the list of server requirements which are given below.

• Web Server: Both Apache or Nginx will work fine.
• Database: MySQL version 5.6 and 5.7.
• Memory: Minimum of 2GB RAM is required.
• Security: SSL certificate is advisable for data transfer and for payment integration like Paypal.
• Operating System:  Linux x86-64, RedHat, Ubuntu, and other few Linux distributions.
• PHP: PHP 7.3 is recommended.

2. Pick up the Right Web Host and Domain Name

Now, it’s time to choose the web host as well as the domain name. The majority of the hosting providers offer domain name registration as a part of their business. While choosing the domain name, make sure it is relevant to your business and easy to recognize by all. 

Also, keep your domain name short and avoid using hyphens. When it comes to web hosts, pay more attention to performance metrics such as speed, security, and support instead of focusing on pricing. Below are some of the most trusted hosting providers.

• GoDaddy
• WebHost
• Hostinger
• AWS

3. Install Magento Software

After you are done with your web host purchases, go to the Magento product page and download the Magento software just by clicking the “Get Started” button. You will see the list of built-in features for both “Open Source” and “Magento Commerce versions”. 

Now, click the “Download Open Source” button on the bottom of the chart. By clicking on that, you’ll be taken to Magento Tech Resource page, where you’ll be seeing a list of options to download. Even though you can go for any format, “Composer” is the recommended choice for developers. 

Most of the hosting providers offer a one-click installation process, which is very helpful for beginners and newcomers. All you have to do is to navigate to your cPanel > Autoinstallers > Magento icon. 

As soon as you click on the Magento icon, you’ll be getting an option to kick start your installation process by configuring your admin setting. Instead of a one-click installation process, if you want to do it manually, then you can go through Magento’s installation roadmap for smooth installation.

4. Administration Configuration

Before you step into the installation process, you’ll be prompted to personalize your username and password. Here, you have to mention where your Magento installation should go live on your server, and you need to specify your admin login page URL too.

When you are done with your customization settings, click “Install” to complete the installation process. Once it is done, a confirmation message will be sent to your associated email address. 

Now, click on the admin URL and log in with your username and password that you created during the installation process. Upon logging in successfully, you’ll be seeing a Magento dashboard, where you can play around with design and customization.

5. Theme Installation

Choosing a theme is one of the most important decisions while putting your website together. The outlook of your online store depends on the theme you choose. However, you can customize it as per your wants. You can find umpteen number of free and paid themes on the Magento Marketplace, but before that, you need to claim your access keys. 

You can find your access key by navigating to Marketplace > My Products > Access Keys. Once you reach the Access Keys page, you’ll be asked to create keys and name them all. Copy your private and public keys, go back to your dashboard, and click Setting > Web Setup Wizard > Extension Manage. 

As soon as you click on the extension manager button, you’ll be asked to enter the access keys which were created by you. After you connect your website’s admin panel with Magento Marketplace’s keys, all the themes and extensions that you purchased will show up in your extension manager list.

For instance, if you go to the Magento Marketplace and search for a free theme, you can see a bunch of free themes. You can add it to your cart and proceed to checkout. The moment you click install, it will be added to your extension manager. 

Now go back to your admin panel and click  Settings > Web Setup Wizard > Extension Manager > Review and Install. After you click on “Review and install”, a list of themes and extensions that are to be installed will pop up. Check-in all the boxes, which you would like to install and click the install button to complete the installation process.

6. Theme Customization

After you successfully install your theme, you can start configuring it by navigating to Content > Configuration. Now, you can customize your setting by selecting a website set up where you can see an option to change or upload your logo and some other features to customize your online store. 

In addition to that, navigate to Content > Elements, which will give you an option to edit your website’s page, widget, and even the structure of the website. By clicking on any of your pages, you will be getting complete access to modify the respective pages. 

One of the useful features available in the Magento content editor is the SEO panel. This feature will help you optimize the search engine ranking of every individual product page on your website.

7. Extend the Functionality with Extensions

Just like WordPress plugins, Magento also has a wide range of extensions that can greatly help you to stretch the functionalities of your website. To install the extensions, you have to go through the same process that you have gone through earlier for adding themes. 

Based on your needs, choose the extensions wisely, but limit the number of extensions you use. Because using too many extensions can slow down your website, and you might witness conflicts between the extensions. 

Some of the useful Magento extensions are Auto Currency Switcher, Special Promotions Pro, LiveChat, Full Page Cache, Elasticsearch, Google Tag Manager, etc.

8. Store Modification

We are now one step close to adding products to your online store. It’s time to personalize your Magento eCommerce store. Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration, where you will see a list of useful options. Some of the important options to highlight are:

• Timezone
• Currency
• Location
• Email address to be notified
• Consumer account setup
• Shipping and payment method

The extensions that you install will be automatically added to this list for configuration. For every change you make, you have to click save the configuration to see the impact. 

9. Organize your Product Page

With a few more steps, you can instantly add all the products to your Magento eCommerce store. Just navigate to Catalog > Products, where you will be seeing your existing merchandise as well as the “Add Product” button. By clicking on that button, you can add products that you want to your store.

The products are classified into several types, such as Simple Products, Configurable Products, Grouped Products, Virtual Products, Bundle Products, and Downloadable Products. The template of the product is completely based on the type of product you choose.

Also, you have to mention the product name, prize as well as the Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) number, and other information such as product description, weight, and stock quantity are optional. 

Now, you can upload an image or video of the respective product. Adding a high-quality image or video can greatly improve your sale because, during purchase, the users won’t have any idea about how the product will look like. So, the best way to showcase your product is by presenting a high-quality image or video. 

Once you are done, click on the “Save” button to save your changes. Before your products go live, make sure you enable the product online switch.

10. Shipping and Payment Option

Magento has a comprehensive range of options for both shipping and payment methods. As we discussed earlier, you can find this setting by navigating to Stores > Settings > Configurations.

You can see the payment method under the sales menu in the left sidebar. This is the place where you can configure your payment method. If you prefer, you can leverage extensions to expand the options for your consumer. But you have to go through multiple steps, which may take more time. 

Every payment gateway will have a configuration button. You can press that button to see the complete list of settings. Then you have to add a few more details such as the card types you prefer and whether to save card details for future purchases.

11. Preview and Launch

Making changes in the live website can confuse your consumer, especially who are in the process of purchase. So, it is always recommended to work on a staging environment or in the local server. Once you are done with your changes, push it to the live server to avoid problems. 

Before pushing your site live, make sure everything is clean and good to go. If you have been developing your site on localhost, then you must transfer all your Magento files to the webserver. You can achieve it with File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or via local development application. Finally, your Magento eCommerce website is live and ready to feed products to your consumers. 

We, at TechAffinity, have an adept team of eCommerce developers who have hands-on experience in developing powerful Magento eCommerce websites (both Magento Open-source and Magento Commerce). Shoot your queries to media@techaffinity.com or schedule a meeting with our experts to discuss further.